The Fussy Librarian

The Fussy Librarian is a website that provides a newsletter to readers with customized lists of discount and free eBooks. For writers, the site is an email marketing service. There are other services such as BookBub, which is a huge one and merits its own post. I’ll be talking about BookBub at the end of the week.

For readers, the Fussy Librarian has three ways to save on books. On the site, there are lists of free and discounted titles for Kindle and Nook. Readers can also subscribe to two email lists—one for bargain books and one for free books. The bargain newsletter arrives daily with discount and free eBooks. The other, only for free eBooks, can be customized to arrive on days chosen. Once a reader subscribes, they receive both a confirmation and a practical email detailing how to use the links on the newsletter. Titles link to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Smashwords, Google Play, and Kobo.

For writers, the Fussy Librarian offers a way to get your books in front of readers. This is not a free service, but a paid advertiser. The site offers its pricing right up front. Free books have one set of prices depending on genre, and the bargain list has another set. The genre list is huge and includes nonfiction. They even list how many subscribers to a particular list allowing you to judge if the cost is worth it. I won’t put them all here because of space. As a contemporary romance author, my cost would be $20 for the Bargain for almost 80,000 subscribers and $43 for the Free for 230,000 subscribers. The cost would get me into the newsletter and database for 30 days. These are all readers looking for books! No spam here.

Note: The Fussy Librarian makes no guarantee of sales.

What to Submit

• The first novel in a series is a good way to entice readers into your writing. If you can get a discount or free cost for the book, readers are more likely to grab the second one. I have a friend who made the first in her series perma-free (Indy author) and now can use it here and at other discount newsletter sites easily. 
• If you have a new book coming out, use that one. Many times publishers will discount the price of a new book during the first few weeks of sales. Take advantage.
• Run with holidays. If you have a holiday-themed book, cash in on the holiday itself or something like Christmas in July.

How to submit.

• Click on the Advertising menu. Choose from the options: Submit a bargain eBook, Submit a free eBook, and Check bargain book openings. I suggest if your book isn’t free, to start with Openings. The website has a calendar showing available times to add your book to the list. Click on your genre and then click Schedule a Book. Make an account (if you don’t already have one). On the dashboard, click on the Submit a book option.
• Fill in book details including the title, a synopsis (basically, the blurb), the number of pages, audiobook link (if you have one and I think there’s no extra cost), free or discounted with original price and new price, dates of the sale price, ASIN number, ratings from Amazon or Nook (number of and average), cover image (recommended sized of 200px x 300px) and bookseller links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Smashwords, Google Play, and Kobo.
• Next, choose your primary genre. The site itself recommends using only one (there may be an additional fee for a second genre.) The form automatically adds the price and type of newsletter you choose. Then schedule a date by checking their calendar for availability. Best to plan ahead if you know you have a sale coming up. Add a reminder to rerun the ad if you choose. Select the language of the book and any notes.
• On to Content. Select the language. Here it means how much swearing can be expected. Select violence level and sexual content. These options may limit the number of readers who get your book in the newsletter. BUT it’s better to remove readers who won’t like your cussing or who wanted a sweet story. There’s nothing worse than a 1-star review because the reader didn’t realize they grabbed an erotica book. There are also checkboxes for Sexual Violence, Animal Cruelty, and Torture. (My guess is that The Fussy Librarian does not want those books on their list.)
• Then hit submit and see if they accept your book. According to the site, it takes about twenty-four hours for submissions to be processed. You may not get chosen right away, but keep submitting. You never know!

Also, I realize many authors are with publishers, and obtaining sale prices for their books is not always easy. It may be tough to coordinate the publisher’s sale with a Fussy Librarian newsletter. My advice is to plan ahead—way ahead—to get the most out of your sale.  

The Fussy Librarian is an excellent way to start small with these newsletters. The prices are reasonable and the audience is sizable.