The Not So Free Free Book Giveaway

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I tried the free book giveaway marketing tactic earlier this year. Gaining a following of supportive readers motivated me to do it.  Far more successful self-published authors used the “perm-free” model to gain new readers, new markets and a lot of brand new pounds and euros in their bank accounts.

Why not try it? If they achieved greater book sales using the model of giving away their equity for free, surely it should work for me. The experts claimed giving away one of my books for free helped me gain the all important newsletter subscriber, the holy grail of author-driven book marketing. They are worth gold! They sell your books! They give you reviews!

I wrote copy for my automation sequence, tweaked my landing page and wrote copy for Facebook ads designed to entice readers to give me their email address in exchange for a free copy of my book. The future looked so bright, until it dimmed.


Over time a sense of crudeness creeped over me.  With each free download I expected readers to review my book - the one they received for free, at least - on Amazon or Barnes and Noble or Goodreads.

That’s the transactional agreement, right?

Their email for my free book.

Except readers refused to accept the equal sign in this exchange. Happily they downloaded my free book — in kindle, nook, iOS and PDF formats! with free support if they couldn't get the file onto their reader of choice — and did nothing; or worse, reported me to my email provider for spamming them; or the worst of the worst, an fellow LGBT community member who gave me their email address, downloaded the book, immediately unsubscribed, then forwarded the free download email link to half a dozen other people.

Readers contacted me requesting I resend the link because “I sign up for so many author downloads, I can’t find yours in my inbox.” (That’s a direct quote, btw).

Did you bother to read my book or any of the books you download, I wanted to ask, but didn’t. Ignoring the request seemed a kinder approach for my sanity.

Setting aside the loss of my time and the money associated with expending that time the spiritual cost indebted me the most. Truly I’ve felt better punching myself in the face.

Towards the end of the experiment I felt worthless as a writer. Of course  I know writing is more than sales and the importance of making connections with readers, blah, blah, blah. Readers barely acknowledged me. They have so many free books to read why should they care about me and my writing? Readers have become surfeited with free books. And this is the crux of the problem.


Readers now expect free and demand it from writers. We’ve created the Pavlovian response amongst readers. That’s on us.


 Critics tell me I need to focus on the long game. You sell fewer books in the beginning for a bigger dividend down the road. But if at some point the free giveaway model has so thoroughly depleted my sense of worth as a writer, what will I have gained? I want to be writing in 30 years. Giving away any more of my books for free inhibits that goal.

I want to earn a decent living from my writing and be acknowledged by readers and feel good about marketing and writing. So I’m calling it quits on the free book giveaway. For next book launch, I will offer a time-based discount on the book’s price; I will give away a book or two through raffle copter and  excerpt a few paragraphs on the web.


I love writing compelling content that certain readers like and publishing it through my newsletter, here at Author's Electric and other publishing outlets I write for. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.




Comments

Susan Price said…
Sending sympathy, Jay -- but I can't say I'm surprised. As a terrible old cynic, I've never been convinced by the 'make a fortune by giving stuff away' argument. If it worked, I'm sure it would have been practiced for centuries.

You know: vegetable stock cubes are always free, but you have to pay for the beef ones. (Sunday lunch is on my mind.) Or, white sliced is always free but you have to pay for unsliced and wholemeal. But that isn't so anywhere that I know of.
14 October 2018 at 10:11
Umberto Tosi said…
Paradoxically, and in general, authors and publishers have a better chance of garnering reviews and particpation by discounting books rather than giving them away. The discout provides incentive to purchase while at the same time requiring some committment by the purchaser, increasing the chance at the purchaser is actually interested enough in the book to actually read it. Many people will click and download an something for free on whim, or the slightest chance that they might find it useful or interesting, then, like the customer you quoted, put in into an undifferentialted folder for checking "later," which means forgetting what it even was about. Anyway, marketing is tough. Good luck with your work. Keep on writing. It's the best revenge.
14 October 2018 at 11:49
Jay Sennett said…
@SusanPrice, you are absolutely correct. Had the free giveaway worked, it would have been practiced for centuries. I would love some free vegetable stock cubes. Thank you, too, for your kind words.

@Umberto Tosi, I agree with you. Payment, however small, provides some incentive to use/read the thing purchased. I have downloaded many free things on a whim and never read them. Thank you for your encouraging words.
14 October 2018 at 15:53
bronwengriff said…
I did a Good Reads give-away in 2014. This was for print books so it cost me. I was rather green then and thought the readers would actually review the book. I think one did, and another wrote a review along the lines of 'I don't really like fiction or reading about faraway places' - it was clear my book was both. Now I'm much more realistic about what I can achieve with marketing and as Umberto says most splendidly above 'keep on writing. It's your best revenge.'

I do publish my flash fiction for free. Mostly on-line or via my web-site. I love writing flash fiction; it's never going to make me any money, and it is a way of (possibly) getting readers to read my novels. Well, you never know.
20 October 2018 at 10:02
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