Giving it Away

There have been many articles written about whether or not an author should put their book on sale for free. These sales are usually set for 1 to 5 days. Writing a book is not as easy as it might sound. First, you have to come up with a story idea. Then there are the characters involved, and even figuring out the character names can be difficult.  You also need to find a way to keep the reader interested. In many cases, there is research involved, and that can take days or even weeks before even one word is written.

It took me a year to write each of my novels. I don’t feel there is a particular time limit for any story. I’m sure there are some that could be written relatively quickly, while others need a lot more time. I fall into the slow category, and I’m fine with that.  But no matter the time or work that has gone into a novel, should it ever be given away for free?

Last December, when I had only one novel out, I decided to give it a try. I hadn’t done any research on it or read any articles, but I had noticed that some authors were doing freebies here and there. I was more curious than anything what would happen. I was selling books every month, but certainly not many. To my surprise, there were almost 1900 downloads of A Life Unplanned. I was stunned, never dreaming I would reach numbers that high. Being a debut novel and an unknown author, it didn’t occur to me anyone would particularly care. After the freebie promotion, my sales went back to normal with nothing in the way of increases. I considered the experience a way of getting my name out there so that perhaps when more books came out, some of those readers would remember me.

Then I came across a discussion board talking about this very thing. I was disheartened to read that most people who take advantage of a free book don’t actually read the book—they just like getting something for free.  That thought never entered my mind, but since my numbers were not changing, I felt it had to be true. I had decided then and there to never do a free promo again. 

My second novel, A Life Well Loved , came out in July of this year. Sales were about the same as with my first, but I’m still new with only 2 books to my name, so I wasn’t  surprised or even disappointed. It’s going to take a lot more time for people to get to know me and my style of writing. I never went into this expecting to sell thousands of books, although I wouldn’t turn it down! I can’t really say why, but I made the decision earlier this month to do a free promotion for both of my books at the same time.  I wasn’t  really curious about the outcome, but I felt it would be a good way to get my name and brand out there, and maybe this time at least some would actually read my books.  I couldn’t have been more amazed to find almost 2800 downloads occurred over a 5-day period. Maybe to some that is not considered a lot, but for me, I was elated. On top of that, people were reading!  My Kindle Direct Publishing account now provides a graph, showing how many pages of your books are being read.

For the past 9 days, there have been over 1000 pages read almost each day. Since the freebie sale ended, I have also shown sales almost every day. Again, it’s not a lot of sales, but people are buying and reading. 

So is doing a free promotion, giving your work away for free, a good idea? Well, I have to say that is totally up to each author. There’s no right or wrong answer here. It’s been a good experience for me because, slowly but surely, my brand is getting out there and it’s getting read. Will it ever skyrocket my numbers? Obviously  I can’t predict the future, nor can I say this is what will happen for anyone else. This has simply been my experience.  I can’t even say for sure if I’ll ever do this again. I may have to if I don’t get another novel out there soon. The only way to truly get yourself known is to keep writing, which is what I plan to do. So I urge you to continue reading, continue writing, and continue to know I am beyond grateful for all of you! Enjoy your day.