Why has no one (or very few readers) downloaded my book?

How long has the promo been active?

We circulate your book to your target audience over a period of three months, not all at once. Most of them see your book cover in emails and search results within the first month. If no readers have taken up your ARC and it's been 10 days, see the next section.

For Fiction, revisit your categories, cover, blurb, etc...

Over the course of analyzing reader behavior, we have learned a few things about what drives readers to download a book.

When you go to your book page, you should see an Analytics section. This is only visible to you. If your book has more than 100 impressions but no or few downloads, here are some general suggestions to improve your chances of a download, ranked from highest to lowest priority:

Consider revamping your cover.
Consider revising your book's genres. See our recommendations for best practices here.
Ensure you have a catchy tagline. After the cover, this is the next thing readers see on a book's profile page. A catchy tagline keeps the reader on your book page.
Check your book blurb and author bio for grammatical errors. Our readership primarily consists of voracious bibliophiles who have no shortage of books to read. They will pass on a book which gives any indication of poor editing. A well written / edited blurb and author bio will ensure a strong first impression.
If your book doesn't contain heavy graphics, provide as many download formats as possible. People who read ebooks have diverse reading preferences nowadays. In case you need help generating an ePub, read this.
Ensure you have a reading sample. This is a good way to keep a reader on your book page if they like your blurb and cover but are still in two minds whether to take the plunge into your book. Our data indicates that books with a sample drive more downloads than those without. A sample also ensures that readers take a smaller gamble when they download your book, thereby helping you with higher review rates and less wasteful downloads.

You can update all of your book's information and files via your book's edit page:

Please keep in mind that taking the above steps will improve the chances of someone downloading your book, but still does not guarantee downloads. You can keep your book on BookSirens for up to 3 months, so we encourage authors to keep experimenting with different covers, taglines, blurbs, etc... this will not only help with BookSirens but will help more broadly, too.

Maybe it's something else...

If you're in good shape on all the above, following are some other reasons why no one (or very few readers) may have downloaded your book:

Nonfiction titles tend to be a hit or miss because it's hard to predict how many readers will be interested in a particular niche topic. As an example, a reader may say they're interested in Business but if your book is about the Automobile Business, the reader may not necessarily be interested in that niche. Due to the large topical diversity of nonfiction, some books get many readers, some get a few, and some don't get any. Usually it has nothing to do with the book but just the makeup of our community's interests.
Your book is an older release, which generally tend to be less popular than new / future releases; part of the allure of being an ARC reader is being among the first to read a new book, ideally before
Your book is in the middle or end of a series; this may turn off readers who prefer to read previous books in the series first
Your book requires reading prior books and thereby requires a higher level of commitment compared to other books
Other books in your genre are simply getting more attention, and there are no readers currently free to commit to your book. If your budget allows, consider listing your ARC on other similar platforms as well. We'd be happy to recommend some platforms (we're not affiliated) if you ask us.

Maybe we're simply not a good fit...

It is possible we don't have available readers in your specific genre, especially if your genre is very niche. While our readers' genre preferences span across almost all genres, we do have some blind spots.

Refund

If you're on the Promote Plan and no BookSirens readers have downloaded your book after 30 days, feel free to ask us for a refund.