The birds are chirping, the trees are budding, and I’m trying out a new promotional strategy!
Spring has arrived early and made me want to get outside more to write in my hammock. So where am I going to find that time?
Less time promoting.
*Cheers!*
I got this idea after I noticed there were a bunch of first books of a series hanging around at the top of the free kindle charts— month after month. I watched to see if they fell in rankings over time, but the downloading stayed strong and they ruled the free top ten. I also noticed that many of these authors’ other books held high positions in the paid rankings.
Then I read this wonderful guest post on David Gaughran’s blog by Sarah Woodbury. She revealed how she needed something to boost her lagging sales and stay afloat as many authors experimented with the new KDP select option. So she made her prequel free for the last four months and, wow, was she successful.
Well, that blog sold me, and it took a few weeks to make my first novel free.
Reasons:
- This type of promotion works well with a series.
- I made my first book shorter specifically so that I could have the option of doing this sort of promotion at lower cost (i.e. editors & formatters charge less for shorter books).
- I’ve sold it for five months and made back enough that I can make it free for a bit.
- I want (need) to write more and promote less, and being on the free list can do my promoting for me. I’ll never get this third book out if I have to keep flagging people toward my book.
- Truth is, I want readers. I know that it’s hard to trust a book with an unknown author and, with the happy price of free, more people will pick up my first book. If they like it, then I’ve got a reader for my whole series.
- I would like more reviews. When you have massive downloads of a book, odds are some of them will leave reviews. Like it or hate it, I just love to see what readers experience after reading my book.
- I made my second book, Infinite Devotion, $3.99. That way, if a reader enjoys my series and writing style they will invest more. Then I can make up for the sale of the first book with a happy costumer. If someone didn’t like the series, then they lose nothing.
I’m going to see how well this works for a month and then decide if I want it to stay free for longer. I will report back here to let everyone know how it worked out.
If you haven’t picked up a free copy yet, grab one up either on Amazon or at Smashwords.
Of course, if you want to thank me for the freebie, please, please, please *kneels* let me know what you think of it on Amazon, Smashwords, or Goodreads (or anywhere else!).
This sounds like such a good idea and I am sure that it will work well for you. What a good strategy for authors of a series!
Also, I think $3.99 is a good price for your second ebook.
I am glad to hear that you will be spending more time writing. Enjoy your early sprng and escaping into your stories. 😀
Thanks Sara! I hope your getting some time to write too! Can’t wait to read what’s next!
Thanks. 🙂 Yes, I have taken a night job so that I can write during the days which I think is well worth it.
I am so happy to hear that your two books are becoming very popular. Congrats! So exciting.
A night job sounds so great. I seem to write better in the middle of the day too. Unfortunately, I seem to only get a break at night once my little ones are asleep lately. Oh well, like my son is taught in pre-school: “You get, what you get, and you don’t get upset.”
Thanks so much for your support!
That is a good saying to remember. 🙂
And it has been a pleasure following your blog and reading your books.
What a brave idea! I’ve heard e-pricing at $0.99 drives up sales too. Good luck! Hopefully this will drum up a whole gad of readers for the next book. 🙂
Definitely a brave idea. At first, I cringed at the idea of working so hard and then making it free, but you have to make it easy for readers to find you. With so many books out there, this can be thing that gets you noticed. I’ll let everyone knows how it goes!
I’ve heard about this working as well. Hey, it’s worked on me (about to download your book!) . lol. You can count on me for an honest review. And hey, if it’s a good story (which i bet it is) $4 for 2 novels is an awesome deal and will get you many satisfied and loyal customers. Good luck and happy writing! Thanks for the free book!
Oh, I’m so glad your reading it and I can’t wait to hear what you thought of it!