One to avoid
Firstly, I’ve never left a negative review on Trustpilot until today.
Unfortunately, my experience with Books Butterfly mirrored many others posted here, on Reddit, and on KBoards — something I now wish I had read beforehand.
Over the last 6 weeks, I’ve been testing around 20 different book promotion platforms, from BookBub to Freebooksy. I found Books Butterfly and opted for their $100 package, which guaranteed 1,200 downloads of a free book. The testimonials on their site looked convincing.
Unlike other promo services that promote your book on a set day, Books Butterfly spreads it over several days. In theory, this could help with visibility, but it comes with a major downside: it’s almost impossible to tell if and when the promo actually ran.
The week came and went. I saw no spike in downloads outside of what I usually receive organically (around 20/day). One day had a modest bump, but that lined up with a different promotion I was running — and the results were clearly attributable.
I contacted them to ask for confirmation: Had the promo run? If so, when and where? The response I got was curt and unprofessional. They asked for screenshots, which I provided, along with an explanation of my organic traffic. They then claimed 300 of my ~450 downloads were from their service — with no evidence provided.
Even if I generously accepted their claim, that would still be 900 downloads short of the guarantee.
To put it in perspective:
BookBub (just $10 more) brought in over 2,000 downloads
Fussy Librarian ($25) resulted in over 200 downloads
Both of those platforms gave clear, professional communication and transparent results
Books Butterfly then claimed I’d violated their terms of service (again, no explanation), and offered a full refund on the condition I agreed never to use them again.
That alone felt odd and unprofessional — not the behavior of a confident, reputable service. I accepted, and to their credit, the refund did arrive promptly.
Afterward, I dug deeper. Another review led me to where they list your book — and it was astonishing: no design, no graphics, just huge blocks of text on what looks like outdated blog pages. An organic traffic check showed almost no visitors. This made it all the more confusing how they could justify their “guaranteed” numbers.
Of all the promotions I’ve run, this was by far the worst experience. Not just for the lack of results, but because of the lack of transparency and dismissive attitude. Other platforms that underperformed were willing to offer insights, share links, and even admit to mistakes when applicable.
In conclusion: I cannot recommend Books Butterfly to any author. In my experience, they did not deliver what they promised — and worse, avoided accountability when questioned.
In response to Books Butterfly:
Thank you for your reply. I stand by my original review.
My issue isn’t just that the promotion underperformed — it’s that I was met with a lack of transparency and professionalism at every step. I asked reasonable questions, like whether the promotion had run and where it had appeared. At no point was I provided with clear proof outside of a low-traffic web page with no design, no structure, and no visibility. That I had to find myself!
I want to address one key point in your response: you selectively quoted from our email exchange, omitting parts that showed my good faith. For example, in one of my emails — which you summarized as a “claim of zero downloads” — I actually said:
“I appreciate that it's not quite the end of the promotional period, however there isn't a single download that I can attribute to this promotion. Can you let me know if you definitely ran my promotion? If it's running today then I apologise for jumping the gun...”
That’s not dishonest — that’s a professional trying to get clarity.
Instead of working with me to investigate what went wrong, you offered a refund only if I agreed never to use your service again. And now, in your public response, you’ve included personal attacks and misrepresentations, which I find deeply inappropriate.
I’ve worked with over 20 promo platforms. Not all of them performed well, but every other one responded professionally, transparently, and with mutual respect. This was the only one that didn’t.
I’m sharing my experience so other authors can make informed decisions — and I’m doing so truthfully, backed by full records.
3 maj 2025
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