You have two bidding options to choose from for BookBub Ads campaigns: cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPM) or cost-per-click (CPC). There are benefits and tradeoffs to both bidding styles, but CPC is usually the best choice for controlling the cost of your ads. In this post, we’ll highlight some of the reasons why advertisers choose CPC bidding and share tips from 15 successful CPC advertisers on how to make the most of this bidding strategy.
Why CPC?
With CPC bidding, you set the maximum rate you’re willing to pay for each click on your ad. A higher bid makes your ad more likely to win impressions in the auction, where one impression equals one opened email or website page. But unlike CPM bidding, where you pay for each impression of your ad, you only get charged for the impressions you win that also generate a click. This makes CPC bidding an appealing choice for advertisers who are focused on running cost-effective ads designed to drive sales and profit.
I chose CPC because my goal is to obtain a positive ROI, rather than just build awareness around my book. My favorite thing about CPC bidding is the certainty that I’ll only pay for the clicks my ad gets.
— Cristiana-Maria Pavel, author of The Queen’s Emerald
Impressions are great, but readers don’t buy unless they click. Since I’m seeking new readers, I prefer to pay for clicks. I’m more likely to use CPM when testing a new campaign, but even then, I prefer CPC. Plus, I’ve been able to get some truly low CPM when using the CPC strategy.
— Avanti Centrae, international bestselling author of VanOps: The Lost Power
I prefer to focus my spend on potential readers who are engaged enough by the advert to click it, rather than just showing the ad to everyone in my target audience on a per impression basis and paying regardless of whether they engage or not. For me, this offers more control. I know that CPM works for many people and that’s all good! It’s better for achieving reach, certainly, but my goal is conversions, not reach.
— G J Ogden, author of Guardian Outcast
CPC bidding seems to give you a little more control on your price and how much you spend. If you are trying to be a bit more conservative, and you aren’t worried about the campaign spending your full budget each day, this may be a better strategy for you.
— Reagan Rothe, Creator of Black Rose Writing publishing house
The part I appreciate most about CPC ads is the amount of control it gives me. I usually price the CPC a little higher and keep my budget low and that produces a steady stream of sales. This helps me achieve a bidding advantage, and even though my CPC bid is high, it almost never hits the ceiling.
— Addison Moore, New York Times bestselling author of 3:AM Kisses
Here are nine tips from CPC advertisers on how they use this bidding style to run cost-effective and engaging BookBub Ads campaigns:
1. Run long-term campaigns
Many advertisers who favor CPC bidding find that it’s beneficial for running long-term ad campaigns that generate a steady stream of clicks over time.
I use CPC bidding for my long-term ‘drip’ campaigns to my permafree books. I prefer to do the CPC ads for the long-term campaigns because CPM can go through my money very quickly and I like to keep those for my shorter ad runs (when I’m trying to reach as many people as possible in a short period of time) or testing (when I’m looking for data over results).
— Golden Angel, USA Today bestselling author of Philip’s Rules
I use CPM bidding sparingly, mostly for flash campaigns for new releases. For ongoing advertising, I find that CPC bidding allows me much better control.
— Kfir Luzzatto, author of Exodus ‘95
I tend to run my Bookbub Ads as evergreen ads, so CPM doesn’t work for my advertising strategy because I will exhaust the audience with my ad and see diminishing returns and increased costs. That’s why I favor CPC ads.
— G.K. Parks, author of Likely Suspects
2. Focus on book sales, not just click-through rates
Advertisers using CPC bidding tend to be focused on generating conversions from ad clicks to book sales, so they’re often relying on their retailer sales reporting to determine whether an ad is successful. When promoting a book in a series, don’t forget to factor in follow-on sales of later books when determining how much you can afford to bid per click.
I rarely pay attention to click-through rate (CTR) because I’ve never really had a super high percentage like I’ve read other authors seem to have. It’s almost entirely sales driven. I have an ad that I’ve been running (at least some version of it) for almost two years. I have a budget of $50 per day. I get a lot of AU and UK clicks on it and those markets are much smaller for me, so I can really see the effect of this ad. That book, Melissa and the Vicar, is my highest selling book across the board, but especially abroad.
— Minerva Spencer, author of Phoebe
BookBub Ads are invaluable for me in growing sales in a series. I use CPC ads to drive traffic to the first book, which in turn helps to increase my read-through and grow my sales through the entire series.
— S.B. Alexander, author of The Hunted
A key point to make is that you can attain a high CTR percentage, but if it isn’t translating into sales then perhaps you have generated enough interest for someone to click on your ad, but once they are there, the book isn’t for them. I try to target authors in my genre who are advertising with Featured Deals on BookBub, then sort of ride their coattails, so to speak. But your book must be deeply discounted for that strategy to work.
— Beth Wiseman, author of Home All Along
3. Portray your book authentically to boost conversions
When your goal is to drive clicks and conversions, it’s worth investing time in designing ad creative that will stand out and appeal to your ideal readers.
It’s important to make the advert not only attractive but super-clear, so that there are no surprises when a person clicks through. So being clear on price and genre, and using a hook that’s truthful and not ‘baity’, which would invite wasted clicks that you still have to pay for. The more authentic the ad, the more likely it is that those who click through will convert.
— G J Ogden, author of Guardian Outcast
One tip I’ve discovered is the benefit of creating my own custom ad designs. Making my own ad creative, like a book cover, I think puts my advertisement ahead of others. I make my ads simple with very little typography or extraneous designs using Book Brush or Canva.
— A.L. Hawke, author of Broomstick
4. Tailor your bid amount to your audience and goals
Your CPC bid sets the maximum rate you’ll pay for each click on your ad. A lower bid will keep your ad costs down, and a higher bid will increase your odds of winning impressions. Many advertisers recommend choosing a bid amount tailored to their particular campaign strategy.
The amount I bid depends on the campaign goal. If I’m shooting to hit a bestseller list, I’ll pay far more than if I’m running a long-term campaign.
— Avanti Centrae, international bestselling author of VanOps: The Lost Power
When it comes to CPC bidding, the amount I bid depends on the size of the audience I’m targeting. For a bigger audience, I’ll usually go for a bid of $1.50, thus ensuring my ad gets to enough people while also reaching a lower cost per click. For smaller audiences, I’ll go for a bid of $2, to make sure I reach enough people.
— Cristiana-Maria Pavel, author of The Queen’s Emerald
When promoting my bestseller The Physician’s Daughter, I used a fairly low CPC bid amount at first. However, when I raised the amount to the maximum bid suggested in the ad form, my ads resulted in nearly 8,000 clicks in one month — because they received the premium spots.
— Martha Conway, author of Thieving Forest
5. Adjust your bid regularly
Successful CPC advertisers frequently check their campaign results and update their bids to ensure their ads are meeting their goals.
When it comes to bidding strategy, I don’t have any secret sauce. I primarily consider BookBub’s average winning bid scale and choose a CPC that falls between the high and low ranges. Then depending on how the ad performs, I make adjustments accordingly.
— S.B. Alexander, author of The Hunted
To get started, I put in an initial bid somewhere in the suggested range, then adjust up or down, as needed.
— Kurt Brouwer, author of The Last Disciple: Crisis in Jerusalem
We typically try to bid on the high side and then monitor the cost-per-click, as in most cases you are winning at a lower rate. If the CPC is right at our bid amount, and the data shows it’s too high to be profitable, then we will adjust down.
— Reagan Rothe, Creator of Black Rose Writing publishing house
I usually start my bids at the lowest recommended amount in the ad form. If I’m not getting any impressions, I’m not bidding high enough, so I increase the amount a little at a time until I reach a CTR of at least 1.5%, although I’ve reached percentages up to 20%. I usually run an ad for $10 per day and watch it closely. If it performs well, I’ll increase the daily amount.
— Beth Wiseman, author of Home All Along
I tend to choose my bid amount by pure guesswork and then fiddle around with it in future ads. I’ll often use the suggested bid amount as a jumping off point and go either a little lower or a little higher just to see what happens.
— Golden Angel, USA Today bestselling author of Philip’s Rules
6. Use CPC to test new targets without breaking the bank
While many advertisers prefer CPM bidding for test campaigns to quickly get results, some have found that testing with CPC allows them to see which ads will generate results without spending too much.
I use CPC for testing. I tend to leave an ad running until it reaches 1,000 impressions before I turn it off if it doesn’t get any clicks. Most of the time, I’m able to tell if an ad will work within 200-300 impressions, but I like having the extra data.
— G.K. Parks, author of Likely Suspects
I use CPC bidding to find good comp authors. At first I use a low budget when I experiment with a new author, typically $5 per day, and also a low bid. If I get good results, I increase both the budget and the bid. In my experience, this is a cost-effective and efficient screening procedure. I first look at the CTR and the cost-per-click. I consider a target with a CTR of 2% or more to be good and one with a CTR of around 1% to be tested more to see if it can improve. I’ve had targets with a CTR of 3-4% that had a cost-per-click that made them unattractive, so in evaluating a target, you definitely need to look at everything at once.
— Kfir Luzzatto, author of Exodus ‘95
7. Avoid targeting popular authors to win affordable clicks
In terms of audience targeting, CPC advertisers have found success with different strategies. One tip is to avoid targeting popular authors if you want to win clicks at a lower rate.
Don’t choose popular authors with a huge following. It’s more competitive, and you will end up bidding higher. I shoot for authors who have readers in the 30k-50k range. That’s not to say I rule out authors who only have 2,500 fans. Sometimes, that’s a good strategy, and you can pick up sales with a low CPC. If you are an established author, target yourself in your ads. I have had the most success when I target myself while running an ad.
— Beth Wiseman, author of Home All Along
8. Target larger audiences to grow your own readership
On the flip side, if you target an author with a large audience and can afford to bid higher, this can be a good way to grow your own audience! If you’ve associated a book with your ad campaign, any reader who clicks on the ad will be added to that author’s targetable audience of readers for future ad campaigns.
The great thing about choosing CPC is the fact you can target authors with large numbers of readers in a cost-effective manner. With CPM you need to target authors with lower readership to help keep your spend down, but with CPC it’s a wide open playing field. That’s helped introduce my work to readers who enjoy books in my genre by their favorite authors.
— Addison Moore, New York Times bestselling author of 3:AM Kisses
9. Take the time to tweak and test your ads
No matter which bidding style you use, testing your ads is the best way to improve your results. Any advertising platform usually takes some trial and error to discover what works best for your books, so take the time to try out different bids, targets, and images until you hit on something that works.
I constantly adapt my ads daily. If my initial ad burns money fast, it means it’s successful. My goal is to then drive down the bid by $0.02 cents daily to a goal of $0.40 or lower. I release all new ads at around $0.65 per click. From there, I lower the amount based on the budget spent daily. I also start all ads at $5 budget per day. My goal is to discover an ad yielding a CTR of 2-3%.
My most successful ad ever had a CTR of 6% for three months! That was amazing, and I rode with it, increasing the daily budget to $35 because of the subsequent increase in sales. Unfortunately, as often happens with ads, success leveled off and I had to discard that advertisement. Working with ads means loads of daily experimentation. I’ve probably created over a hundred BookBub Ads over the past four years. It’s a lot of work, but I’m thankful for the sales.
— A.L. Hawke, author of Broomstick
The main reason I chose CPC over CPM is that the breakdown is easier for me to understand and I feel like I have more control if I want to make several adjustments in the course of any given sales period. I do quite a bit of tweaking (especially if an ad is new) so this just seems more responsive to me.
— Minerva Spencer, author of Phoebe
With CPC, I can get lower costs than with CPM bidding. That said, it’s not necessarily easy. Choosing a bid is really about trial and error, but it comes down to maxing out my budget with the lowest possible CPC.
— Jayson Adams, author of Infernum
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