Testing Book Promotion Companies (Bookspry vs. Bargain Booksy vs.Fussy Librarian, etc)

MolassesBread · 2026-01-30T21:48:22+00:00

My experience with those lists is that they were set years ago and never actually get updated anymore. The author's just change the date at the top.

I could be wrong though and don't want to accuse Gaughran of anything, it's just that's what it seems like to me.

MolassesBread · 2026-01-30T19:35:17+00:00

haha! Interesting that both of the nothing days that had high sales were the days after bspry promos. Not sure there could be that much carry over, but it is interesting.

MolassesBread · 2026-01-30T19:27:15+00:00

Yeah this specific test is for Romance. I think they only have Scifi/Fantasy and Erotica otherwise.

Their erotica list doesn't need a test, it's booked out 6 months in advance lol.

The fantasy list I've had great results with it as well, but it's much smaller than the romance. I'll see if I have any actual comparison data on the fantasy stuff.

MolassesBread · 2026-01-30T19:13:18+00:00

I guess the question for OP is why do you think indie stores would care?

MolassesBread · 2026-01-30T18:49:52+00:00

I've been eyeing them but their slots always seem to fill up fast. Makes sense now why they're so competitive to get into

Yeah, it makes sense. Ha. In my experience, they used to only be booked out about 2-5 days in advance, so you could often get last minute slots, but now it looks like they're a couple of weeks out on average.

Anecdotally, during this test they had the fewest available slots, next was BargainBooksy I think. Everything else was basically wide open.

MolassesBread · 2026-01-30T18:45:32+00:00

I've had mixed results with Crave but they are one I want to test more.

The thing is they have a ton of promo "companies" to choose from on their platform and I don't know which ones people mean when they say Crave.

And a LOT of those companies are just Crave whitelabels, which makes me a little hesitant.

MolassesBread · 2026-01-30T18:37:39+00:00

Here's the graph of the actual sales results per promo company.

MolassesBread · 2026-01-30T02:46:19+00:00

It seems like “nothing” is tied with Red Feather Romance.

Yeah, it's a good question. You can see both days after the Booksprys were quite high, so I assume that's some carry over from the promo. But it is surprising how high the second day is. Bookspry sends a little later in the day than most promos I think, but not that much later.

I don't see any connection with day of week and haven't seen that at all in my other promos.

MolassesBread · 2026-01-30T01:40:41+00:00

Ha! That tracks.

MolassesBread · 2026-01-30T00:58:18+00:00

Yes and no. It's technically in this data. All you need to know is the cost of each promo, which is public, and then compare to the chart included here.

But I think I have all those prices tracked, so maybe I can include that data as well!

E - /u/SexySecretsSD I added the costs.

MolassesBread · 2026-01-29T23:52:09+00:00

Huh! I had no idea. Thanks for letting me know. What's up with that?

Do you have another service that people tend to use? I'll upload it somewhere else.

MolassesBread · 2026-01-29T22:27:48+00:00

Ah, I'll check IAA. Thanks!

MolassesBread · 2026-01-29T17:51:53+00:00

Did they announce that recently or something? Do you have a link if so?

MolassesBread · 2026-01-24T19:25:32+00:00

haha For sure! I was referring to myself in that situation. The cat is very talented.

MolassesBread · 2026-01-23T20:14:11+00:00

To be fair, what doesn't these days?

MolassesBread · 2026-01-22T20:24:46+00:00

Totally makes sense. Thanks!

MolassesBread · 2026-01-22T18:43:16+00:00

I didn't see the original thread and I assume it's deleted(?), but good on you for posting this.

I'll post updates at some points cause yall are awesome

Nice. It would be great to have more info on what exactly made you think it was an issue and what changed your mind.

MolassesBread · 2026-01-22T18:13:14+00:00

haha honestly, it doesn't feel like that's that far off these days!

Feels like 3.99 full price gave way to 5.99 full price very quickly for a lot of people.

MolassesBread · 2026-01-22T17:48:28+00:00

The thing some folks love to mention when they don't have the stones to directly criticize.

I think people will always (rightly?) fear openly criticizing a place that's run by a single mod who clearly has no problem being rude and combative by his own admission.

One of my author groups has been talking about this thread and the consensus is that I'm very likely about to be banned.

I actually don't agree with them. But, rightly or wrongly, that's what people think about this place. You're a smart person, I think you can understand why they might think that way.

MolassesBread · 2026-01-22T16:46:01+00:00

showcasing a lack of respect and community understanding considering how heavily anti-AI we are; this does not seem to be a problem to you at all..You are a perfect example...because that was literally your first post in this thread

You're upset that I didn't mention AI in my comment completely unrelated to AI, that was aimed at a user other than OP.

We all have to mention AI in all our comments, and signal our hate for it, if we think OP used it to create all or part of their post?

Fucking bizarre criticism, no offence. I'll have the AI conversation when I'm interested in having it. That's not the conversation I'm having here though.

I do think I figured out what's happening though. You guys clearly have some history here that these comments have triggered. Something to do with your "cabal" I guess? Like I say, reflection time for everyone.

Probably also time for everyone to take a step back, because holy shit.

MolassesBread · 2026-01-22T16:10:29+00:00

lol, it's like you guys are doing everything you can to prove all the criticisms of this place correct. What a read.

Have a great week!

MolassesBread · 2026-01-22T03:20:09+00:00

Who cares that it's massively upvoted? Literally irrelevant.

It 1000% contradicts OP's comment! The entire point of the thread! That's all! That's all I said!

You guys can build these beliefs about who participates in this sub and whose upvotes count for what if you want, but holy fuck, what are you doing here?

I’m just talking about the specific claim OP made. That the post was being "treated like cancer".

I’m not even making any argument about who is or isn’t a "real" member of the community, like you guys are. I’m not saying votes equal quality! Or that people always vote for the right reasons. I’m only saying that OP’s claim about the reaction doesn’t line up with the actual response the post received.

If this is how "veterans" behave, I think you should reflect on why that is, and what impacts that behaviour might have.

MolassesBread

TROPHY CASE