Gold Spun recent had a beautiful ‘bestseller’ tag on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I was ecstatic to see my book become a best seller, but this didn’t happen on accident. A lot of planning and work went into reaching this place and I want to share that process. This isn’t mean to be a guaranteed way to elevate a book to a bestseller, but rather my personal experience.
Gold Spun Already Looked Compelling
My first and foremost goal is to write the best book I can. Long before this day, I was not concerned with becoming a bestseller, but rather wanted to create a compelling story. Once Gold Spun was picked up by a publisher, they added a beautiful cover. Together, we drafted a synopsis that provided enough of the story to hook potential readers. And finally, reader reviews. I LOVE it when readers leave positive reviews on sites like Amazon, GoodReads, BookBub, Barnes & Nobles. By the this time, Gold Spun had already acquired some reader reviews, which are great for drawing in potential readers.
Scoring a BookBub Deal
BookBub sends out daily emails of free and discounted ebooks to carefully curated lists of readers according to genre. I submitted Gold Spun to be included in such a promotion. It was accepted into the YA/Teen email list to go out on November 21st. I coordinated with my publisher to have the eBook discounted to $0.99 for a limited time, to begin right before the BookBub Deal launched. This is my first inclusion in a BookBub deal, but speaking with my author friends, and a BookBub Deal is one of the best ways to promote an eBook sale.
Stacking Promotions
Once I scored the BookBub deal, I asked other authors what they did to make the most out of the promotion. The overwhelming response was to stack promotions. Taking their advice, I signed up for several other similar discount eBook promotions and email blasts, including Book Cave, BookDoggy, Bargain Booksy, Fussy Librarian and several other sites. Whenever possible, I wanted them to run on 11/21.
My Support on Deal Day
On 11/21, I excited opened my BookBub email to see Gold Spun included! I went into full promo mode, reaching as many readers as I could on my own social channels. I posted on Instagram and Facebook. I tweeted about it and created a TikTok about the sale. I asked some of my writer friends to share the deal with their followers. I also sent out an eblast to my own email subscribers, a special one-off addition from my standard monthly email newsletter. I did all this on the 21st, wanted to maximize the awareness as much as possible.
After all of above was done, I refreshed the Amazon Gold Spun page approximately a million times an hour. When I saw Gold Spun hit the #1 spot, I made sure to take screenshots of the beautiful ‘best seller’ tag and the #1 placements, since it wouldn’t be that way forever. Even after Gold Spun slipped from #1, I am still thrilled it hit that place. The sale is still going on for a limited time, so if you’ve been on the fence about getting the eBook, you can score it for less than a dollar.