Book Promotions: Your Gateway to Thousands of New Readers
Chapter From My Upcoming Book Mini Book Marketing
(this is a chapter from my upcoming book Mini Book Marketing which is available for pre-order on Amazon, you can click here to pre-order it)
Book promo sites are the matchmakers of the publishing world.
They bring your book directly to eager readers who are actively searching for their next great read. These platforms curate email lists filled with genre-specific fans who are primed to take action. By offering a deal, you incentivize readers to download your book, review it, and ultimately become long-term fans.
These platforms are designed to do one thing: get your book into the hands of readers who will love it.
Promo sites work by connecting your book with an audience that’s already interested.
Readers sign up for these platforms to receive daily or weekly recommendations for discounted or free books. Authors, in turn, pay to feature their books in these promotions. The system targets readers by genre and price preferences, ensuring your book gets in front of the right audience at the right time. It’s a seamless way to turn casual interest into downloads.
The result? Your book reaches readers who are not only interested but ready to take action.
Investing in book promo sites can have a huge payoff.
The cost to promote your book ranges from $20 for smaller lists to $400 or more for platforms with massive reach like BookBub. The return is visibility, downloads, and reviews, all of which are critical for building momentum. For example, a BookBub Featured Deal can move tens of thousands of copies in a single day, making it a cornerstone for any serious marketing plan.
A small investment can yield big rewards, giving your book the push it needs to succeed.
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List of Book Promo Sites
Book promo sites are the easiest way I've found to move books.
I've used dozens of different sites. I looked through my data for past promotional periods, and put the cost and number of downloads next to their name to give you an idea of how effective they are. Keep in mind this is for my Christian nonfiction God is Like book series, results may be different for your genre.
The download numbers and cost are for context and comparison only, results for you will be different.
THIS IS FOR GIVING AWAY A BOOK FOR FREE, NOT A DISCOUNT.
Bookbub Featured Promo – $400 (12,000+ downloads)
Freebooksy/Bargainbooksy $75 (500+ downloads)
Robin Reads $60 (700+ downloads)
Fussy Librarian $85 (500+ downloads)
Book Knight $12 (350+ downloads) (Bargain promo!)
EReaderIQ $25 (400+ downloads)
ENT $45 (500+ downloads)
Hello Books $36 (200+ downloads)
Free Kindle Books $25 (250+ downloads)
Book Raid $40 (200+ downloads)
Book Bassett $9 (100+ downloads)
My favorites are in bold above, or the top 5.
Avoiding Pitfalls of Book Promo Sites
Not all book promos are created equal.
Find ones that work good for you and stick with them. Make sure in the beginning you schedule each promo on its own day. Don't schedule Freebooksy and Fussy Librarian on the same day.
You want to be able to tell which site moved the most books.
Also, realize there is a lot of crossover.
Just because Fussy Librarian didn't move as many books as Freebooksy the day before, doesn't mean Freebooksy is better. Switch which order the promos go int he next time and you might see the numbers reversed.
Context is important.
Don't think because you used a site once, you got all the juice.
I've run promos in back to back months and got similar download numbers. Readers don't always check their emails each day. Next month will be different readers checking. Continue to use them to get more juice.
You will probably keep finding new readers.
Know what you are willing to spend.
You can pour hundreds of dollars a week into book promo sites. Set your budgets and if restricted, choose one of the ones in bold above. Those tend to give you the most consistent bang for your buck.
This isn't a cure all for your marketing, but a boost to skyrocket you to the top of your category. (Assuming you followed my advice in Dam the Amazon and selected good categories)
Free Vs Paid
The two main types of book promos are free books and discounted books.
Typically your discounted book will need to be $0.99 on the day of the promo to qualify. If you are exclusive to Amazon as a part of their KDP Select program you can use your discounting countdown deal to give a cheaper price and retain 70% of your royalties.
Otherwise, you'll have to manually set your price down and only earn 35%.
Free books find more readers than discounted ones.
Surprise! For me personally I've found I'd rather give away hundreds of free books than a couple dozen at $0.99. Unles I'm trying to reach an Amazon best seller list, then discounted books is the way to go. You can't make a best seller list and get the orange best seller badge with a free book. (technically there is a list but it doesn't "count.")
So if you are trying to find new readers and get more review I recommend giving your book away!
How to Make Your Book Free on Amazon
Making your book free on Amazon is a game-changer for reaching new readers.
The process involves publishing your book on a wide self-publishing platform, like Draft2Digital, and then leveraging Amazon’s price-matching policy. This strategy allows you to bypass Amazon’s limitations on free pricing and ensures your book reaches a broader audience without costing readers a dime.
Here’s how to do it step by step.
Step 1: Publish Wide with Draft2Digital
The first step is to publish your book on a platform like Draft2Digital that supports free pricing.
Draft2Digital is a self-publishing service that allows you to distribute your book to multiple online retailers, including Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo. During the publishing process, you can set your book’s price to zero. Once your book is live on these platforms, Amazon will notice that it’s free elsewhere.
This establishes the groundwork for getting Amazon to match the free price.
Step 2: Submit a Price Match Request
After your book is available for free on other platforms, it’s time to notify Amazon.
Go to your book’s detail page on Amazon and scroll down to the "Feedback" section. Click "Tell us about a lower price," and provide the URL of your book listing on another retailer where it’s free. You can also email Amazon’s support team to request a price match. Be polite and precise, and include the relevant links to make it easy for them to verify.
Within a few days, Amazon typically adjusts your book’s price to match the free listing.
Expand Your Reach With Free Promos
This simple strategy lets you take advantage of Amazon’s massive audience while offering your book for free and allows you to qualify and be compliant with the free book promos.
You can leave your book free for an extended period of time or just do it a few day before your promos begin. When you are ready to get your book price back to normal just change the price on Draft2Digital. Then submit a price match request again through Amazon.
Within a few days it'll be back to being a paid book again.