I Spent Over $4000 on Book Awards, This Happened

About this video

Dale reports a year-long case study using Book Award Pro, founded by Hannah Jacobson, which he describes as a matchmaker between books and awards. He outlines its three plans as about $9 for Essentials, about $59 for Plus with intelligent targeting, and about $189 for Pro, which includes intelligent targeting plus one award submission per month with the entry fee covered. Starting September 10 on the Pro plan, he used two $999 fast track boosts covering five submissions each and promoted four books. By his accounting, Amazon Keywords for Books was submitted to nine awards and won five for $1,566 invested, Promotional Strategies for Books was submitted to six and won three for $567, Amazon Reviews for Books was submitted to seven and won six for $945, and The Amazon Self Publisher was submitted to seven and won three initially, with three more arriving later, for $1,188. His total investment was $4,266, of which Book Award Pro received $2,619. He values perks like Literary Titan editorial reviews and certificates and Firebird giving three categories for one entry fee, but says sales impact is hard to isolate because he also promotes via YouTube, his blog, and Amazon Ads, and warns not to spend money you cannot afford to lose.

Key takeaways

• Book Award Pro’s value in Dale’s account is matching, targeting, press kits, and handling submissions, not guaranteeing sales from awards alone
• The Pro plan at about $189 per month covers one entry per month; lower tiers require doing submissions yourself
• Across four books in the case study, Dale reports 29 submissions, multiple wins per book, and a total spend of $4,266
• Some awards add usable marketing assets beyond a win, including editorial reviews, digital seals, certificates, and social promotion
• Only pursue paid awards with discretionary money and an active plan to market the wins through Author Central, ads, media, and other channels

Episode details: published October 26, 2021 · 13:11 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dale L. Roberts’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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