PR Boxes: Are they Worth It?

One thing you’ve probably figured out by now is that I don’t gatekeep. I’ve published sales and expenses, my experiences with ads, and ARC review sites. So many authors have helped me on my journey, and I like to pay it forward.

If you’re on Booktok or Bookstagram, you’ve seen plenty of posts about Bookmail. Authors send a physical copy of their book to book influencers in the hopes of a post or review for exposure to that influencer’s followers. Bookmail is often accompanied by other promotional items, including stickers, bookmarks, pens or highlighters, and character art.

Some of the more established authors send larger-ticket items like branded t-shirts and tote bags. That was a little outside my budget, but stickers and bookmarks, I could do! Below is a breakdown of everything I spent to create and ship 30 PR boxes to influencers. I've included the vendors where I sourced the material in case you are interested in similar items.

*Prices include tax and shipping

If you add up everything and divide by 30 boxes, the campaign cost $29 per box. However, I did buy larger quantities of items that I know I will use for future campaigns to take advantage of discount pricing. If you exclude the leftover items that I’ll use for future boxes, the actual cost is closer to $22.50 per box. Another factor was that I ended up having to buy my books from 48 Hour Books because KDP was going to take WEEKS to ship, and I wanted the boxes to go out in time for the book’s release. If I’d been able to purchase author copies from Amazon, that would have knocked $5 per box off my price (48 Hour Books is fast, and the quality is great, but it is expensive!). So, with careful planning, you could ship boxes like this to 30 influencers for about $17.50 per box.

The big question, of course, is “Was it worth it?” And as with so many things, the answer is both yes and no.

The biggest positive is that every single person who received a PR box made some type of unboxing video or post. You can see an adorable montage I posted on TikTok and Instagram. I don’t think there are really any words that can accurately describe what it’s like as an author to see a bunch of people get excited about your book. And the Lietvia Galaxy-branded condom was a definite conversation starter!

The negative is there’s no way to correlate the videos to sales. This happened during launch week when A.I. Human was getting a boost anyway from the algorithm, and Ahelno was part of a BookBub featured deal, so it’s impossible to tell if these boxes moved the needle. But, honestly, that wasn’t the point for me.

I had recently seen a post from author Gemma Vale detailing her PR box campaign. She sent 44 boxes to influencers as a marketing exercise for her debut novel, with the stated goal of flooding the algorithm with her book to gain visibility, and hopefully, sales. She had to spend about $50 per box due to international shipping (she’s in the UK). She was very disappointed because only 27 out of the 44 influencers (61%) posted about her box.

So I was careful about who I reached out to in terms of receiving a box from me. First and foremost, my street team. These are volunteer ARC and Beta readers who really believed in my book. They didn’t have high follower counts, but it didn’t matter. Because for me, a book box isn’t just a PR tool. It’s a “thank you.” And for new readers, it’s a long-term relationship builder. 

With that in mind, I specifically targeted influencers with 1,500-4,000 followers. I watched their content to see how they talked about books and to determine if my alien romance was likely something they would enjoy reading. I reached out through their DMs and simply asked if they would be interested in receiving a box. 

For a lot of them, this was their first, free “bookmail,” and they were super excited. Every single one of them posted videos/reels, and then several of them did followup posts with reviews. But here’s the kicker: Many of those influencers are growing their accounts quickly. Since I first reached out about a bookbox two months ago, one of my street team members has grown from 1,500 followers to over 10k. Another influencer has grown from 7k to 11k. I’ve gotten to know many of the influencers through our DMs and interactions on each others’ posts. And now I have about 30 new followers who regularly comment on and repost my content. And of course, I comment on theirs and repost their content as well.

There’s a good argument to be made that the money would have been better spent on ads. $875 would fund a solid campaign on Amazon or Meta (Facebook) for about two months, which would definitely drive sales. 

But that’s short-term thinking. The relationships I’m building are going to last much longer than two months. I have no doubt that many of these new online besties are going to read, review, and post about my future books. We’re growing our online presence together. And for me, that’s priceless.

So, when it’s time to launch Avarys, will I do another round of PR boxes?

100%.