Is it a good idea to provide free copies? And for how long?

[MJH]

I am currently doing a free promotion on Amazon Kindle? Is this worthwhile? And how long should it run for? All opinions welcome!

 

[Brian G Turner]

Free (or discounted) copies are provided to provide "buzz" - ie, for people to experience it, and then share their enjoyment.

HOWEVER, I work in marketing, and there's a very important point from his field about "perceived value".

Simply put, anything "free" can be assumed to have no value unless there is existing perceived value.

If Neil Gaiman offered a new book for free, then going by his track record, many people would presume his free book would have value, and therefore rush in to grab it.

If an unknown author offers a book for free, then there is no existing perceived value, so not only may people not care to download it, they may also ensure it's pushed right down their reading list.

"Free chapters" get around this somewhat - they are, by their nature, samples of something that claims to have value. It is up to whoever "samples" this as to whether the product really does appear to have any potential value or not. This is precisely why Amazon do their "look inside" feature.

Hope that helps!

 

[thaddeus6th]

I've not offered any free copies generally, but I have downloaded some (found through Twitter).

There's a potential plus in that the hard up (like me...*plays a violin*) can enjoy them and then, perhaps, go for the other books the author's written. However, there's also the downside that Brian mentioned (and you'll make no money from those 'sales').

In addition, many of the free books I've downloaded have been sitting on my Kindle for a while. It's easier to forget about a free book than one you've paid for.

Something I'm going to try for a future book (the idea's shamelessly stolen from the Chrons' own Stephen Sweeney) is to have an abridged free version, and a paid for full version. The book's about a civil war, so I'll offer a Regency Edition for free (covering the Regent's side of things) and charge for the full version. I'm hoping that'll get the best of both worlds.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Simply put, anything "free" can be assumed to have no value unless there is existing perceived value.

This is such an important point, it applies in music as well as lit., and not enough people realise its value. You have to have the guts to charge people for your book. You have to walk a tightrope between thinking you're worth it and knowing you're not. However, that ain't easy.

 

[Montero]

What about making book 1 free for a short period when book 2 comes out? (Or book 3 etc).

Is it beneficial?
Or does it annoy people who paid for book 1?

 

[MJH]

Thanks for all of the comments. The biggest problem for a new writer, especially self published with no PR, is that however good your book may or may not be, no one is likely to hear about it (let alone read it). At least with providing free copies for a limited period it gives people a chance to read it, maybe enjoy it and then possibly review it. I've found over the last few days that once your book appears in the top 100 Amazon free chart, more and more people will give it a try and this could be very useful when the book is later available for a price in encouraging others to spend their money. But I'm new to all of this, so everything is pure experimentation!

 

[Brian G Turner]

IMO, the best way you can sell a self published ebook is to:

1. Sell it on editing credits first (first line of blurb)
2. Charge more than you're comfortable with. Seriously. It implies value and people will come and judge that.

 

[MJH]

But how do you make it possible for people to know the book exists in the marketplace without promotion?

 

[Christopher A. Gray]

A free promotion works better if you have several other books for sale. Book 1 may pique their interest, leading to a paid sale of your other books.

If you don't have other books for sale, a temporary free promo MAY help spur sales of that book after the promo ends, especially if you get positive reviews, but there is no guarantee.

 

[Ransonwrites]

IMO, the best way you can sell a self published ebook is to:

1. Sell it on publishing credits first (first line of blurb)
2. Charge more than you're comfortable with. Seriously. It implies value and people will come and judge that.

What about the £0.99 price tactic? Many new authors upload books at this, the minimum possible price, in order to secure more downloads than if they priced a book at a premium in an effort to communicate an attitude of 'quality'.

How does this approach work for previously unpublished authors, or those with very low profiles, who are trying to push their first or second offering?

 

[thaddeus6th]

I priced my first book at $0.99. It's sold more than either subsequent book (the most recent only came out last week, though).

In retrospect I feel I underpriced it, but I can't be sure as I don't know how the counterfactual (a higher price tag) would've worked out. Maybe sales would've been less, and I would've gained less secondary sales (ie people who bought it for the low price, liked it and then bought the slightly more expensive other books).

 

[MJH]

I think pricing the book at $0.99 is a good tactic, but how do your potential audience find it? If you can get into one of the Amazon charts for your genre then people seem more willing to take a chance on a new author (this has happened to me with my free promotion period over the last few days). But that's in the free chart. Once the free period is over, the question is how do I keep the book in the public eye?

 

[Parson]

All I can do is bring one reader's perspective to this. I've have read free books and $.99 cent books and if they were any good I went on to buy more books in the series. I've borrowed books from Amazon Prime, and have gone on to buy them too. I am now so addicted to Kindle and lower price books that unless the book is part of a series I've been reading, I'm loathe to spend more than $5.99 on a book.

I may be an exception, but when I see a free book, my first assumption is that this is a person who has other books s/he wants to sell and they believe that if I read this one, I'll buy those. --- Not, "Well, you get what you pay for."

 

[thaddeus6th]

Ha, if I knew that I'd be selling more books!

 

[Nesacat]

My experience is in the newspaper industry and I'm in agreement with Brian. The fact that it is free diminishes it's value. We do have a 'free' period when we launch but it's very short and we make it clear that it is going to be charged. The free period has to be short though and we then have to really firm about enforcing paywalls and/or subscriptions and retail sales.

I think a value, no matter how small, is really necessary.

 

[Ogma]

Once the free period is over, the question is how do I keep the book in the public eye?

I assume you are on Kindle Select so you probably have a maximum of five cheap days in a three month period. You just have to be patient and hope that some of those who downloaded it read it and review it positively. A lot will download just because its free and maybe never read it. Worse, there may be few people who are not its target audience who read it and review it (negatively). It is just a risk you have to take with free. You take that risk anyway putting it on Amazon in the first place.

The point about giving your work some value is well made. Free isn't necessarily a bargain. Getting something that normally costs $4.99 for free/$0.99 is on the face of it a bargain.

There are websites that publicise free/cheap kindle book campaigns though they cost money and they won't accept a book if they do not think their subscribers would be interested and the book must have a certain number of (positive) reviews to qualify. Plus you would have to have them booked before a free/cheap campaign.

I am planning to self-publish a book in the next couple of months, so I face the same decisions. I have been researching this subject for a while. One book I found useful was Let's Get Visible by David Gaughran.

Hope that helps.

 

[DaCosta]

The other side of the coin:

People often download a book because it's free. Not because they like the genre, not because they actually want to experience it after reading the blurb, just because it's free and they're magpies. This can lead to bad reviews because they simply don't like it. Not because it's bad, but because it's not their 'cup of tea'.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

... and if it's free and you do download it, there's so much less compulsion to actually read it, whereas if you've paid for it...

 

[WayneLutz]

We do have a 'free' period when we launch but it's very short and we make it clear that it is going to be charged.

I self-publish, and all of my books are available on Kindle (and other ebook formats). I offer the first book in a series at $.99, as was mentioned before, as a way to interest readers in my other books. My regular price is $5.99. When I publish a new book, I use the Kindle Select program and offer limited free days. I've found this does spur sales to some degree after the "limited time offer" ends. I have always considered the lost income from free events as an advertising "cost."

On another note, I find free events do not result in many extra book reviews.

 

[Pyan]

Free works, in my experience - I got the first two Honor Harrington books free on Kindle, then bought all the rest in the series - and without that free start, I doubt I'd have done that. HH led me on to read more Weber, and I've just caught up with the latest in the Council War series - that's another four paid-for books. For the sake of sacrificing the revenue for two books, the author has gained it for fifteen - and if I go for all the supplementary Honorverse ones, that's another dozen or so potential proper sales....