Book Bomb Book Club - good idea?
Before I discuss the idea itself, here are a few definitions.
Book Bomb — A "book bomb" is when an author or publisher asks readers to purchase a particular book from Amazon on a specific day. If enough readers cooperate, it pushes the book up in Amazon's rankings, giving it much more exposure than it would get if the same number of copies of the book were purchased over a longer period of time. (via LDS Publisher)
Book Club — An organization that sells selected books to members or subscribers, often through the mail. (via Google)
Rewards Program (also Loyalty program) — Loyalty programs are structured marketing efforts that reward, and therefore encourage, loyal buying behavior. (via Wiki)
Bringing it all together
The purpose of a Book Bomb Book Club will be not only to increase a book's ranking on Amazon but reward readers with prizes.
I'm still mulling over the exact details, but the general idea will be to get as many people as possible to buy a certain book on a certain day, even during a certain hour. For those that do, rewards points will be assigned.
The points will be exchanged for prizes, including advertising packages via this website or other affiliated sites, Kindle ebooks, and paperbacks. I'm also open to other prize ideas.
Points will be based upon two things: the price of the book and the timing of the purchase.
For example, a book purchased during the first hour of the book bomb, 10 points per dollar spent will be assigned. A lower amount of points per dollar spent will be assigned after the first hour of the book bomb: 5 points the rest of that same day, 2 points the following day, and 1 point on the third day.
How it might work
An email will be sent out to interested parties announcing the book of the week. That email will also announce the first hour of the campaign. Another email will be sent at the beginning or right before the first hour.
Those that purchase the book and email me an invoice from Amazon proving the book was bought (within the same hour) will receive the highest points possible. Those that email invoices later will receive points based upon the date of purchase (as stated above).
If you would like to be included in the email list, check out this page. It's the "book recommendations by email" idea I tried to get going a few months ago. That's why the page doesn't mention the book club anywhere.
This book club idea and recommendations by email seem to be two ideas that would work well together.
What do you think?
