BookBub is a book discovery service that was created to help readers find new books and authors. The company features free and discounted

ebooks An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...

selected by its editorial team, as well as book recommendations, updates from authors, and articles about books. The service is free for readers and includes a website and personalized email newsletters.

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

called BookBub the “

Groupon Groupon is an American global e-commerce marketplace connecting subscribers with local merchants by offering activities, travel, goods and services in 13 countries. Based in Chicago, Groupon was launched there in November 2008, launching soon af ...

of e-books.” BookBub has millions of users in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. For publishers and authors, BookBub provides marketing tools that are intended to help them reach readers and sell more books. The company also operates an audiobook retailer called Chirp. The company is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

History

BookBub was founded in January 2012 by Josh Schanker and

Nicholas Ciarelli Nicholas M. Ciarelli (born September 5, 1986) is an American journalist and was Editor-In-Chief of Think Secret, a website he started in 1999 at the age of thirteen and ceased publishing on December 20, 2007 after reaching a settlement with Apple ...

. In May 2014, BookBub raised $3.8 million in a Series A round led by NextView Ventures and Founder Collective, and joined by Avalon Ventures and

Bloomberg Beta Bloomberg Beta is an early stage venture capital firm with $375M under management, capitalized solely by Bloomberg. The fund exists to expand Bloomberg’s horizons by investing in companies built by extraordinary founders that are creating prof ...

. In September 2014, BookBub launched in the UK. In May 2015, BookBub raised $7 million in new equity and debt financing from its existing investors. In 2019, BookBub had 120 employees, tens of millions of subscribers, and launched an

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sc ...

division called

Chirp A chirp is a signal in which the frequency increases (''up-chirp'') or decreases (''down-chirp'') with time. In some sources, the term ''chirp'' is used interchangeably with sweep signal. It is commonly applied to sonar, radar, and laser system ...

Business model

The newsletter is free to customers but authors and publishers pay to be featured in the newsletter. Authors and publishers use BookBub to gain exposure with the intention to increase future sales. The cost to have your book feature depends on the genre and price of the book. In 2014, the cheapest slot was $40 to advertise a free book of African-American interest. BookBub rejects about 80 to 90 percent of requests for eBooks to be featured.

References

{{marketing-stub Newsletters