The Ambitious Author

3 Things I Love About Book Cave

Posted on February 1, 2018 Updated on January 31, 2018

If you’ve read many of my blog posts about growing your email list, you’ve probably heard me mention the website MyBookCave.com. As I talk to authors, it seems there’s a bit of “Angst-of-the-Unknown” syndrome associated with the site.

Since some of my favorite group giveaways have been run through the My Book Cave, and almost all of their services are FREE, they’re definitely a site for authors to check out.

They’ve recently rebranded as “Book Cave” (drop the “My”), so I’ll refer to them by that name moving forward.

The site has a ton of resources for authors, but it can be a bit confusing at first, because both the Reader and Author resources are located on the same website. To help clear out the fog, I’ll share my three favorite parts of Book Cave, and how to navigate each of them. Believe me, it’s worth exploring!

1.Group Giveaways to Grow Your Email List.

These are for authors who have an ebook they can give free to each person who signs up for their email list (so not a good fit if you’re only traditionally published.) The giveaways are completely FREE, unless the group decides to pitch in to give a gift card as extra incentive to grab readers’ attention. Book Cave calls them Subscriber Magnet Groups.

The giveaways I’ve participated in are usually run by either Rachel Branton or Joyce DiPastena. Both do an EXCELLENT job! Great graphics. Regular communication and reminders. Perfect for someone who doesn’t have a lot of time to spend on the giveaway. And did I mention they’re completely free?

To join a Group Giveaway, start by signing up for a free author account at https://mybookcave.com. Then, sign-up for their weekly author newsletter by going to https://mybookcave.com/authorsandpublishers/ and enter your email in the box next to “Learn More.” They send a list of upcoming group promotions each week, so you can join the ones that will be a good fit for your books. If you don’t want to wait for the BC newsletter, you can also visit Rachel Branton’s site to see and sign-up for the groups she coordinates for Book Cave: https://authorpromos.teylarachelbranton.com/upcoming-promotions/. Look in the “Subscriber Magnet” section for the email list growth giveaways. Another way to find out about new group giveaways is through Book Cave’s FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/223441904778413/

Once you’ve found a group giveaway to join, you’ll want to set-up your Subscriber Magnet, which is your book page where readers learn about your book and download it in exchange for joining your email list. Here’s a great step-by-step to add a Subscriber Magnet. https://mybookcave.com/authorpost/how-to-add-a-subscriber-magnet-book-on-your-dashboard/. It’s easy!

Once you’re signed up, there’s nothing else to do until you receive an email with the giveaway graphics and links. When the giveaway goes live, make sure you share as communicated by the coordinator.

To receive the list of your new subscribers, you can either connect your magnet to your email list provider so the emails go directly, or you can manually download the list of subscribers each day.

2. Email Sales Promotion.

Book Cave has a reader email list of over 38,000 subscribers split by the genre each reader prefers. BC will promote your book when it’s on sale, similar to the way BookBub does. A much smaller scale, of course, but the cost is only about $20 (depending on your book’s genre and price point). See all the details here: https://mybookcave.com/submission-guidelines/. It’s a nice shot to your book sales for a small cost.

Which brings me to my third favorite…

3. Group Sales Promos.

These are like a combination of the two I mentioned above. The goal is to join with several authors to promote your books that are on sale. Book Cave will also promote it and run Facebook ads for the promo. Your book must be on sale for free or $0.99 during the promo time, and there is a small cost of $10. Most of that $10 goes for the Facebook ads. 

You can find the promos in the same way as the Subscriber Magnet Promos I mentioned in favorite #1 (in BC’s weekly newsletter, at Rachel Branton’s website, or in the BC Facebook Group). You submit your book to a suitable promo, and once you’re accepted, you’ll be invoiced for the $10 joining fee.

When it’s almost time for the promo to begin, you’ll receive an email from the fabulous coordinator with graphics and other instructions. You’re usually asked to share the promo and all the great book deals with your readers. The goal is to increase book sales for all involved!

So there you have it! Book Cave has several other neat resources, like a cover calculator guide for Indies and the ability to send preorder alerts to followers, but I’ll let you explore those on your own. Their weekly newsletter is a great way to stay in the loop on their newest offerings.

Now it’s your turn! Have you ever used Book Cave, especially the Group Giveaways? Can you tell that’s my favorite part? 🙂 Share your experiences in the comments!

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