Can anyone even answer that question? I’m not sure I can. I know a lot of authors give away free books in order to get readers interested in buying their other books. This sounds like a sound strategy, right? But does it work? I’ve tried it a few times, and honestly, I haven’t seen much of a surge in sales. Even giving away for free the first in a series doesn’t always mean a boost in sales of the others in the series. Not for every author, anyway. And I think I know the reason for this. I’ll have to admit, I’m one of the guilty readers. Here’s what happens with me. I find all these free books, enough of them that it’s overwhelming. Some of these books are beginnings of series. If I do ever get around to reading the first in a series, that doesn’t always mean I read the NEXT book. Why? I think it’s mostly because I have, you know, all those other free books on my Kindle. So by the time I’ve read some of those, I’ve forgotten about that other book and that other author. Occasionally, there is an author that just blows me away, and I have to get more and more of his or her books. That’s happened to me with a couple of free books I’ve gotten in the past year, and I’m going to post about that author later, but this is the exception to the rule. Bad me.
So what’s the answer? Everyone always says “write a good book and they’ll come”. Well, the problem is, there are a bunch of books out there. And many of them are good. How does a reader slog through them? How can you get YOUR book in front of people for them to even decide if they like it? So you HAVE to do some marketing. So what’s the best way to do this without being obnoxious (like constant blasts on FB or Twitter)? I don’t know the answer.
So what do you all think? Have “free” promotions boosted your sales? I’m thinking about a giveaway on my blog in the near future involving free ebooks and something cute that would go along with the book. But will it help with sales? Although I love giving away freebies and interacting with other authors and readers, the bottom line is…well…the bottom line. If I want to make a living at this some day, things are going to have to change. But how? Only the Shadow knows. (Some of you may be too young to understand that last statement. LOL)
lauralynnelliott.com 
You are right, it depends on the author. It depends on the series, too. Free books get you trashy reviews, that, in the long run, don’t affect sales. But there isn’t any other way to inexpensively get your name out there, since, IMHO, ads don’t work. Or, let’s say, they work for the ad company.
Sometimes I think ads don’t work because people don’t TRUST ads. I do occasionally find books by suggestions on Twitter or Facebook. But they are usually mentioned by someone besides the author. This was all so much easier when ebooks were first starting out. I actually made some good money back then. LOL
I still think I’m going to run my free promotion because I really want to give away the “cute” thing that will go with my book. 🙂
I think you are right. It has worked for me. Love the idea of the “cute” thing.
I did the Kindle free days and didn’t notice a boost in sales afterwards. I honestly don’t know much of about marketing. I’ve done the blog tour thing, guest posts, interviews and can’t say if any of that has contributed to sales.
I think a few years ago ebooks were only starting out (as you say above), indie authors were fewer and now the market is overwhelmed. *sigh*.
Emma, that’s the problem…too many books for the amount of readers out there. A scary thing is that I was at a conference a few weeks ago with other business owners and employees, and there was a speaker who was asking how many books we read last year. There were only two of us who said 50. The lady sitting beside me said 6. 😦 And anyone can publish a book now, whether it’s good or not. I think offering a coupon for a free book on Smashwords is probably the best “free” strategy. A person has to work a little bit to get a Smashwords book on their ereader, (as opposed to it downloading automatically from Amazon or B & N) so those people will probably be more serious about actually reading it. 🙂 I know some of the people just want to be entered for the “good stuff”, but most people on our blogs will be really interested in our books. Now if we could get more blog visitors….
If only… If you have any ideas on that front, please share 🙂
A lot of readers don’t know about Smashwords. I had never heard of it myself until I started researching self publishing.
The competition for fiction readers is so fierce; I think it’s getting harder and harder to break away from the pack with any marketing method. (If I hear one more person say, “Oh…you’re gonna be the next JK Rowling” I’m going to hurl, because it’s just ridiculous for most writers to ever assume they will have that level of popularity!) At some level, we’ve just got to write because we love putting our imagination out there to the universe to share with others. Meanwhile, I look for new ways to support my writing habit 🙂
Very few people are going to be the next JK Rowling or the next Stephen King. Wait…NO ONE will ever be the next Stephen King. *sighs in admiration* Seriously, if writers go into this business thinking they will make millions, they are going to be disappointed. The sad thing is that there are some books that make me late for work because I can’t stop reading them. And these authors aren’t well known. And they should be.
I want to be so young that the Shadow thing went right over my head but…I’m not.
I was just thinking about you, btw.
The free book thing. The secret is…to be that one that blows them way and they must buy the next. Even then, some won’t. Some free book readers only read free books, and there are plenty of free books to keep them happy.
Speaking of the plenty, I have noticed a few things: before Kindle Select and the huge increase in free books, I had way more downloads of my free book. When I had way more downloads of my free book (short story), I had more total sales. (However, time also passed and what I had out was not as new, which also affects sales, so there’s no way of knowing the true effect.)
I do think that a percentage of my sales were from readers of the free book, and that competition in that particular market has affected my sales.
I also agree that giving away books often leads to “unqualified” readers–those who just read anything free and then blame the book that it wasn’t a good match for them. Two-star reviews that begin, I don’t normally read this kind of thing, but since it was a free ebook, I thought I’d give it a try… Ugh.
In the current freebie market, there are lots of novels and people are probably less tolerant than they used to be with regard to novellas and short stories. Two-star reviews that read, Good, but too short. Despite that it says Novella or Short Story or has a page or word count in the description. When it takes a lot of us a year or more to craft a whole novel, it’s hard to put that kind of work into a giveaway. But then, without a quality trial product, it’s hard to hook a reader.
Also I would note that there’s no point in giving away a free book in a series if there’s no follow up available yet (I’m not much a believer in building interest or suspense or buzz or whatever, because I, personally, have the attention span of a GNAT and there’s just too much out there to experience to have me remember that I was DYING to read this upcoming book just last–SQUIRREL!!!) The best way to hook a sale from a free book to the next in the series would be to leave some kind of big question that the reader needs to have answered. Of course, to do that in a way that doesn’t make some readers mad can be tricky.
Free isn’t a perfect or cure-all type marketing answer. It has its problems and not everyone responds to it. If you have a really good product you can spare for free, I think it’s worth doing, but it shouldn’t be your only egg basket.
I don’t read most of the free books I’ve downloaded. I don’t read some of the books I borrow from the library. I don’t read some of the books I paid for with every intention of reading them. But I do read some of them and go on to read more. Books have SO much gotten to a point of SO much crap out there (trad-pubbed definitely included) that I rarely try an author I haven’t read unless I can somehow get a book for free or someone has seriously raved about it.
Which makes me think that getting people to rave about your book is the best marketing you can do. When you figure out how to do that, lemme know.
PS. Just today I saw an ad on Goodreads for a book that is free for a limited time. I totally clicked on it and have next to near no intention of reading it. But…I might…
Susan! It’s good to hear from you! I think about you a lot. 🙂
You made some really valid points. I know, as a reader, most free books don’t blow me away. But I have discovered an author or two I wouldn’t have known about if I hadn’t gotten their free book. I don’t think there are any easy answers. I agree that the best way to market is to get people to rave about your book. But there are people who will rave to YOU about it, but they “don’t do reviews”. My uncle keeps asking “when is the next one coming out?”, but he doesn’t review. Of course, he’s a guy. I never thought about my macho uncle even liking my books, but he devours them. (He probably shouldn’t review anyway because his last name happens to be the same as my pen name, LOL) What really bothers me is that there are so many GOOD books out there that don’t get noticed. I think you are one of the best authors I’ve ever read (no, I’m really not sucking up), and I can’t figure out why you’re not famous already. 🙂
Anyway, most people have told me they don’t think ads work, so I don’t think I’ll go that route. I’ll probably try free again, just because it’s the best way I know. Everyone is telling me book sales are down for them right now, so at least I’m not all alone in the boat.
Hey, Lauralynn. My broadband is horrendous at the moment, so apologies if this posts seventeen times – we’re in the process of switching around though, so, yay. 🙂 Hope you’re feeling better.
As a reader, there are too many freebies (and yet I still spend too much on ebooks). I don’t pre-judge the books on my Kindle because of their price, but I’m overwhelmed by choice right now. I have to really, really, *really* be into a book to continue the series these days, and sometimes, I just forget because I’m distracted by all of the new shinies.
As a writer, I got my freebie out there way before Select, and there was more value in it back then. Fewer freebies, less choice, etc. I’ve been lucky in that people have generally been kind to me, and I have never regretted going free. It’s definitely helped me, not just on Amazon, but on B&N and Apple, too. I was very lucky to get in there before the freebie thing exploded though. The same thing wouldn’t happen today, and if you don’t keep releasing, people tend to forget your books exist. It’s kind of frantic in a way, but I think it also means that mostly people who write for the love of writing last the longest. You need to put so much time and effort into this that you would have to enjoy it to keep going. 🙂
Also, I’ve been trying to read a lot lately (mostly to stop myself from jumping into the Liffey at the thought of editing one more freaking page), and I’ve been reading old books because of a sad, sad, cracked screen incident, and I find myself comparing older trade books poorly to current books (either trade or self-pubbed). I really, truly think that writing styles are changing for the better. I think quality is improving dramatically in a (very) general sense, but free only works if a book finds the right audience. That’s the one thing that hasn’t changed over the last couple of years, the need to find the right readers, but *how* to find them will keep evolving.
The only thing that works on every level, and is the most impossible thing to actually describe, is to write a book with the kind of hook and characters that makes people desperate to know more and desperate to talk about the book with somebody else (because it’s the readers who propel a book upward). I read a (not self-published) book recently that was kind of crap. Thinking about it now, I can’t explain anything good or spectacular about it, but even before I got to the end, I was desperate to read the next in the series. So frustrating. Lol.
And yes, I am avoiding editing right now. 😉
No, Claire, it only posted sixteen times. LOL, just kidding.
Everything was so much easier when ebooks were fairly new, and free was something special. There were a couple of months in 2011 where I made a boatload (well maybe not that much) of money on just one .99 book. I knew this over abundance of books would come someday, and here it is. I’m seriously wondering if I should find something else to do besides writing. But I WANT to write.
I know you really have some awesome fans because I see the comments from your blog that come to my email. I smile every time I see that because I think “Yay, Claire is doing well”. I’m glad you have a good fan base. I wish you lots and lots of success. 😉
You know, I think you might be right about books getting better. Some of the older books seem kind of stiff to me. Except Stephen King. He’s still full of awesome.
I really hate to hear you had a sad cracked screen incident. That sounds really bad. 😦
I don’t pick up many free books just because they’re free. I would pick them up if the author is either one I know or if the book’s premise sounds interesting. I’ll read the reviews but I don’t give them much merit in my decision to read it or not. Although, if the book has nothing but rave reviews, that might persuade me a bit more to give it a read.
But, a free giveaway couldn’t hurt, IMO. Hopefully you grab some new readers who then in turn talk about you to other readers. Word of mouth is the best advertisment. If I see a positive review on a friends site or if a friend hands me a book and says, “You have to read this!”, then I’m going to read the book. Any self-published book I’ve read has come from reviews from other self-published authors, which leads me to their site and their reviews and new authors and so on and so on.
This is just me, of course, and I can’t speak for the internet or other readers (unless I become a ventriloquist, which would be AWESOME).
GL on your giveaway and “cute’ companion piece. I will say if it’s brownies I’ll go crazy. I love brownies! Or is it an air plant? Maybe it’s magic beans and I can finally get that golden egg. Guess I’ll have to wait and see.
I’ve stopped downloading free books unless I see one I REALLY think will be good. My Kindle has so many books on it now that I forgot what some of them are even about.
I don’t pay too much attention to reviews because they are so subjective. Plus, I know some of the reviews are nasty just to be nasty. You can tell by the scathing tone of them. If someone doesn’t like a book, why do they feel like they have to trash it rather than give good criticism. I usually check out a sample and see if I like the writing style.
Calm down, Hubbard, there are no brownies. And air plants COULD be involved in the giveaway, but not as PART of the giveaway. I’ve served magic beans at my house, but their magic has nothing to do with a golden egg. LOL
When I was doing music, I gave away 2,000 free demo’s (in return for collecting mailing address). everyone loved it when it was free but only a very small percentage of those 2,000 actually purchased the full length follow-up CD. (.5%) Recently I’ve been looking the other way, Ligotti’s novels print limited editions. When they are gone, the physical books go up in price, selling for $26 to $160 in Amazon marketplace – even for paperback editions! Don’t know what the answer is for sure, but i think scarcity beats free-bees.
Thanks for sharing info from another industry. I think when we’re independent, it’s hard to know exactly what works and what doesn’t, and we have to figure it out by ourselves. Of course everyone loves free. We’re living in a world of entitlement. That’s why there’s so much piracy, I think. How dare you charge actual MONEY for your product? LOL.
Unfortunately, there’s no scarcity with ebooks. 😦
Oh Yeah, ebooks, that’s a problem.
This is a hard one. I mean, it has worked for me if I do a permanently free book that is part of a series. But I also know it doesn’t work for everyone because I’ve seen authors go free with no results. I think with me, I started free in 2010. I got a couple of blogs and things picked up from there. I think timing had a lot to do with how free works for me.
But even so, I’d do a permanently free book now if I was starting out and had a couple of other books related to the free one already out. It’s easier to do free if you have a backlist.
I suspect that when authors realize publishing books isn’t the huge money maker they expect, they’ll drop it. I’m hoping at that time it’ll be easier to reach new readers. *fingers crossed*
What I fear (and hope doesn’t happen) is that Amazon, B&N and other places will start acting as a gatekeeper to determine what gets up on their site and what doesn’t. *shivers*
I’m like you, hoping some of the people writing books are going to realize they aren’t going to get rich with it. Then there will be less competition. However, I do believe everyone should get a chance, so I have mixed feelings about it.
I hope Amazon, etc. doesn’t decide to be a gatekeeper. If so, it won’t be much different than finding a publisher. We no longer would be considered self-published in my opinion. I don’t think Smashwords would ever go that route, but most people don’t sell that much on Smashwords’ site, but through their retail partners. I would actually like to see more people learning about Smashwords.