This is one of those reviews I might have to revisit once I’ve had some time to put the advice it contains into practice, because make no mistake, this is not a get-rich-quick scheme. David Gaughran lays out a methodical plan for getting BookBub ads to work for your book, using some basic math, decent graphics and a reasonable budget, but it isn’t going to work overnight. Not unless you can afford to do all the testing he recommends simultaneously, anyway, which I definitely can’t.
What I like best about this book is it’s not math-dense. I’m no dullard with math, but my eyes glaze over once statistic-heavy spreadsheets start to come into play, and with Gaughran’s method, you have absolutely no need of them. He gives some very understandable targets you can see right from your BookBub ad dashboard, and then discusses how to go about optimizing your ads to improve against those targets. It’s easy to understand, engagingly written, and with links to best-practice examples, possible for anyone to execute. A formula for success.
I’ve already set up my first trial ads, and while my figures aren’t anything to shout about yet, I have confidence that I can improve them by refining my graphics and targeting using Gaughran’s methods. This is a very solid addition to his Let’s Get Publishing series (I recommend Let’s Get Digital to anyone even THINKING about self-publishing), and I’m giving it a solid five stars.
