Books Go Social Reviews

3.5 Rating 178 Reviews
58 %
of reviewers recommend Books Go Social
3.5
Based on 178 reviews
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I’d been seeking a professional marketing team for several months for my debut contemporary romance, after 2 traditionally published indie non-fiction books. I am all-in with Laurence O’Bryan and Books Go Social for very good reasons. I was provided an in-depth critique of my online footprint, which I thought was pretty decent. The second I read the breakdown from Books Go Social, I knew I was in for it. The marketing template that BGS supplies requires the author to gear up and do a lot of work. A. Lot. Being a successful author today means getting behind your book & sharing information about it everywhere you can on social media. If you buy one of their packages, BGS provides the road map & an incredible team that blasts your book to tens of thousands of people, week after week. But if the author wants to sell books there is a lot she/he must be committed to doing to compliment the efforts by BGS. They can’t do it alone. I began a complete retooling of my online presence. Some of the things Laurence suggested I wasn’t sure how to do or even how to begin. That was in May 2016. I kept reading, watching the BGS videos, and following their advice. Writing blog posts that were specifically targeted to selling my contemporary romance was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to learn. I’m lousy at marketing & I just couldn’t get my head around it, but I kept writing. All of my social media channels had to be reimagined for fiction & contemporary romance only. I turned my Twitter feed inside out. Understanding how you retool your professional profile when you’ve been known for one thing & are now writing something else was a huge lift for me and extremely difficult. BGS showed me the way & opened up a world on Facebook through their groups for authors, reviews, and readers that had me, yet again, regrouping how I used Facebook. However, nothing was more difficult than the redesign and repurposing of my website. The front page is now where all those posts that BGS tweet out can be found & nothing is on that page but my book. All of this & more is why I drafted Laurence O’Bryan as my mentor. Periscope videos, Facebook videos, and just as important is his philosophy in working with authors that include giving back to others. If you’re a serious writer who wants to have a chance at cracking the code on being a successful author, BGS is the place I recommend you begin. However, do not believe you’re going to get reviews, sell books, and be successful if you’re not willing to do the job that every author must do. No one can replace the energy of an author towards their own book. BGS is the other half of this equation. It’s a business partnership, a relationship. Through BGS, I’ve now finally got a book cover that sings the song & mood of my contemporary romance. But guess what, I still need more reviews, I’ve got more marketing blog posts to do, and I’m about to begin writing “Book 2” of my debut series, which means parts of this process start all over again. BGS has delivered everything they promised, including professional challenges to me as an author on what my part is if I want to succeed. You do have to keep in contact, email them, tell them what is and isn't happening, just like you would any other business relationship. BGS will be an integral part of my book marketing in 2017 & I intend to enlist them to help me launch “Book 2.” I’m very grateful for the knowledge I’ve gained and what I continue to learn. BGS is the best friend a fearlessly determined author can have. I cannot recommend Laurence O'Bryan's company, BGS, more enthusiastically. Taylor Marsh, Author of The Beltway Series, Book 1
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Posted 7 years ago
They promise the moon but you get nothing in return. I received no feedback from them and my book sales were zero. Oh, I did get two reviews out of it, both terrible. Before that, reviews of my book were positive. I would steer clear of them. Money wasted. Try Bargain Booksy and Book Doggy. I went with them after my sorry experience with Books-go-social and the result was tremendous.
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Posted 4 years ago
I am very sorry you were disappointed. We can't control the reviews books get. That would be against Amazon rules. We only offer a NetGalley place to help get reviews as an optional free extra. The vast majority of the over 5,000 book reviews we have received for authors are positive or very positive. What we can do is give you a 100% refund. Simply email admin@booksgosocial.com and you will be refunded in full.
Posted 4 years ago
Spend your money somewhere else, because your book or your name won't even appear in ANY search engines with BooksGoSocial. Instead they will promise you to help (for your money, of course) with the book cover design (really weird though, I'd rather hire a rookie freelancer at Upwork, than to trust BooksGoSocial), proofreading, promo, etc. But this is just a scam... Or you'll get a student' work for the upscale (read, rather expensive) rate...
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Posted 4 years ago
We offer a money-back guarantee. We also provide free cover upgrades. Sometimes a cover is just not right for a genre or it looks home made. Not sure why you refuse to put your name on this, but if you are a real customer of ours just email: admin@booksgosocial.com quoting when and how much you paid and you will get a refund.
Posted 4 years ago
Stay away from BooksGoSocial. When you buy the silver membership they guarantee a placement on Net Galley. I joined, paid my money and they emailed me to say "there's a possibility Net Galley might not want to list it (my book)." Caveat Emptor - let the buyer beware!
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Posted 5 years ago
Hi, does this refer to the book "How To Be An Escort?" As we say, we are happy to refund you in full. We advise you to change the title of your book and its cover to help it sell. We are offering to refund you in full if you don't like our advice. Books with no reviews, a stock Amazon cover and a title unlikely to appeal to a wide audience are unlikely to do well and we reserve the right to refund you if you are unwilling to take advice.
Posted 5 years ago
A few months ago I misunderstood something and gave BGS a poor review. This is to set the record straight. BGS are one of the good guys in indie promotion - possibly the best. They have a wide range of services, which are operated with energy and efficiency. They almost invariably do what they say, and on the very rare occasions they can't they offer a refund - and there aren't many organisations in this business that will do that! I recommend them, and am sorry for the earlier, negative review. I've been on the receiving end of those and know what they feel like.
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Posted 5 years ago
Wish I could give this place 0 stars. What a waste of money. Paid $229 and got ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in return. Asked for my refund and was not given it. 30-day period is ridiculous because I'd put trust in a company to do what they say they're going to do and what they're paid to do. I wouldn't recommend this service to anyone. Spend your money somewhere else, rather than giving it to a company that will do absolutely nothing for you.
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Posted 5 years ago
Hi Nate H. We definitely provide a 60 day money back guarantee. We are happy to extend that for you and refund you in full. Simply email: admin@booksgosocial.com for your full refund,
Posted 5 years ago
I hate to say I am not thrilled with the service. The most beneficial thing I got from my membership was how to mount my own promotions. I found that what I did on my own after the initial BGS tweets was a lot more effective. Even when my book was short listed as an Indie Book of the year I saw no increase in sales. Everyone at BGS is very nice and I have no complaints with them. I'm just glad I never signed up for a bigger campaign. I'm promoting my second book myself and have seen more interest this way.
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Posted 8 years ago
Elizabeth, if you don't think you got good value, and on going value, I must ask you to request a refund. We do not want a single dissatisfied customer. My email address is: lob@yourasms.com. We work 7 days a week, 365 days a year, promoting all our authors. Sometimes the public won't buy. I wish I had a magic wand to make them!
Posted 8 years ago
I love using Books Go Social! Every time we use the Twitter service we see a bump in books purchased via Amazon. The people at BGS are easy to work with and super nice. I highly recommend their services if you need to increase awareness for your title!
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Posted 8 years ago
Thanks Rachel. We work hard for all our authors!
Posted 8 years ago
Books Go Social does as advertised. They send a tagline of your book through all of their numerous Twitter feeds. For the better part of a week a myriad of twitter posts within their network advertised my book. This, however, did not translate into sales or anything of the sort. I can attribute zero sales to Books Go Social marketing. My money would have probably be better spent buying a copy of my own book and trying to sell it for one dollar more (as that would have been more profitable than using Books Go Social). The Book Go Social advertising blast I paid for went unnoticed in the constant barrage of updates every Twitter user gets on a daily basis. The owner of Books Go Social is affable and seems like he cares, but all warm and fuzzy feelings aside his service did not net any sort of quantifiable exposure or sales.
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Posted 9 years ago
Horace, I am sorry you were disappointed. We do have long term promotions, which I hope you can take advantage of. The two that may interest you are, your book in an email to our reader list, once a month, if your ebook is under $5 and has 5 reviews on Amazon with an average of 3.5. Plus, extra Tweets for blog posts about your book, if it's written in a readable style. We provide guides to that, which are intended to help you find readers by meeting these requirements. We do push you to meet requirements, which will help you sell your books. We need you to work with us to help your book sell more. Please email me if you want to get involved in these. Laurence O'Bryan BooksGoSocial.com lob@yourasms.com
Posted 8 years ago
The follow through by this company is poor at best. They make promises, but then don't come through. They also change the rules for their promotions to be more difficult for authors to use. Don't waste your money.
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Posted 9 years ago
Jordan, happy to give you your money back. We can get people to a book on Amazon, but we can't force people to buy it. Just email me and you will get it back in 24hrs.
Posted 9 years ago
I bought BGS's $149 package. Unfortunately, it produced minimal results--3 sales (at the reduced price required by BGS), incl. 1 sales after a direct mailing program at the last moment. And, to preempt the (what looks like a standard BGS's) response that some books simply don't sell, mine has been selling through other direct mailing (and cheaper) services, as well as for free, through word-of-mouth on GRs. I was just hoping that BGS would be more efficient and multifaceted, and less effort from me would be required. I was wrong. I have to give credit to BGS team: they do respond, albeit not always with very helpful advice, esp. on FB. All in all, not a worthwhile investment for me.
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Posted 5 years ago
Please contact: admin@booksgosocial.com for a full refund, We have no problem issuing refunds to any unhappy customer.
Posted 5 years ago
I purchased a "tweet blitz" package for my time travel romance "Rings of Passage" over the Martin Luther King holiday weekend (in the US) for $39.99. Unfortunately, based on my KDP sales report, I sold no books, not one. Some of the tweets included a link to my book trailer. The views for this trailer only increased by no more than 10. I hate to leave an overall rating of "poor," because BooksGoSocial has always been generous with its promotion packages, going over the tweets originally agreed upon, and I appreciate that. Personnel are very courteous and helpful. However, the rating is based on this particular tweet blitz which really did very little good for me. I wonder if Twitter is falling out of favor, or is perhaps not effective for selling books, as it once was.
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Posted 8 years ago
Karla, We want all our clients to be happy with our service. Some books simply don't sell. Have a look at the other reviews to verify that. If you want your money back, for the Tweet blitz, we will give it to you. We are the only book promotion company that provides a refund guarantee. Just email me and you will be refunded within 24 hours. We support authors by ensuring they get a fair service and can test their books in the market without risk. Laurence O'Bryan BooksGoSocial.com
Posted 8 years ago
Sad. Sader. Sadest! It's only monly that counts. Once, you paid, some 'Tanja from Ireland', who - at 1st step, made a few irrelevant small-talks - but then switches on the mighty algorythems - and the desaster begins. No personal guiding thru the obstacles of getting the clients interested and more. Online flyers, called, tweets roll like avalanges over the world - without any single impact, i.e. (more) sold books. In a few words: if such a very vulnerable thing, like introducing a book to the world, isn't accompagnied by - most of all - a bundle of human/individual touch = ADVICE!! - it will awfully fail. Like in my case. Disappointed from head to toe!!!
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Posted 8 years ago
Dieter, We want everyone to be happy. Some books simply don't sell. But if you want your money back, we will give it to you. We are the only book promotion company that provides this refund guarantee. Just email me and you will be refunded within 24 hours By the way, we did email you three times with personal advice on how to get your Amazon page right. I'm sorry it didn't work out for you.
Posted 8 years ago
Dieter, I am very concerned that you say we did not give you any advice. I understand we did. Please email me so that we can return your money and that I can find out more information about what happened to you. Thanks.
Posted 8 years ago
Dieter, My email is below: Laurence O'Bryan Founder BooksGoSocial lob@yourasms.com
Posted 8 years ago
The reason that I cannot recommend BooksGoSocial as a promotions company is simple: I purchased a FEATURED service that was never delivered. Replies to my inquiries on the matter were arbitrary and unyielding. I really hate to give such a poor rating, especially for such an easily curable problem. But the fact is, that money is spent and gone and there has been zero benefit. My recommendation is that, unless you have lots of experience with such services, and plenty of time to follow up and argue with the staff, you will be much better off with another service.
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Posted 8 years ago
Keith, We want everyone to be happy. Some books simply don't sell. But if you want your money back, we will give it to you. We are the only book promotion company that provides this refund guarantee. Just email me and you will be refunded within 24 hours I'm sorry it didn't work out for you.
Posted 8 years ago
Keih, I am very concerned that you say we did not deliver the service. I understand we did, including an email boost campaign and our Twitter promotions. Please email me so that we can return your money and that I can find out more information about what happened to you and how you got zero benefit. Thanks. Laurence O'Bryan Founder BooksGoSocial lob@yourasms.com
Posted 8 years ago
My interaction was for the renewal of my membership. I had requested information on how to do this and I received an immediate response. Thank you.
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Posted 8 years ago
Thanks for sticking with us, Theresa,
Posted 8 years ago
Books Go Social is a fabulous marketing program and my main way to promote my book right now. Not only have I seen around 1500 hits on my amazon page each week, I am seeing, most importantly, book sales!
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Posted 8 years ago
Very effective and well organised service. I was recommended BGS initially but didn't realise the extent of the 'social'. There is a community spirit among the other authors and even on Facebook I find myself on their page as opposed to my own newsfeed. Engaging with other authors and readers is the key to making it work. I would certainly continue to use the service and recommend to others.
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Posted 8 years ago
Let me first say that I'm a marketing and public relations professional by trade, so I often have a different insight than many when I make purchases like this because I know how this stuff should look. I bought this service because they did a great job of marketing their service. Not so much for my book. For instance, there was no real clear direction about how the tweets would be delivered. I added my own hashtags to the tweets after noticing that they don't usually use them for the tweets they share for other authors. The hashtag is a VIRAL part of any marketing effort because it expands your reach tremendously. I don't think any author should have to ask for hashtags to be used for a service that touts itself as being well versed in all things related to book marketing. I didn't sell any books during the period, but I'm still a brand new author, so I'm not too miffed about that. I AM, however, very disappointed tgat I've received very little followup since the tweet period ended even though it was marketed as if I'd receive routine emails from them offering other opportunities for promoting my book for a year. I even asked why I hadn't received the newsletter that they say that they mail and I was told I had to sign up…but, why wouldn't I have been automatically added when I bought the service. Why should I have had to click some link to add my name to an email list? I'm beginning to think maybe I don't need to write another book. Just start a book "marketing" service and shake authors down for their hard earned money under the guise of genuinely wanting to help them sell books. I hope that I'll begin to receive more followup from this group, but I'm not holding my breath. My book is Deferred Consumption by Shana James.
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Posted 8 years ago
Shana, I would like you to accept a refund. You signed up 21st June and you received emails on the 21st & a week later on our new member follow up system. These included a welcome message & instructions in text, video and an attached guide. We also emailed you again on 5th July & 5th August with our regular monthly updates to keep all members on track. I have your reply from you 6th July. I would also note that your book was only available on Smashwords, which limits sales. We don't use #tags for all authors as we are aware of the danger of dominating a #tag stream if too many of our authors use #thriller for instance. Where an author requests it we include it. I would like you to accept a full refund, please, We do our best for all authors. I have been promoting authors on social media online for 5 years. We are not perfect, but we do our best for all our authors. This is not a short term program. It's 12 months of advice and free extras. Our promotion work now ends up free. Not a bad deal, I hope. Best wishes for all you do.
Posted 8 years ago
Apparently my book was given adequate exposure in social media, which was the whole point of the deal with Books Go Social. I say 'apparently' because I don't know who reads those twitter messages, or if they reached the appropriate audience and market. To that extent I do not complain, because social media is a crapshoot at its best. There are no guarantees. If sales of the book are a measure of the success of the venture, it was a flop. I didn't sell a single book during the promotion, and no one in my general sphere of association ever remarked that they had seen an ad. Granted, I had to write the copy, which might be blamed for the lack of interest, but input and advice from Books Go Social as to the ad itself might have helped and would have been welcome. I am not unhappy that I entered into the agreement, but even a blind pig eventually, by sheer chance, finds an acorn. Not one single book sold? No interest at all? For a three dollar book? In a vast internet market? With all the crazies that buy anything? I have to conclude that there's something wrong. If someone, anyone, just one, bought the book and then complained that it was a horrible, rotten waste of words, I would at least know that the market works. But I don't even have that measure of success or failure. There was just no interest generated, and I don't know who to blame. Even Eskimos buy ice cubes, once in a while, just for the hell of it. I didn't sell a single book. Maybe I'll try the Eskimo market.
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Posted 8 years ago
Linda, I am offering a 100% refund, fast. Some books just don't sell. We have others that do, I prefer you get your money back. We don't want unsatisfied customers. It's that simple.
Posted 8 years ago
I purchased the 49$ package that ran for 1 week and today was the final day. Honestly, no one bought my book for the whole period. I am not even exaggerating. Literally, the number of people who bought the book was zero.
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Posted 8 years ago
As Soad notes above, he was refunded in full, fast. Some books we just can't help with. But we do keep our promise to refund if it doesn't work out. About 1% ask and get a full refund, fast.
Posted 8 years ago
Books Go Social is rated 3.5 based on 178 reviews