Why a free chapter is a lousy thing to give away if you want. Oct 20, 2014 the more content youre giving away for free, the more aware people are going to be of you and your work. My friend sarah mae taught me this when she gave away 2000 copies of her ebook and sold 20,000. The intriguing results of offering my kindle ebook for.
When evaluating claims such as giving away your ebooks for free will do wonders for your. I personally dont have that time to list my ebook to a bunch of free sites. Do you want to sell more books and increase the value of your author brand. Digital book she can give away the digital version of the book. Because giving away a book is actually a great strategy to sell one. Why i did the unthinkable and gave my ebook away for free. You can create an ebook within a few minutes and have. Would you like to make your ebook stand out from the crowd. Using the streamlined tools of the selz store builder, upload your ebook with an image of the front cover, add a description, set the price, and then add the product to your new store. Why im giving my book away for free for the first five days. You cleaned up the text, added optimized images, pulled together all of the front and backmatter, and created a cover. To many authors, the idea of giving their work away for free is.
That doesnt scale and she cant give away what shes trying to sell if its physical. I told her that you can sell your ebook for free on kindle direct. Grow your email list with a free gift and digioh email. Giving away your ebook by david kudler the title is the first in a series.
Fastbreeding, cute, furry little animals, like hamsters, actually cost the store money to feed and clean, and they have a very low monetary value. Can i give free copies of my selfpublished kindle book to. In my experience, kdp select promotions work best if you have three things in place before you start. Im about to ship my first product to amazon im planning to have 2 items as a give away with it that are listed in my product description. Why you shouldnt give away free ebooks articles factory.
I dont know about you, but when ive read a great book, i like to tell my friends about it. Why a free chapter is a lousy thing to give away if you. May 17, 2018 if you want people to know about your new ebook, youre going to have to give it away for free for a couple of days. But if you have three or more books, you can greatly benefit from giving away one of those books for free. Seth godin is also a fan of free giveaways to promote his books. Can you give away something like an ebook as an extra bonus. If your goal is to generate business with your book, giving away the ebook version costs you nothing, yet can yield big rewards.
Experiment there isnt a single thing im saying here that you should. Free content shouldnt be too complete dont be tempted to answer every question or to answer questions too completely. This led to a windfall that lasted as long as your marketing and the quality of the book could keep it going. Helpful for getting your name as an author out there, building momentum for new books to come. At, i created a kdp select promotion, which i used for an 8part science fiction series. Why fiction authors should offer free ebooks, the book designer. Why a free chapter is a lousy thing to give away if you want to sell a book. Kdp select is the only thing you could possibly be worried about here. Weve built hashdoc to specifically address the business case you mentioned. If you sell a service, i suggest giving away a free ebook, pdf or 15 minute consulting. If youre promoting more than a single ebook and all of. Should you give it away for free and build your email list or sell it and make a little bit of money, but also get it in the hands of as many people as. Five questions to ask yourself before pricing up your ebook.
If youre positioning your ebook as a premium product e. Here are seven reasons from author bryan hutchinson on why you should. How to give away free books and why you should with damon. You converted it into epub ebook format either using an app on your computer or online. Ask them to read it, and if they enjoy it, to share it with their friends. There are an amazing number of books in the public domain. Why you should not give your ebook away for free onyx defiant. In simple terms, each free ebook that is downloaded counts towards the ebooks sales ranking. Whether giving away the ebook version or a bonus with purchase, he is a master of building buzz with the concept of free. How to decide which content to sell and what to give away.
Why you should not give your ebook away for free onyx. Apr 01, 2020 give away gift cards for more ebooks, a new ebook reader, or ebook reading accessories. Free kindle ebooks sell ebooks in the end through a complex algorithm that amazon uses to calculate an individual ebooks sales rank. How to decide which content to sell and what to give away for. Ebooks to download and give away freely merles world. Why you shouldnt give away free ebooks if internet marketing were a college major, in lesson 1 of internet marketing 101 you would be taught to give away free ebooks. I decided to give away my memoir, one boys struggle, for free via story cartel. Can you make money writing ebooks and how to get started. Can you really justify giving away your book for free. Last year, on a cold november morning in washington square park in manhattan, two authors held a contest. We recorded a podcast session on building an email list from amazon. The author wanted to promote her first book by giving it away.
After your ebook is enrolled in kdp select, you can run a free book promotion by offering it for free for up to 5 days out of each 90day kdp select enrollment period. Free book promotions after your ebook is enrolled in kdp select, you can run a free book promotion by offering it for free for up to 5 days out of each 90day kdp select enrollment period. How to give away copies of your kindle ebook on amazon, and why its a good idea by on 020620 with comments 17 amazon has a handy featured called give as a gift which you can use to send someone a kindle book via email. Whether you sell or give away your next ebook, it will show your readers that you want to help them along their journey. Nov 21, 2015 new authors should give away their books for free. There are good reasons i do it myself with a small number of my. I know this goes against many of the teachings of the top marketers, but i say dont give away free ebooks and ill tell you why reason 1 giving away ebooks written by someone else is like owning a candy store and offering everyone who comes into your store a free sample of the candy from the store across the street. Its difficult to give hard and fast rules, because for each of these ideas someone out there will be the exception. Now, obviously the point of selling it on amazon is to make money right. Never read any more than 2% of those books, and they were deleted from my kindle library. Amazon does not give precise details on their free book promotions page, apart from this broad explanation. However, i have an idea of a 3rd bonus in a form of an ebook or manual that can be sent to all buyers once they purchased my product. Can i sell an ebook on amazon and give it away for free on my site. Thats because offering a free ebook download as an incentive for signing up for a mailing list is a timetested strategy to hopefully boost mailing list optin rates.
Aug 15, 2018 never the less i thank you for this post it was informative and im convienced freebies my first week of realease my goal is to sell 6,500 book this yr some are telling me its far fetched for a self published let alone new author to reach that goal but my plan is to sell online and in person i already have contaced several book stores acting as. How to give away copies of your kindle ebook on amazon, and. There are an amazing number of books in the public domain and also under the creative commons license, more on this later which you can give away on your site. Give away free stuff as a discount my favorite example of how online stores can give away free stuff and still make money comes from an online pet store that gave away pets completely free. And thats just a small taste of all the disruptions weve enjoyed thanks to the internet. Five simple ways to promote your selfpublished book. How to increase your amazon kindle book sales by 600% in a week.
So i used this service to help me get the word out about my new ebook. In order to sell lots of books, you must get as many eyeballs as possible. No distributor has exclusive rights unless you specifically. While it takes time to reach such heights as an author, video ads can generate more interest towards your book. They wanted to see who could give away the most books to passersby in half an hour. Oct 17, 2011 seth godin is also a fan of free give aways to promote his books. Since before launching my ebook in september 20, i had convinced myself that offering it for free was a bad idea, and probably not for the reason you assume. But i dont recommend searching for one until youve sold a lot of ebooks. There are several sites that you can list your ebook for free. The second, and perhaps easier, method is to use a book that someone else has already written. Feel free to download it to your site and give it away to your own site guests. They wanted to see who could give away the most books to passersby in half. Im a cofounder so i am biased in saying that our service hits the spot when it comes to selling documents. You should give your book away for free and make money.
Because giving away a book is actually a great strategy to sell. This is just one thing giving your work away for free can do. Give it away for free and make 10x on your live shows instead. Selfpublishing is easy, you can upload your book to amazon and start selling. I would like to sell my ebook via my website, but dont want to send any files to the buyer.
Top 7 reasons you should give your book away for free. Amazon has a handy featured called give as a gift which you can use to send someone a kindle book via email. How to give away free books and why you should with damon courtney from bookfunnel indie authors are a lot like tech startups, bootstrapping and pivoting and trying new. In this interview with jim kukral, youll find tips on how to market ebooks successfully. Not long ago i said i would never offer my books for free.
The definitive guide to pricing your book the wise ink blog. Give away gift cards for more ebooks, a new ebook reader, or ebook reading accessories. He teaches the internet marketing certificate program at the university of san francisco and is one of the top experts on ebook marketing. For authors, this can be quite handy for book promotion purposes. I could see no sense in just giving away something i invested so much. Of course, if youve produced your ebook yourself entirely, including writing the copy, creating the artwork. Where can i sell pdfs for profit that are not ebooks. What can you expect when you offer your books for free. How to give away a free ebook and get more subscribers. Thats because offering a free ebook download as an. Your friends, family, and core readers should never have to buy a book. If you sell an informational product, i suggest giving away a free bonus chapter, video or webinar. How to give away a free ebook and get more subscribers if you like ebooks, you can get a boatload of them by signing up for newsletters. How to give away free stuff to boost online store sales.
Other than that, you can do whatever you want with your book. May 20, 2015 in my experience, kdp select promotions work best if you have three things in place before you start. Jun 29, 2015 in january, i had a chance to sit down with nick stephenson, a topselling kindle author in both fiction and nonfiction. You can create an ebook within a few minutes and have your ebook 100% safeguarded against internet piracy and theft. This approach is a great way to test your content with your readers without spending a lot on promotion. How to give away copies of your kindle ebook on amazon. The hook was nick built a massive list of 15,000 email subscribers in just a few short months, using one pillar strategy. When using facebook, tools like agorapluse make it easy to run sweepstake and giveaway campaigns. Can even be done with physical books, just book a distribution deal. Oct 20, 2017 how to give away a free ebook and get more subscribers if you like ebooks, you can get a boatload of them by signing up for newsletters. With so many ebooks immediately available to readers, you need to you need to employ some skillful marketing tactics to get your book noticed.
Here are 21 helpful ebook ideas, specifically for online businesses and bloggers or. Apr 14, 2015 seth godin encourages promising authors to give away their first book for free. How to publish a book and sell your first 1,000 copies. May 04, 20 so what should sara do to get email subscribers and build excitement for her upcoming book. You can survey a few superfans ahead of time to find out which prizes they prefer.
Having a free sale on your ebook is one of the least expensive ways to. One great marketing tactic is giving away something for free. The more content youre giving away for free, the more aware people are going to be of you and your work. Yes, a lot of work should go into the writing, the editing, the cover, the title, the. How can i make money giving away a free ebook on amazon. You can run a free book promotion in all kindle marketplaces where the kdp selectenrolled title is available for sale. The going idea now is give your music away for free, tour your life away playing live shows forever, and if people like your band enough, theyll buy your tshirts. Jim kukral is a bestselling author and top internet entrepreneur. One of the biggest disrupted industries and one of those that provides a great path to a solid making money online.
Physical book she cant give away the physical book to the masses. What to consider when selling ebooks on your website. Whether you sell your ebook or give it away free, you will be amazed by how many more downloads you will get if you have a killercover ebook cover on it. A killercover ebook cover designed exclusively for you will ensure you do stand out, and sell more. You must also take these into consideration before pricing up your ebook.
Or give away prizes that relate to your topic and will appeal to your fan base. But in general here is what your free content should not be. Youre about to read a comprehensive stepbystep guide full of fresh and actual info, written in a digestible manner. If youre giving your ebook away as an incentive for joining your email list, then. The more copies of my book that i can give away, the more true fans i have a. You give away the free ebook to get people hooked on all your other ebooks, which they buy at full price.