Independent publishing is a hive.
And it starts with you.
Your ideas, your worlds, your characters, and your voice. It starts with that spark of creativity and imagination, paired with the willpower to write it down and share your stories with the world.
(You could kinda say you’re the Queen Bee!)
But then you need editors. Formatters. Cover designers. Marketing help. All the editorial and publicity resources that traditional publishing readily supplies but indie authors have to get very creative and selective on just to make it feasible.
Finally, the booksellers step in. We’re the ones physically placing your stories in the hands of readers who have probably never heard of this book before. We step forward and act as a mouthpiece and display to direct attention to your work. This part of the publishing process is what puts money into your bank account so you can write more and—you guessed it—start the cycle all over again.
We need each other.
And that’s why we designed our Book Club to support you, the indie author, as much as possible.
How It Works
-
STEP 1: Schedule your Feature Month with us
Right now, the easiest way to do so is to email us at support@bumblebooks.co so we can take a look at the calendar, your novel, and brainstorm some fun events to pair with it!
PLEASE NOTE: Your ebook MUST BE REMOVED FROM KINDLE UNLIMITED before we can schedule your Feature Month! This is a strict requirement that Amazon KDP has in place—and the last thing we want to do is risk your account! Once your book is out of KU, you are allowed to distribute it wherever and however you want (including in our Book Club).
-
STEP 2: Schedule your Live Event(s)
Location isn’t a problem for us! Whether you’re located across the globe or next door in Cedar Rapids, we’ll be able to create fun events designed to connect you with our readers. This can be online through our private Facebook Group, in person at The Amana Colonies in Iowa, or both!
If you are able to visit us in Amana, we have several venues to partner up with for Books & Brews, our new author event series that pairs great stories with delicious beers, wine, and coffee. Let us know what you’re interested in, and we’ll make it happen!
-
STEP 3: Promote the Book Club!
We’re bringing our readers to you, and we need your help bringing your readers to us!
Promoting our Book Club doesn’t have to wait until you’re scheduled for a Feature Month, but it definitely needs to happen once you are scheduled so you can sell more copies and make more money! PLUS: every subscription supports our indie bookstore so we can continue to order, reorder, and promote your books, host these events, and so much more.
What’s in it for you?
There is NO COST to participate as a featured author.
It’s never sat right with us that so many book promo sites designed to “help authors” also charge authors to receive the help. Why? We’re asking that literally—we’ve been crunching numbers and still can’t figure that out! You’ve already done the hard work of writing, curating, and publishing the novel. Now it’s time to sit back and let us handle the distribution part. When you’re scheduled as the Featured Author/Book of the Month, you don’t pay us a dime. WE pay YOU the royalties from that month’s subscriptions.
Which leads us to the fun part:
You receive FULL ROYALTIES for your novel.
The average cost of an ebook across the board typically runs around $4.99, but the typical royalties paid out by popular platforms (*cough*) amount to maybe $1 of that, on a good day.
With our Book Club, you receive the full $5 per subscription—because each subscriber is a book sold. And you deserve more than pocket change for your brilliant work.
This means that even if only 100 Book Club members were signed up for the month you’re featured, you’d receive $500.
500 subscribers puts $2,500 in your pocket.
1,200 subscribers (our personal goal) = $6,000 directly to you.
We keep your files safe and secure—and limited access.
Prefer to use BookFunnel? Great! Want to send us the EPUB and PDF files via email? That works, too! No matter how you send us the access to your ebook, we’ll ensure it’s only distributed to paid subscribers and through securely encrypted email (we’re using MailerLite to ensure safe delivery). Nikki’s stepfather is a cyber security pro and has been advising us through the entire setup process to make sure we’re minimizing—if not completely eliminating—piracy risks.
But best to be safe and watermark your pages, if you can!
We don’t stop talking about you—or your books—after your Featured Month!
The goal here is to create addicts. Book addicts. And when we create book addicts, we create demand for more of your stories.
Which is, again, more income for you.
This is why we’ll always be keeping subscribers in the know of sequels, new releases, etc. from previously featured authors. This is also why our Book Club is PERFECT for anyone starting off or trying to reboot a new series! We know firsthand how intense the demand for a sequel can get (looking at you, NIKKI) and we’re excited to boost your success by nudging old and new Club members toward your new releases!
What’s in it for us?
Transparency time: we need this Book Club to work.
Or we won’t be able to work at all.
BumbleBooks is 100% self-funded, which means we don’t have any business loans, credit cards, or other outside capital sources to pay for our operations. Not for lack of trying! It’s just the cards we were dealt and we’ve been working with what we have. Slow and steady, but able to work on renovating the 161 year-old cellar from an abandoned former toy store into the fantasy underground fairy garden bookstore visitors have come to know and love. We’ve met new loyal readers and sold out several indie titles, and our plans for the future are focused on maximizing your success as an author just as much as our own as a bookstore.
Recently, however, we lost our source of funding.
Not just for the bookstore—but for our personal lives as well.
This Book Club is our fundraising effort to ensure we can continue to operate, continue to support you, and continue to bring happiness and stories to everyone who visits us in this beautiful National Heritage Site. And while we could just crowdfund, we feel better about giving back as much (if not more) than we receive.
Because at the end of the day, it’s not about the money.
It’s about being able to work together as that storytelling, and story preserving, hive.
How Book Club subscriptions impact our bookstore:
-
Our brick-and-mortar rent is paid.
Website subscription is paid.
Free WiFi for guests & our operations is paid.
-
Rent is paid.
Website is paid.
WiFi is paid.
Approximately 20 indie authored titles are ordered/restocked at 4 copies each.
Ashlyn and Nikki have just enough to cover personal home rent & basic bills.
-
Store rent is paid.
Website is renewed at the annual rate, freeing up monthly cash flow for in-store operations.
WiFi plus new store phone line is paid.
40 indie titles are ordered/restocked at 4 copies each.
Online marketing budget is established, with a social media manager hired to maintain our various channels—focusing primarly on growing the Book Club.
Affiliate benefits program is established, making it possible for authors not being featured this month to still make some extra side income.
Additional renovations are completed in the storefront, including more bookshelves, reclaimed vintage displays, and eco-friendly adjustments to reduce waste and maximize environmental benefits.
Ashlyn & Nikki are able to be paid a living wage each that covers personal home rent, basic bills, medical treatments, etc.
-
All rents are paid
All bills are paid
If there's an annual subscription option for operational systems, we're utilizing it!
Online and print marketing is boosted even more, pulling in new readers, new subscribers, and promoting indie authors to new heights.
Bookstore expands into the next (currently unavailable) section. Renovations are paid for and underway.
Physical (quarterly) book box club is able to be stocked, cued, and debuted—adding more authors to featured months and events!
We're able to cover the majority of travel expenses for in-person author events, including hotel/BnB stays, food vouchers, and creature comforts.
The Featured Author is paid $9,000 in royalties—the average amount needed to pay editors, formatters, and cover designers to curate a new novel (based on industry research; actual expenses may vary).
Ashlyn & Nikki's bills are paid, old injuries are being treated, savings accounts actually exist, credit scores repaired, etc.
