What Is BookBub (and Why Should Writers Care)?

While the site has been around and popular for a while, it's only recently that I've seen several mentions of BookBub from folks in my own circle. As such, I figured it was time to figure out what is BookBub and should writers care about it? And upon first glance, they should.

So let's start off by going straight to the source. Here's how BookBub describes itself on its website: "BookBub is a free service that helps you discover books you'll love through unbeatable deals, handpicked recommendations, and updates from your favorite authors. BookBub doesn't actually sell books. We simply introduce you to books you'll love that are available on retailers like Amazon's Kindle store, Barnes & Noble's Nook store, Apple Books, and others."

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Basically, BookBub shares some of the top discounted and free ebook deals going to people who are hungry for content. So BookBub is a service for voracious and thrifty readers. But it's also an incredible opportunity for writers.

BookBub's stated goal is to get great (if extremely marked down) ebooks in front of a ravenous readership. And most published authors know that getting a book written is hard work, getting it published equally so, but finding readers can sometimes feel almost impossible. Get mentioned by BookBub, and you could be on your way to more readers and potentially more word of mouth promotion afterward.

Here's a dated account of an author who used a BookBub promotion to bring exposure to his book that was turned down by more than 20 publishers before he finally self-published it. He sold more than 6,000 units in six days and stayed Top 20 in the weight loss category on Amazon for more than four weeks. That's not too shabby for a self-published book at all.

Of course, this doesn't mean that BookBub will change every writer's life or even that all writers will have the opportunity to take advantage of BookBub (as it is competitive). But it is one more possible path authors can take to try and find more success with their writing after it's been published, whether traditionally or independently.

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