If you find books via the internet, you’ve probably already begun to use email recommendation services such as BookBub and Pixel of Ink to help you find deeply discounted ebooks (and sometimes paperbacks).
There are several of these services out there. From a writer’s point of view, I look for the ones with the largest subscriber base, to get the biggest bang for my buck. BookBub owns the title of largest with somewhere around 2 million subscribers. But, some users have become rather ho hum over the offerings provided.
See, if these services begin recommending books the subscribers buy and then find to be poorly written or wrongly recommended, the service looses its value and authority.
New ones are pouring into the market all the time. They each have their own schtick.
Kindle Books and Tips (been around for a while)
Pixel of Ink (also been around for a while)
The Midlist (powered by Libboo)
Here Comes a Bright Star
Now there is a new kid on the block, and it has some refreshing angles. While Discount Books Daily is still pretty small, (as far as the size of its subscriber list which numbers somewhere in the single digit thousands at the point of this email) the subscriber list size won’t impact the overall experience for the reader/subscriber much at all. And by the looks of it, the subscriber list size is growing pretty quickly.
DBD differentiates its service by providing discount recommendations for paperbacks and audiobooks as well as ebooks.
Beyond that, they are doing a lot of interesting things to build SEO down the stretch (which means search engines will catalogue and recommend them much more. The benefit of all this to the user is all the great information provided via the DBD blog. Stuff like interviews, contests and giveaways create a bit more of a reader’s haven then many of the email list services.
Another nice thing about DBD is that they create product pages for every book that has run a promotion on their site. This makes it easy for users to search genres for the backlist of offers without having to skim through all the daily posts. While some of the books end their promotional within a few days or a week, many of them run for longer stints of time. This allows users/readers to check every week or two for books they might like without bogging down the email inbox (if they chose to go that route, or if they simply never check their email).
In the future, these product pages will allow for more interaction between authors and consumers directly (if DBD chooses to embrace that path). This is something they seem to be doing already to an extent with interviews and the like.
My Selfish Motive
Of course, as a self-promoting indie author I would be amiss to not use this opportunity to mention that my book, De Novo Syndrome will be going on special tonight/tomorrow. And it will run on DBD! So, go sign up for the email service now and be prepared.