BookBub is One More Great Author Marketing Tool
If you don’t already have a BookBub profile, I recommend that you create one! Why, you ask? Well, because all your online profiles work for you as part of your author marketing strategy without much work from you once those profiles are created. BookBub also has some neat features other author platforms lack. I’ll tell you about those and how to get started below.
Do I Really Need A BookBub Profile Too?
As I mentioned above, having as many relevant and quality online profiles as you can increases your chances of discovery and exposure. So, why not be on BookBub too? I’ve already written about your Goodreads profile and Amazon Author Central profile, and those are essential. But BookBub offers some pretty cool features that aren’t available on other platforms. While BookBub doesn’t sell books, it is a resource for curious readers to find books they want to read. Below are some of the best features of the platform.
- It offers members deals based on their selected interests. So your book can potentially reach readers that may not have looked for it directly elsewhere, but are interested in your genre.
- When your fans follow you they get automatic updates about your deals, pre-orders, and new releases!
- BookBub lets you recommend other authors to your followers and fans—which means those authors can also recommend your book to their followers and fans! Trusted recommendations sell books. Even better—these recommendations get sent directly to fans and followers via their email subscription. Genius!
- BookBub has over 15 million readers signed up for their Featured Deal emails. Enough said!
- These Featured Deals often equal a sales windfall for the author. More on that later.
- And last but certainly not least: BookBub allows a direct link to your website in your profile bio! This means a potential big SEO boost for your website and hopefully more book sales!
I have to mention, the one downside is that you have to already have a book published to have a profile, unlike on Goodreads where you can have a reader profile that can be converted to an author profile once a pre-order is available.
Okay, Okay! How Do I Sign Up for A BookBub Profile?
Now you can just sign up for BookBub’s email list if you’re a book lover, and you can just create a User Profile so you can get the feel for how BookBub works. But if you want to claim your book and have an Author Profile, you’ll have to create a new, separate profile for that, unlike with Amazon or Goodreads.
So, first things first. Go HERE to create your account!
Then, you’ll complete the following steps.
- This step is pretty obvious and easy. You fill out the information. First and last name (make sure it matches exactly to your author name on Amazon and your book).Then you choose “Author.” It will prompt you to do this.
- Click on “Customize Settings” and choose “Independent Author.”
- If your name does not appear in the list, you will need to claim it and ask BookBub to create your account. They will ask for a link to your ebook on any of the online ebook sellers like Amazon or Kobo. BookBub will also ask you to sign into your Facebook or Twitter account to verify your identity.
- Wait patiently for 1-7 days while your account is being verified….
- Once your account is approved by BookBub, you can log into your BookBub Partner account.
- Now you just click on “Account,” scroll down and click on “Author Profile.”
- This is important! Now you upload your awesome profile picture and amazing author bio. And most definitely add your website link. By doing this:
- Make a hyperlink with HTML using this formula:
<a href=”http://www.YOURWEBSITE.com”>www.YOURWEBSITE.com</a> (you can just copy and paste and edit to change the website portion to, well, your website!)
7. Add your books! Go to “Add Books” and much like Amazon or Goodreads, a search bar will appear. Type in your title and claim your book. Make sure to search and claim all of your books!
8. And finally, you’ll want to test all your links and view your profile on the site to make sure all looks good and the links work. You can do this by clicking “View on Site” from your profile.
Voila! You did it! Now, remember that Featured Deals thing I mentioned above? Well, you should definitely try to get featured! There are requirements, and you can find them HERE, but they’re not too tough to fulfill and the benefits may be truly outstanding! Remember, BookBub has 15 million subscribers! That’s 15 million potential new readers, buyers and fans.
So, go for it and see what happens!
I’d love to know about your BookBub experience! Let me know in the comments of the original post if you’ve set up your author profile and how it went. Or maybe you’ve had great luck already with BookBub? Then tell other readers about it and encourage them!
Hi Jeniffer…great and timely post. For my recent new release, ANGEL FLIGHT, I ramped up my BookBub presence in advance and it has given me tremendous additional exposure. Thanks for recommending this important tool. Cheers, Robin
Excellent news! Glad you’re having success with it!
Great article! I set my Bookbub profile up early on, then forgot about it. That was under the pen name I use for my sci-fi books. I just got a Bookbub deal for one of my memoirs, which is written under my regular name, and I realized I didn’t have my memoirs listed on my author profile. When I tried to claim them, l learned that I have to create a separate author profile since they are under a different name. So, just a heads up: you need a separate Bookbub author profile for each pen name you use! And every author I’ve ever heard talk about Bookbub agrees that they are a goldmine, so take Jeniffer’s advice to heart 🙂
Thanks for the added advice Justin! And awesome to hear you’re having success with it!