A phoenix raising gorgeous books from the ashes of your manuscript$149$99Black Friday · Launch priceWindows · Mac coming soon
Beautiful ebooks and paperbacks, on your own computer.
New · In your browser · from $9Book Countdown
Advent calendars and release countdowns for authors.
Hide a treat behind every door: a free book, a bonus scene, art or a giveaway, opening day by day. Run it on your own or as a group promo where each author fills their own door. Readers sign up to join in, get a reminder when the next door opens, and every author can download the readers who chose their newsletter.
Open a few doors right here.
This is a real advent calendar with Isla Wynter’s picture books behind its 24 doors, all open at once so you can look around. Go ahead and sign up to see how it works for readers: it’s only pretend, no emails are sent, and your details are deleted within a day.
Prefer a full page? Open the advent calendar demo or the 7-door Halloween countdown demo.
A reason to come back every day.
Solo or group
Fill every door yourself, or invite other authors to claim a door each. You can let them pick, assign doors yourself, or have authors apply and choose who joins.
A treat behind every door
Free books and downloads, book trailers and audiobook samples that play right in the door, a scene to read with buttons to buy the book, art and colouring pages, coupon codes to scratch off, and a grand prize draw for readers who keep coming back.
Readers who come back
Each door opens at the reader’s own midnight, and you can let it stay open or close again after its day. Readers can add every door to their phone calendar, and get a reminder email when the next one opens.
Newsletter sign-ups done right
Readers sign up once, see every author by name, and choose whether to join their newsletters. Each author can connect their own Flodesk, Kit, Sender or EmailOctopus account, and readers who said yes go straight into their chosen list, and nobody else’s. Or download them as a spreadsheet, with a consent record for every one. Ask once at the start, or door by door for each author, or switch sign-ups off and let readers simply open doors.
Any countdown, any time
Advent calendars for December, or countdowns to a release, a series finale or an anniversary: any number of doors, daily or weekly, in English or German.
Your look, your way
Five themes (Winter, Cosmic, Spooky, Sweetheart and Plain), your own accent colour, header and background pictures, big and small doors, and a mixed-up order like a real advent calendar. You see it change as you set it up.
Kind to readers
“My treats” keeps everything a reader has opened in one place. Unsubscribing takes one click, deleting their data takes two, and 18+ doors stay blurred until readers confirm their age.
Group promos made simple
Authors join from an invite link or apply to take part. Add a participation fee or a pay-what-you-like contribution with your own payment link, and tick off who has paid.
Doors that read beautifully
Bold, italics and clickable links in every door, a simple editor with a word count for scenes, and a “behind the scenes” note from the author underneath. Changed your mind? Move or swap a door’s treat with another door in one click.
Private calendars
Protect a calendar with a password, for your ARC team, patrons or members only.
On your own website
Show the calendar on its own short link, or embed it on your author website. When it’s over, copy it for next year and just swap the treats.
A share kit for everyone
Ready-made posts and graphics for every author, with personal links that show who brought in the most readers.
For readers, and for you.
Paid once per calendar. No subscription.
Prices are for running your own calendar. Readers never pay, and authors taking part in someone else’s calendar don’t pay either.
Standard has no reminder emails: readers add every door to their phone’s calendar instead, with no reader limit. All inclusive also sends reminder emails for you, daily or weekly, for up to 2,000 readers. Sending emails costs money, and that cost is in the price.
| Calendar | Standard | All inclusive | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Release CountdownSolo, up to 14 doors | $9Launch price until 30 Nov, then $14$14 | $29 | Buy |
| Advent CalendarSolo, up to 31 doors | $15Launch price until 30 Nov, then $19$19 | $49 | Buy |
| Group CalendarUp to 31 doors, every author fills their own | $39 | $89 | Buy |
Black Friday offer · until 30 November
Year Pass
One for every release, and one for every holiday.
Unlimited solo countdowns and advent calendars for 12 months, each with up to 31 doors: every launch, Valentine’s Day, Halloween, Christmas, series anniversaries. Paid once, not a subscription: it simply ends after a year.
More than 2,000 readers on an All inclusive calendar? Add room for 2,000 more for $15. You choose your calendar and option on the next page.
Questions
Do readers have to pay?
Never. Readers open the doors for free. And if you’ve been invited to take part in someone else’s calendar, that’s free for you too: only the person who runs a calendar buys it.
Who is Book Countdown for?
Authors who want a fun reason for readers to visit every day, and organisers of group promos who are tired of chasing every author’s freebie, links and graphics by email and keeping track in a spreadsheet.
What’s the difference between Standard and All inclusive?
Standard has no reminder emails: readers add every door to their phone’s calendar instead, so they still get a nudge on the day, and there’s no reader limit. All inclusive also sends daily or weekly reminder emails for you, at 8am in each reader’s time zone, for up to 2,000 readers. It costs more because sending thousands of emails isn’t free, and that cost is in the price, so there’s nothing to set up and no per-email bill.
Is it a subscription?
No. You pay once per calendar. The Year Pass (a Black Friday offer, until 30 November) is paid once too: it simply ends after 12 months and nothing renews.
What happens after I buy?
You get an email called “Your Book Countdown organiser account” with your sign-in link, and the Getting started guide walks you through the rest. Your calendar stays online for three months after its last door.
What if more than 2,000 readers join?
Lovely problem to have. Add 2,000 more readers to an All inclusive calendar for $15, as often as you need. Standard calendars have no reader limit.
Does it work for German readers?
Yes. Calendars can be in English or German, and German calendars come with double opt-in, an Impressum link and the full author list shown openly.
Is it real?
Yes. I built it for my own promos, and my first calendars open this December. Now you can make yours too.
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