The “Fussy Librarian” Review

POSTED ON Dec 2, 2022

Scott Allan

Written by Scott Allan

Home > Blog > Reviews > The “Fussy Librarian” Review

The Rise of Book Promotions for Authors

A book promotion side is a website service that allows you to promote your book at a discounted rate or for free when the book launches, Or, You just want to promote it for a weekend. Book promotion sites use email lists, Social media, or press releases.

Most of these sites charge a standard one-time fee to promote your book for one day for low-cost promotions from FREE to $2.99. For best results and to maximize your book rankings, I recommend using the sites for their paid ads at 0.99cents.

There are literally hundreds of book promotion sites. You can see a list of the most popular sites here:

Get A Book Launch Checklist!

Get the exact checklist we give our authors before they launch in order to make the most of it and capitalize on your launch!

A Note To Our Readers:

We want you to make informed decisions when it comes to how and where to invest your money. That’s why our mission is to help educate authors on the various self-publishing companies and services that are on the market today.

Our reviews are meant to be unbiased, 3rd party reviews, but we will speak up if there is a scam or a clearly better option.

In this post, the site that we are going to walk you through is the Fussy Librarian packages and features. Remember: These promotional sites do cost money, but if you're launching a new book or promoting a current title we do encourage you to put money into your book marketing. But promotional sites provide you with instant traffic, and you can have a huge impact on your book’s success.

Here is a big list compilation of most of the sites:

An Interactive List of 100+ Book Promotion Sites & Free Submission Tool

You can also check out Dave Chesson’s blog on the Best 127+ sites to use for free and paid. 

Now, let's dive into the review of the Fussy Librarian book promotion service.

Here’s what we’ll cover in this Fussy Librarian Review:

What is the Fussy Librarian?

Screen Shot 2022 11 08 At 10.06.22

The Fussy Librarian is a very inexpensive but effective promotion site for authors. The Fussy Librarian promotes both free and bargain price books, preferably set to $.99.

The Fussy Librarian is the first website to match readers not only with the genre of books they like but also their preferences about content. Do you only read mysteries without profanity, violence, and sex? Then Fussy Librarian will tell you only about cozy mysteries. Read just memoirs and gory horror novels?  The Fussy Librarian has this covered, too.

All payments made for The Fussy Librarian are down through PayPal. The Fussy Librarian packages and promotes everything from closing mysteries to erotic romance you can promote fantasy, Christian fiction, children's books of all ages, historical romance, horror literary fiction, and any type of nonfiction book.

In the short review of the Fussy Librarian we will take a look at the features of the site and whether or not we think the site is worthy of your time and money to promote your book

The Fussy Librarian Founders

Jeffrey Bruner (Founder)

A native of Pittsburgh, Jeffrey Bruner grew up in Maryland and started writing stories for his weekly newspaper for $3 as an eighth-grader. He worked in journalism for over 25 years, first as a reporter, then as managing editor of The Daily Tribune in Ames, Iowa, and later in multiple roles at The Des Moines Register.

Sadye Scott-Hainchek (Web content coordinator/copy editor)

Sadye Scott-Hainchek’s bookworm credentials can be best summed up by the fact that in her youth, she wasn’t just sent to her room — she was sent to her room and told not to read. (Fortunately, as most young readers are, she was a relatively well-behaved child.)

Scott-Hainchek lives in Des Moines with her husband and two cats, whose cuddling demands make owning an e-reader absolutely essential. When not reading, she can be found cooking, enjoying a craft beer, and running or biking so that she can continue to indulge in the former two hobbies.

Fussy Librarian Packages and Pricing

It's fairly easy to set up a book promotion on the Fussy Librarian.

To do this your book must be set at a bargain price of $.99 in the Amazon store or for free. Your book must have at least ten reviews. The more reviews you have, the better chance you have of selling our books. But one thing to keep in mind is that the Fussy Librarian is very stringent about the quality of books it promotes. If your book goes against any of their guidelines, it could be rejected for promotion.

The steps to setting up a promotion on the Fussy Librarian website are:

[1] Select Your Categories (2 genres)

Choose from the calendar openings based on the category. You can choose up to two genres.

Screen Shot 2022 11 08 At 10.25.46

[2] Schedule with Calendar of Openings

Screen Shot 2022 11 08 At 10.28.07

You can schedule your promotion for 60 days. The availability of the promotion depends on the category you are promoting your book in. For less competitive categories, there will be more openings.

If you are just launching your book, it could be difficult to get onto the Fussy Librarian schedule. 

[3] Fill out and submit the book form

With this form, you're going to fill out all the details for the book you are promoting. You should prepare a synopsis for your book the ISBN number and the individual links to your book on other sites, including Apple Barnes & Noble or Nook

Screen Shot 2022 11 08 At 10.34.15

If you look at the screenshot from the form below, you can see the details that are required for you to promote your book on Fussy Librarian. One of the best features of this is that you can promote two books on the same day. However, you will still pay $20 for each book promotion. The strategy works very well if you have a series of books and you want to promote your back list.

Screen Shot 2022 11 08 At 10.34.26

Content Preferences

Finally, you can choose the language, sexual content, and add another book. Remember: Fussy Librarian is very fussy about the books they choose to promote.

Screen Shot 2022 11 08 At 10.43.47

Setting up your book should only take about five minutes. Once completed, you just submit your book, check out through PayPal, and your promotion scheduled.

Fussly Librarian: Newswire

The Fussy Librarian has its newsletter called the newswire. The newswire Is divided into readers and authors. If you are a reader looking for books, you can read about the books being featured on Fussy Librarian.

Screen Shot 2022 11 08 At 10.48.35

If you are an author, you have access to a wide range of blog posts and articles to help you with your publishing journey. 

Screen Shot 2022 11 08 At 10.48.55

We highly recommend signing up for their author newsletter. About once a week, you’ll get a quality email full of publishing news, writing tips, and marketing advice from the publishing world.

Fussy Librarian: The Library

When your book Is being promoted on Fussy Library, you can see your book live in the bookstore. The library has a large collection of books that are featured by self-published authors. You can find a wide range of books for free and at bargain prices.

Screen Shot 2022 11 08 At 12.59.16

Free Kindle ebooks

As mentioned, the Fussy Librarian features a wide range of free books. In the free kindle ebook store, tons of free books are offered at any given time. You can scroll through and download free books for children, Fantasy, historical fiction, Romance, or nonfiction self-help.

Screen Shot 2022 11 08 At 13.02.30

The Fussy Librarian. Book Wear Store

In addition to providing free writing resources to authors, The Fussy Librarian book also has its own book-wear store. This is a store where you can shop for writing apparel, T-shirts, Hoodies, and other Book collectibles

Screen Shot 2022 11 08 At 13.11.48

Final Review: Is the Fussy Librarian Worth It?

The Fussy Librarian is worth the time and money if you have the right kind of book that markets well on the site. Although you're only forking over $20 for a bargain book, the number of downloads you receive could be minimal if you promote a bargain-priced book. But results vary depending on the type of book, whether it is fiction or nonfiction or in a genre that sells well or generally has mediocre results.

We have tested this site with over ten books and found that, on average, a book set pricing of $.99 generates 10 to 20 downloads. Yet, however, those same books were set to free, and the downloads tend to be anywhere from 200 to 400 downloads. What this tells us is that the Fussy Librarian is best served if you are giving away a free book and not so much for bargain books.

With all of the promotional sites that are available to you for promoting your book, the Fussy Librarian is not at the top of our list of book promotion sites. We recommend you test several book promotional sites before deciding on the best sites for your books.

Do you have experience promoting your book with the Fussy Librarian? If so, what results did you get? Tell us about your experience below in the comments.

Ready to Launch Your Book?

Fill out this form for a comprehensive book launch checklist.

FREE BOOK OUTLINE TEMPLATE

100% Customizable For Your Manuscript.

Liked this post? Share it with friends!
Related posts

Reviews

Skyhorse Publishing Review: The Right Path for Your Book?

Reviews

MasterClass Review 2024: Pros, Cons, Costs & Alternatives

Reviews

MindStir Media Review (2024 Guide for Authors)