If you’re trying to drive book sales, running ad campaigns is a great way to reach both existing fans and new readers.
One feature that makes BookBub Ads an especially powerful book marketing tool is the ability to create custom audiences for your campaigns by targeting readers based on the authors whose books they enjoy. Ads using author targeting can reach any BookBub reader who follows an author or has clicked on one of their books on our platform — it’s a particularly effective way to define your audience and reach the right readers.
We spoke to 11 advertisers who have run BookBub Ads campaigns with high click-through rates to learn more about how they use author targeting to create successful ads. Read on to learn how they select their targets, how they assess performance, and other tips for how to use BookBub Ads to sell more books!
How do you choose which authors to target?
Look at retailer “also boughts”
Many advertisers look at retailer “also boughts” to find new authors to target who write similar content.
I usually start by browsing through my also boughts (especially for the later books in a series, and especially on non-Amazon retailers, as most often, I’m using BookBub Ads primarily for wide advertising).
—Luke R. Mitchell, author of Red Gambit
We primarily choose targeting from the “also bought” portion of the Amazon page, which shows books that customers have bought alongside our book. This list helps us find popular authors that attract similar audiences to ours, as well as smaller names that we perhaps haven’t heard of until now. Both make for excellent, usually very profitable author targets.
—Rebeka García, Marketing & Publishing Associate at Mozaika Publications
Find new authors through BookBub
Monitoring BookBub Featured Deals in your books’ categories is a great way to find authors who have engaged audiences on BookBub.
I subscribe to the BookBub emails and use the comparable authors in that email that are currently on a BookBub Featured Deal. Sometimes I’ll hop onto the BookBub website and pull from there as well.
—Sandra Alex, author of Proceed with Caution
There’s a drop down [in the BookBub Ads form] that shows similar authors now. Finding the right author is really tough. The authors that provide the most clicks are not necessarily the ones you’d think they are.
—A.L. Hawke, author of Broomstick
Limit your targets to authors with niche audiences
The ads setup form will show you how many readers an author has in their targetable audience. Many advertisers will focus on authors with relatively small audience sizes or niche subgenres to ensure they’re reaching the most relevant readers.
Authors who have more readers don’t generate the same kind of response — that is, CTR — that authors with small reader numbers generate.
—Luana Ehrlich, author of One Night in Tehran
When I’m building a campaign, my main goal is to compile a list of authors that have around 5,000-15,000 readers. This keeps the targeting ultra-specific (one of the most important keys to success on BookBub).
—J.W. Clay, author of Code of War
I look for authors who have strong titles as similar to my own as possible. Specifically the same sub, sub, sub, sub-genre. As close as I can get it.
—Phillip Drayer Duncan, author of The Blade Mage
Draw inspiration from your readers
In addition to the data collected from retailers and on BookBub, your readers are another great source of ideas for author targets.
I read A TON, and when I find a book with lots of similarities to the kind of thing I write, I note that author’s name. I might also check out their “also boughts” on Yasiv, if I’m not 100% sure the fit is a good one. Sometimes I’ll ask my readers what they’ve read lately and really enjoyed.
—Cidney Swanson, author of Rippler
Study what’s trending
It’s also important to keep an eye on marketplace trends so you know what kinds of books readers in your genre are excited about right now. This can help you understand where your book fits in.
One of the biggest parts of creating an effective campaign is knowing the books you’re publishing and also what’s working in the marketplace as a whole.
—Alex Nicolajsen, Director of Social Media & Digital Sales at Kensington Publishing Corp.
On any advertising platform, not just BookBub, the readers don’t see an excerpt telling them about the core content of your novel when you advertise. They see a cover. Advertising is 100% about appearances. So I target authors who have a similar cover branding to mine.
Example: I write a lot of fantasy, and some George R. R. Martin fans might enjoy my books. But I will never use him as a target because my cover branding is very different to his.
Sometimes I target authors who don’t write fantasy at all; they write paranormal romance, or sci-fi romance, and their branding is similar to mine. I know that at first glance, the cover, the ad, the “packaging” of my books are going to catch their fans’ attention.
Of course, I also make sure that the book would interest the readers of that author, but that’s actually the secondary concern. If I target an author who has covers super different to mine, the click-through rate is generally atrocious, even if the books themselves have a similar theme.
—May Sage, author of After Darkness Falls
How many authors do you target per ad campaign?
Target one author for clear results
There’s no limit to the number of authors you can target with a single BookBub Ads campaign, but targeting just one author per campaign delivers clear results that allow advertisers to learn which authors’ fans are most likely to click on and purchase their books.
I only target a single author in a single country per campaign. Keeps my data clean and straightforward.
—Phillip Drayer Duncan, author of The Blade Mage
I individually test an author with a small campaign with a $10 budget. If it generates a sufficient CPC, I will include that author in future campaigns.
—Jonathan Moeller, author of Child of the Ghosts
Sometimes I will use just one author, but that is only if they have enough reach, and I want to experiment with that particular author.
—Sandra Alex, author of Proceed with Caution
Target multiple authors to increase your audience size
Combining multiple author targets into a single campaign can allow you to create ads with broader reach for better exposure — while still ensuring your audience is comprised of the most relevant readers.
With authors who have smaller followings, I will typically group several together to make sure the “pool” is big enough for my spend.
—Cidney Swanson, author of Rippler
I typically target 5-7 authors per ad campaign. I only choose authors who have less than 5,000 readers — this was a method I learned from watching a video from author and book marketer Elana Johnson. Thus, I try to have a total of 12,000-15,000 readers to target per ad.
—Luana Ehrlich, author of One Night in Tehran
Combining author and category targeting
If you’re targeting authors who write across multiple genres, combining author targeting with category targeting will narrow your audience to those authors’ most relevant fans for the book you’re promoting.
Generally, we’ll target several authors along with a specific genre or group of genres. We know that readers love to keep coming back to the authors they love — but we also know that they’re always on the lookout for a new author to read when they’ve finished the books from their favorites. By targeting comparative authors, readers can find a new author or book based on what they already enjoy.
—Alex Nicolajsen, Director of Social Media & Digital Sales at Kensington Publishing Corp.
How do you decide whether or not your targeting is working for you?
Maximize CTR and minimize CPC
There are a few different ways to measure the effectiveness of your ad campaigns. Some advertisers are primarily focused on a high click-through rate (CTR) and a profitable cost per click (CPC).
I decide if my target author is working for me by whether they receive a CTR that is around 2%.
—Luana Ehrlich, author of One Night in Tehran
The two KPIs (key performance indicators) that I pay most attention to are cost per click and click-through rate. The prices of my books can also be a key factor; if I’m selling a full-price book at $4.99, I’ll be less sensitive to the price of my clicks.
—J.W. Clay, author of Code of War
I’m very sales-driven (I’m the Director of Digital Sales… so I should be!), so I’m 100% about looking at the numbers to determine whether an advertising strategy is working. Of course, I’m also a marketer, so I know that not every impression or click will result in someone buying a book. It’s about getting in front of consumers and breaking through the noise — again and again — so that they eventually do buy their copies.
So, aside from just the sales numbers, the click-through rate is very important to me. If people are clicking through, I know that my ad creative is effective… and that if nothing else, they’ve noticed the book — so if they didn’t buy it this time, they might buy it next time they see it — whether it’s on social media, an online ad, a print ad, or face-out in a store.
—Alex Nicolajsen, Director of Social Media & Digital Sales at Kensington Publishing Corp.
Track book sales
While CTR is a great way to determine whether your ad is engaging the readers who see it, it’s important to remember that the CTR doesn’t always tell the whole story. Tracking sales on your retailers allows you to assess how effective your ads are at getting readers to purchase your books.
I go by how many sales I accrue. Really, that’s it. I look for spikes in sales.
—A.L. Hawke, author of Broomstick
Use the tracking tools that you have at your disposal — like Amazon’s attribution system — to make sure your money isn’t going to waste.
—J.W. Clay, author of Code of War
I pay close attention to download and read-through rates, since I do offer all of my first-in-series books for free, and I don’t make money until a reader moves on to subsequent books in the series. If the CTR is good but there is no read-through within about three or four days, I move on to another author target. Sometimes I’ll give an author a second chance on another day of the week if the CTR was good but there was little or no read-through.
—Sandra Alex, author of Proceed with Caution
I usually target permafree first-in-series books, and if the conversion rate from the free first book to the paid second book is above 10%, the campaign is going well.
—Jonathan Moeller, author of Child of the Ghosts
Track other signals of reader engagement
You may have other goals for your ads beyond book sales — some advertisers look for increases in reader reviews, new followers, or changes in retailer data.
I want to see if I get positive ratings/reviews, newsletter subscribers, Amazon subscribers, or BookBub subscribers. Those are sure markers of a ‘great’ target.
I’m also going to look to see if the target starts showing up on my ‘also boughts’ on Amazon. This last step is particularly helpful if I’m running multiple campaigns with a lot of targets — it tells me which, most likely, drove the best results.
—Phillip Drayer Duncan, author of The Blade Mage
What’s something surprising or unexpected you’ve learned about your BookBub Ads targeting?
BookBub readers are worth a higher CPC
Some authors have noted that BookBub Ads can be more expensive than ads on other platforms, but BookBub readers are more likely to actually purchase a book.
BookBub has the highest conversion rate of all the platforms I use (including Amazon and Facebook). For campaigns with established books and author targets, I like to see a minimum of 1.5% CTR, which usually gives me around a $0.50 cost per click, and I tend to stay profitable if I remain above that baseline.
—J.W. Clay, author of Code of War
I used to be very concerned about how much a click cost me. I can get clicks for as little as $0.04 on Facebook ads, for example, and my BookBub Ads tend to be more expensive. Then, I did some trials… and I was very surprised to see that the cost per click was actually a pretty bad indication of how an ad is performing. I like them to stay under a certain CPC of course (and it depends on the price of the book), but I’m very comfortable paying more per click on BookBub Ads because the click-to-buy conversion rate is much higher. On Facebook or Amazon, you’re targeting just about everyone out there. Readers who sign up to BookBub are generally voracious readers, so even if the CPC is higher, they tend to be better value for money.
—May Sage, author of After Darkness Falls
Obvious targets don’t always deliver results
Sometimes, the targets that seem like they should be a great fit — whether because they have popular content that’s similar to the book you’re promoting or they’ve performed well on other ad platforms — don’t perform as expected. That’s why it’s important to question assumptions about targets, and be open to experimenting with new ones!
I don’t usually target really big names, even when the match feels obvious. For instance, I have a series set on Mars, so Andy Weir (author of The Martian) might seem like a great match, but since Weir’s book was an NYT bestseller, he attracted buyers and followers who might not be that into sci-fi or Mars. Some read the book because it was popular, not necessarily because they want to read other books set on Mars. Pierce Brown is a better author for me to target, because he wrote a series set on Mars, so it’s a safer bet his followers are a bit Mars-crazed, like me!
—Cidney Swanson, author of Rippler
Often, the targets you think will be the best just won’t be. But there are almost certainly some out there you can get a lower CPC or CPM which will rock your socks off! And just because one doesn’t perform today doesn’t mean it won’t later.
—Phillip Drayer Duncan, author of The Blade Mage
It’s important to remember that authors that have high readership levels on BookBub can be very challenging to target. For me, that usually means an author with 50,000 readers or more. As the number climbs, it becomes even more challenging. Keep your total campaign targets narrow (under 15-20k readers).
—J.W. Clay, author of Code of War
Advertisers shouldn’t rely on the same authors they target on other ad platforms — like Amazon and Facebook — to get the same results on their BookBub Ads.
—Luana Ehrlich, author of One Night in Tehran
Targeting existing fans is really effective
BookBub Ads give advertisers an excellent way to get books in front of the fans of similar authors, but it’s also a great tool to target an author’s existing fans!
Targeting my own author name is more effective than I would have guessed! Recently I realized it had been months since I’d included my name in targeting, and I got a nice CTR by targeting my name all by itself.
—Cidney Swanson, author of Rippler
I always include my own two pen names (Sandy Appleyard and Sandra Alex) in almost all my campaigns. This is to capture all my readers that either have started reading my series and need a gentle nudge to continue in whatever series they have read, and to grab the attention of any new readers that might have interest in my books.
—Sandra Alex, author of Proceed with Caution
What other advice do you have for other advertisers using BookBub Ads?
Reaching the right readers is a crucial part of running an effective ad campaign — but it’s not the only thing! Advertisers also emphasize the importance of designing effective images, analyzing results across retailers, and running tests to maximize results.
Always test your ads and observe which ones work.
—A.L. Hawke, author of Broomstick
Don’t be afraid to experiment. Don’t be afraid to try different things. Don’t be afraid to go against the grain. With enough trial and error, I was able to learn who to target, how to target them, and when, to get profitable results. It just took a lot of patience and work and trial and error.
—Phillip Drayer Duncan, author of The Blade Mage
It’s also important to experiment with different retailers. I’ll sometimes run an ad that spans all retailers to get a feel for where the clicks and sales will go, and then I’ll tailor the ad to target the bestselling retailer when I want to scale the ad up.
—Sandra Alex, author of Proceed with Caution
One key thing to include with creative on BookBub is pricing. Is it $0.99? Is it available on Kindle Unlimited? Make sure these pieces of information are clearly visible.
—J.W. Clay, author of Code of War
Ad images are EXTREMELY important (maybe the most important) for an ad’s performance, and different images might well perform better or worse for different targets. But that’s not the surprising thing. The surprising thing is how often I’m wrong about which of my 4-6 test images is going to be the winner of the bunch I’m testing, and for which targets they’ll be most popular. This is why testing is important.
—Luke R. Mitchell, author of Red Gambit
This post was originally published on August 22, 2018, and has been updated to include new tips and best practices.
