Book Promo Fees Gone Too High

I got an email today offering book promotion for Indie authors in their online magazine.
Let me tell you, my jaw dropped when I opened the email and looked at their prices.

$250 (yes, two hundred fifty) for a quarter page ad for ONE book. Do you know how small is a ¼ of a page in an online magazine? They can fit a thumbnail size book cover with one buying link. Seriously? For $250?

$500 (Yes, five hundred) for a full page ad for ONE book. Okay, at least they can fit a decent size cover with link and blurb. But for $500? Really? I never met any Indie author who could afford that.

$3,700 (Yes, three thousand seven hundred) for a year that includes ONE book ad in six magazine issues. Well, I’m speechless!

There is more…
They don’t promote the magazines on a website or on social sites. They send out the link to (supposedly) 150,000 email subscribers. However, I seriously doubt that.
So, for that much money, your thumbnail size book cover might be seen by a few subscribers. The truth is that the newsletter opening rate dropped to about 30% because the giants such as BookBub are leading this promo option.
Readers are not that eager to subscribe to less known magazines.

Want to know more?
Readers subscribe because they want free books. Do you think it’s worth spending money to advertise your regular priced eBook in the newsletter? I don’t think so. For free books it’s fine (if you can afford the $600 with BookBub) because it increases book ranking. 

What is there for an author who can't afford high-priced marketing?
Keep writing and wait for word-of-mouth advertising.