Bookbub : Break through the fortress

Bookbub.

The pinnacle of ebook marketing platforms, and unfortunately, it isn't easiest to get into. It's like this. Imagine an experienced mechanic (Bookbub). Now there comes along a small boy who wants to build a complex toy and sell it to the other kids(The author). Now the mechanic tries to analyze and see if the kids would like the toy before actually trying to build it, and that's what happens in the real world.

Bookbub analyzes books and selects them after checking if It'd perform well with their subscribers. Bookbub lists a few requirements on it's site, which are the most basic needs you will need to satisfy if you want to even have a chance of being considered.

Free or discounted by at least 50%. We promise our members that we will only feature books that have been deeply discounted.The best deal available. We won’t consider a book if it has been offered for a better price in the last 90 days, or if it will be offered for less in the near future.Error free. We look for content that is well-formatted and free of typos and grammatical errors.A limited-time offer. While we do consider permanently free books, we otherwise don’t feature low-price offers that are always available.A full-length book. Novels and collections of short stories or novellas should be at least 150 pages in length, works of nonfiction at least 100 pages, cookbooks at least 70 pages, middle grade books at least 100 pages, and children’s picture books at least 20 pages. We currently do not feature stand-alone novellas or short stories.Widely available. We only feature deals that are available on at least one major retailer. And the more, the merrier.Lastly, we will not feature the same book more than once every 6 months. Nor will we feature the same author more than once every 30 days.

They also have some tips which when satisfied will further push forward your chance to get a listing

Price point: We rarely feature books priced above $2.99, and the greater the discount, the more appealing the offer to our readers.Date flexibility: We have a limited number of spots in each category, so a broad range of possible promotion dates makes it more likely that we’ll be able to include your title.Professional presentation: We look for books with professional and appealing covers.Customer reviews: Customer reviews and ratings help our editors get a better sense of how other readers have responded to your book. However, there is no specific "minimum requirement," and reviews are only one factor out of many that we consider.Critical reviews: Write-ups from trusted editorial sources can also help us evaluate your submission. Same goes for awards, bestseller lists, and other accolades.Retailer product page: Because we direct our members to the retailer product pages for the books we feature, we want to ensure they have a good experience once they arrive. We look for product pages that are informative, clear, well-written, and error free.Subject matter: Certain genres and subgenres perform better with our readers than others. There’s a chance we simply don’t have a good place for your title right now or that the particular subject matter of your book isn’t as good a fit as others in the same category. However, we’re constantly expanding and adding new lists, so stay tuned for updates.

But these things are quite trivial things compared to Bookbub's actual selection process. After long intensive research, I've been able to see similar trends between the books that Bookbub lists on its newsletters.

1. Get a review with the big four

What are the big four? Well, they're huge review magazines who publish reviews that even the big publishing houses look up to. The main four in no necesaary order of superiority are, Publisher's weekly, Kirkus reviews, The Booklist and the Library Journal.

The fifth, dark horse, is Amazon's very own reviews. They are quite credible but much less so when compared to these other reviews.

A book that's been listed on Bookbub usually has a review by one of these big sites. The majority of the bbooks have TWO reviews from the Big four while the rest have one review. These reviews seem important then? Of course they are!
How do you get them? Well, right now, Publisher's weekly and Kirkus reviews are the only one's who're allowing Indie authors to hire their services, and be warned, the princes are skyrocketingly hefty. The Publisher weekly's process seemed quite complicated when compared towards that of Kirkus. 

2. Author Awards

As ironic as it may seem these awards are easier to come by than a proper Big 4 review, especially if your book is wacky and unique. The big four hate that kind of stuff.
I haven't done extensive research on this part, so I'll update as I go along.

3. High ratings, large no. of reviews and good sales rank

This is basically stating that your book has to be a bestseller if you want it to go through. Does it seem odd to you that Big 4 reviews are given more priority than the bestseller rank? I believe the reason is because when you go to Bookbub you're going there because your book rank is poor so it wouldn't be fair to judge upon that now would it?

Anyway, if you've got some sort of good selling book you might get picked up.

4. Free vs Paid

Assuming you have at least a 100 reviews in the bag with a 3.8+ rating on amazon, you have a much better chance of getting a list as a free listing rather than a paid one. I think it's probably because, as a free book, the book usually does generally well with the customers and Bookbub can use that general data and plot to see if the book will do well in the paid segment or not. So the next time you submit the book, assuming your free listing went well, go with a paid one and you should see your book go through the metal jaws of Bookbub's selection process.

5. Book cover and Goodreads

I'm splitting this section into two because both don't seem to have much credibility going towards them, as far as bookbub selection processes are concerned.

The Book cover

I've seen a book in paranormal series, that was position at no sales in a around half a year, be picked by Bookbub. The series has very beautifully designed book covers, each one matching the design of the other. Plus it was also a YA and teen Paranormal romance. Those things sell quick and fast.

Goodreads

I've seen one post about how a Goodreads campaign helped an author get onto Bookbub after a few attempts. It doesn't seem very credible but it's sure worth a shot. Increasing the number of Goodreads reviews for you book never hurt after all did it?

Conclusion

And so we come to the end of the Bookbub discussion. If you really want to get a listing with Bookbub and change the faate of your book, then I suggest reading this carefully.