Does giving away free book help?

[*DrDln* (dr.s.dhillon)]

I wonder if giving away one of the books for a limited-time will help with sale of other books.  Because it should drive interested readers to your site.

I am not even sure if Amazon lets you do it.  As I recall you have to price between 99cents to certain dollars.

I would love to see input of those authors who have done it. Wish you all the very best.

[Dawn Judd]

Amazon won't, but you can give coupons on Smashwords.  I give away copies on Goodreads and I've noticed a spike in interest every time.  And yes, I've seen sales on the second book in my series just from giving away a copy of the first book.  I try to give away other promotional things on my website as well.  I think it does help. 

[julieannfelicity]

Yes - it can draw more readership/interest. Try offering your book on Smashwords for free, for a week or so and announce it in your Bazaar thread. You should see the downloads increase. Or you can offer a free copy in exchange for a review. Having a mixture of reviews really helps also.

You can gift your books on Amazon, but you'll have to pay for them.

[Jennybeanses]

giveaways absolutely do help! Smashwords is good for them.

[JRainey]

Giveaways are great; they've helped sales for me every time I've had one.

[*DrDln* (dr.s.dhillon)]

Amazon won't, but you can give coupons on Smashwords.  I give away copies on Goodreads and I've noticed a spike in interest every time.  And yes, I've seen sales on the second book in my series just from giving away a copy of the first book.  I try to give away other promotional things on my website as well.  I think it does help. 

Good suggestions Dawn. I am already starting to give coupon at smashwords starting with one of the books on Vegetarianism.

I am not familiar with goodreads.  Is this like amazon, kindle, smashwords or different? Thanks for you input.

[*DrDln* (dr.s.dhillon)]

So the take home lesson is that giving away free or at discount is a good idea. Smashwords seem to be the best place. Because Amazon and BN don't allow giving away free. Thanks gals. Wish you all the very best.

[Katie Salidas]

giveaways absolutely do help! Smashwords is good for them.

Ditto that! And don't forget that this week is Read an Ebook week. Lots of authors are putting our books up for cheap or free. It helps build readership and gives back a little something to the community.

If your book is on Smashwords, enroll one and participate.

[rsullivan9597]

Though not easy to do...I've had my 2nd book of Michael's series for free on Amazon and it while I lost sales I did gain a ton of readers so I think overall it was a success.

[*DrDln* (dr.s.dhillon)]

Ditto that! And don't forget that this week is Read an Ebook week. Lots of authors are putting our books up for cheap or free. It helps build readership and gives back a little something to the community.
If your book is on Smashwords, enroll one and participate.

Thanks Katie, I already did.  We will find out how much difference does this make. All the best.

[*DrDln* (dr.s.dhillon)]

Ditto that! And don't forget that this week is Read an Ebook week. Lots of authors are putting our books up for cheap or free. It helps build readership and gives back a little something to the community.
If your book is on Smashwords, enroll one and participate.

Thanks Katie, I already did.  We will find out how much difference does this make.  Wish you all the best.

[Cristian YoungMiller]

Though not easy to do...I've had my 2nd book of Michael's series for free on Amazon and it while I lost sales I did gain a ton of readers so I think overall it was a success.

How did you give away free books on Amazon? I thought everything had to be atlease 99 cents.

[rsullivan9597]

I made it free elsewhere and Amazon's bots sniffed it out and matched because at the 70% model they'll match the lowest price.  But...I've heard from others that they don't "Always" match the free price. I was already selling well before the free promotion - so not sure if that is a factor or not.

[mathewferguson]

I wonder if giving away one of the books for a limited-time will help with sale of other books.  Because it should drive interested readers to your site.

I am not even sure if Amazon lets you do it.  As I recall you have to price between 99cents to certain dollars.

I would love to see input of those authors who have done it. Wish you all the very best.

Why just give away a book for a limited time? Put it up on a torrent and achieve free mass distribution ...

My work has been downloaded 126,406 times via torrents since I first put something up on the 31st March 2009. Each torrent links back to places people can buy my work and also my website.

Why not test it out by putting up something? Upload a book and see what happens.

[Philip Chen]

I have gotten some very nice reviews from my recent giveaways, and one or two not so nice ones.  But that's life.

[*DrDln* (dr.s.dhillon)]

Why just give away a book for a limited time? Put it up on a torrent and achieve free mass distribution ...
My work has been downloaded 126,406 times via torrents since I first put something up on the 31st March 2009. Each torrent links back to places people can buy my work and also my website.
Why not test it out by putting up something? Upload a book and see what happens.

Thanks Mathew for all the great information. But what are torrents?

I am really new to all this marketing stuff. Will appreciate if you post any info! Thanks.

[*DrDln* (dr.s.dhillon)]

As suggested by Katie and others, I just posted book sale 50 to 75% off on smashwords for special reading week.

Here's the link to book bazar thread, if anyone is interested in having a look or want to list their own books. Wish you all the best.
 

[mathewferguson]

Thanks Mathew for all the great information. But what are torrents?

I am really new to all this marketing stuff. Will appreciate if you post any info! Thanks.

A torrent is a way to download files.

Most people know about them in regarding to pirated materials - movies, books, music, etc.

Rather than being a single place to download a file, the file can be downloaded from people who have previously downloaded the file. For example, my neighbour could get half the file from me, a bit of it from someone in Sydney and various other bits from all over the world.

For books I use mininova.org which is a legal torrent distribution website.

The thing with torrents is this: once the work is set free into the world it really can't be contained again. Thousands of websites will link to the original material and once a certain number of people have downloaded it, even if you remove the original, it'll still be available.

The good of torrents is free mass distribution. Write a good titles and a great description and it will spread all over the web.

I suggest checking out mininova.org and if you want some help putting up a file send me a message mathew@mathewferguson.com

[Andrew Warwick]

Sadly, for me, I'm seeing very little success compared to what some people are seeing here.

I've given away over 130 copies of the latest novel and not even a hint of a review, and sales have stalled, just 1 for the entire month so far.

Maybe it'll pick up later; I sure hope so.

[BrianKittrell]

I would be careful to make sure that your book appeals to a wide variety of people if you give them away, especially in exchange/request for reviews. There are people who will accept it for free and review it, but they're accepting it because it's free, not necessarily because they enjoy the genre.

I've had several people and seen several books that received bad reviews after giveaways, and many of them begin with, "I don't usually read this genre, but it was free, so I went for it. Unfortunately, I ended up not liking the book." Really? You didn't enjoy a genre you don't normally read? It's akin to saying, "Even though I don't like football, I played in a football game. Yep, you guessed it: it reinforced my feelings of not liking football."

If you write in a tight niche, giving it away in exchange for reviews could actually hurt you (or generate indifference, also not the desired effect). Giving it away to build interest from those looking for it could help, though. I've thought about releasing my first book into the torrent environment when I complete my zombie series since it's such a niche market, and those who enjoy it can get the others in the series.

Best of luck!

[Philip Chen]

I would be careful to make sure that your book appeals to a wide variety of people if you give them away, especially in exchange/request for reviews. There are people who will accept it for free and review it, but they're accepting it because it's free, not necessarily because they enjoy the genre.

I've had several people and seen several books that received bad reviews after giveaways, and many of them begin with, "I don't usually read this genre, but it was free, so I went for it. Unfortunately, I ended up not liking the book." Really? You didn't enjoy a genre you don't normally read? It's akin to saying, "Even though I don't like football, I played in a football game. Yep, you guessed it: it reinforced my feelings of not liking football."

If you write in a tight niche, giving it away in exchange for reviews could actually hurt you (or generate indifference, also not the desired effect). Giving it away to build interest from those looking for it could help, though. I've thought about releasing my first book into the torrent environment when I complete my zombie series since it's such a niche market, and those who enjoy it can get the others in the series.

Best of luck!

I have had several reviewers comment that they normally do not read thrillers, but for my giving them a free copy via a giveaway.  I believe every one of those reviewers came back with a four or five star reading saying that the book grabbed and held their attention.  The book is even more narrow in focus, in that it is a thriller with a science fiction premise.

[*DrDln* (dr.s.dhillon)]

I am almost ready to give one of books free in exchange for review.  Now after reading some comments, it may work or it may turn out to be terrible idea.

I am more confused than clear about giving a free book.  I may just drop the idea of giving it free. Because I always believed hardly any one shows much respect for a free thing; unless one has really a need for it. Thanks for all the great ideas that some of us shared on this thread.

[Bob Mayer]

Marketing people will tell you FREE is a great ploy.  I've not found that to be true for books or in other areas.  People often don't respect what they get for free.  Giving free books to reviewers is a standard practice.  But unless the book is tied to a series, I'm not sure I see the point.

[modwitch]

My experience with free...  I've given away a LOT of copies of my novella.  No strings attached, but I've tried to make it very personal.  People email me to get a copy, my initial giveaway posts are pretty chatty, I've followed up with a couple of emails, including one asking them to pick a friend to get a free copy too - this was awesome for everyone involved.  I also have a new book almost ready to go.  So "high touch" - lots of conversations, and I think my readers are feeling really good about helping to launch a new author with a book they enjoyed.  I give lots of ways to contact me/stay in touch at the end of my book, and I can see by the number of visits I get to my website that it's working.

I think you leave a pile of copies on a table or a smashwords promo code in a post, and you lose that personal contact.  That's what gets reviews.  I didn't ask for reviews with my freebies, not once.  And I got a ton (I'd say one in five readers has written a review so far, and more are still trickling in).

[*DrDln* (dr.s.dhillon)]

I saw this thread today and thought of sharing. Lowering prices or even smashwords coupon didn't seem to help that much.  May be I have not tried long enough.

I have finally realized that kindle board postings do help.

There doesn't seem to be such thing as one key fits all.