Why Didn't My Promo Work?

Photo by Cherie Haines fairygirlphoto.weebly.com

So if you are an Indie author, you've probably heard you must spend money to get money. And unless you're living under a rock, you most likely know Bookbub is the king of all promo sites. But what about the countless other sites? You know the ones. Pay them some money and they'll promote your book deal on their site. Or perhaps you've gone to sites who offer FREE promos... if they have the space. Otherwise, you can pay money for a 'guaranteed' listing.

As for free sites, yes, they might be free, but it does take lots of time and effort to submit books to them... time that might be better spent writing if they don't sell you any books.

I've spent a lot of money... more than I care to admit ... on promo sites that didn't work. And I wish I had taken the time and trouble to do this a LONG time ago. Oh well. Maybe I will save YOU some time and money.

I made a spreadsheet of promo sites. Now, this is not a complete list, I'm sure there are hundreds more. But they are the ones I found today. Then I went to Alexa.com and found out the website rankings for the sites. This shows monthly updates for how websites are ranked in the USA. The lower the number, the more visitors the site has. (for example, Facebook is number 2) 

Here are the top ten ranked sites as of March 20, 2016, and a link to a Google doc. with the rest I researched. Please feel free to share any other sites that have worked well for you, and don't forget to compare notes with other writers. Some genres might do better on some sites than others. 

(Note; Pixel of Ink is not listed, since it's not currently taking submissions)

1. Bookbub

Ranking:  1866

Price: 50.00-2000.00      

2. E-reader IQ 

Ranking: 8955 

Price: 20.00-150.00

3. Robin Reads (I've had great results with these folks, but they are picky)

Ranking: 9954

Price: 15.00-20.00

4. Booksends

Ranking: 17147

Price: 10-125.00

5. One Hundred Free E-Books

Ranking: 20054 

Price: 75-100.00

6. Freebooksy

Ranking:22774

Price: 40-200.00

7. Bknights (Fiverr)

Ranking: 28153

Price: 5.50

8. Daily Free E-books

Ranking: 32626

9. Book Lemur

Ranking: 32700

Price: 25.00-35.00

10. E-reader News Today
Ranking: 33828
Price: 15-50.00 (This site has done great for me and many others)

Here is the link to the Google spreadsheet. Hope it's helpful! https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BL0TCWKI8Ny05_iZpkllZvxT60zVSg12GNZUVPnHRXg/edit?usp=sharing
Please feel free to comment with thoughts/experience.