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Old 05-02-2013, 01:15 PM   #1
Gregg Bell
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Another ? about listing an ebook for free

Does anybody have any experience what it's like to get Amazon to list their book for free outside the KDP Select (and only 5 free days)? It seems all I hear about is KDP Select KDP Select KDP Select. But if "free" is good for an ebook, then why only 5 days free? It just doesn't make sense to me. Why not I deciding how long it should be free: one day, 100 days, or whatever. And I'm not impressed with KDP Select's 'compensated borrowing' program either. Thanks for any feedback on this.
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Old 05-02-2013, 02:27 PM   #2
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Amazon are running a business. How do they make money out of giving away your book for free?
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Old 05-03-2013, 02:22 AM   #3
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Originally Posted by Gregg Bell View Post
Does anybody have any experience what it's like to get Amazon to list their book for free outside the KDP Select (and only 5 free days)? It seems all I hear about is KDP Select KDP Select KDP Select. But if "free" is good for an ebook, then why only 5 days free? It just doesn't make sense to me. Why not I deciding how long it should be free: one day, 100 days, or whatever. And I'm not impressed with KDP Select's 'compensated borrowing' program either. Thanks for any feedback on this.
There is no guaranteed way of getting an ebook listed for free on Amazon. If it's listed elsewhere for free, Amazon might match the price, and it might stay at free, or they might put it back up.

Why aren't you impressed with the free borrowing part of KDP Select? I put one book in Select recently as an experiment, and I got roughly the same for borrows as I did for sales. The only thing I don't like about Select is the exclusivity requirement.
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Old 05-03-2013, 08:30 AM   #4
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Yes. I have done it with my first book. You need to first get your book on Amazon, and then use Smashwords or others to get your book in to Apple, and B&N for free. Those 2 stores seem to be key. Next you get as many people as you can to report the price to Amazon through there "have you seen this cheaper?" link. After a highly unpredictable and variable amount of time Amazon will then price match Apple and B&N to make the book free. Mine has been free since May 2010 via this method.
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Old 05-03-2013, 08:31 AM   #5
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Amazon are running a business. How do they make money out of giving away your book for free?
It is called a loss leader. Tried and true method of retail sales for as long as selling has existed.
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Old 05-03-2013, 08:46 AM   #6
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It is called a loss leader. Tried and true method of retail sales for as long as selling has existed.
Sorry, I didn't make myself clear. I completely understand why Amazon offer a book free for a single day. I was responding to Greg's comment that he might wish to make his book free for 100 days. That probably wouldn't be a good idea at all from Amazon's perspective.
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Old 05-03-2013, 08:55 AM   #7
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Sorry, I didn't make myself clear. I completely understand why Amazon offer a book free for a single day. I was responding to Greg's comment that he might wish to make his book free for 100 days. That probably wouldn't be a good idea at all from Amazon's perspective.
So, you may think that, but they have been doing it for a very large number of ebooks for a very long time. They are currently king of the Ebook market (at least USA) and making a killing doing just that. There are thousands of free ebooks on Amazon. Many of them are not worth even that much, but I have found some great gems that way.

All I can say is it is working for them, and for me since I am one of those ebooks that has been free for years with them.

It is just the ebook version of the standard loss leader, IMO.
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Old 05-03-2013, 11:27 PM   #8
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There is no guaranteed way of getting an ebook listed for free on Amazon. If it's listed elsewhere for free, Amazon might match the price, and it might stay at free, or they might put it back up.

Why aren't you impressed with the free borrowing part of KDP Select? I put one book in Select recently as an experiment, and I got roughly the same for borrows as I did for sales. The only thing I don't like about Select is the exclusivity requirement.
Thanks, Russell. Good to know it's so iffy. And as far as KDP Select. I don't know. I just can't get my head around it. I too don't like the exclusivity. And then it's like they're trying to corner the market. (And I have to say it's very tempting just to go with them with everything. They do make it very easy to do just that). It's good to hear that the borrow thing works out. But I think ultimately it's like they're just ravenous to snuff out the competition that bothers me. I mean, yeah, there's competition but let's be sane about it. (I used to work with a guy who wore a button that said: "I just want it all." That's kind of what Amazon is like to me.)

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Sorry, I didn't make myself clear. I completely understand why Amazon offer a book free for a single day. I was responding to Greg's comment that he might wish to make his book free for 100 days. That probably wouldn't be a good idea at all from Amazon's perspective.
Thanks Harry. I've thought of that--that Amazon is in business to make money (not just a service to make my ebook available.). It's just the whiffs of exclusivity and monopolism that the KDP Select program gives off that I'm uncomfortable with.
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So, you may think that, but they have been doing it for a very large number of ebooks for a very long time. They are currently king of the Ebook market (at least USA) and making a killing doing just that. There are thousands of free ebooks on Amazon. Many of them are not worth even that much, but I have found some great gems that way.

All I can say is it is working for them, and for me since I am one of those ebooks that has been free for years with them.

It is just the ebook version of the standard loss leader, IMO.
Thanks Vincent. I went to your author page and saw that that free book had a lot of reviews, which is great. So you seem really happy with that free book as a loss leader. So did that book being continuously free lead to a lot of sales of the paperback version of the book or your other books? (P.S. I liked your author page--very nice.)
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Old 05-03-2013, 11:57 PM   #9
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Thanks Vincent. I went to your author page and saw that that free book had a lot of reviews, which is great. So you seem really happy with that free book as a loss leader. So did that book being continuously free lead to a lot of sales of the paperback version of the book or your other books? (P.S. I liked your author page--very nice.)

I see the free book as my best marketing tool, and the only thing that I can point to actually working. Before it went free I sold like 2 books, maybe three. After it went free, well suffice to say I am now making a profit selling books, enough to pay my editor and cover artist. Oh, and I bought my wife an iPhone with profits. Not huge dollars, but I am getting there.

All I know is that it seems to be working for me. I decided to go this route after reviewing what other successful indies did. I am not blazing new ground, just following along where the success have walked. I am still working the plan, and have a ways to go yet. I made some mistakes early on that hurt me and slowed me down, but eh, I carry on.
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Old 05-06-2013, 12:58 PM   #10
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thanks

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I see the free book as my best marketing tool, and the only thing that I can point to actually working. Before it went free I sold like 2 books, maybe three. After it went free, well suffice to say I am now making a profit selling books, enough to pay my editor and cover artist. Oh, and I bought my wife an iPhone with profits. Not huge dollars, but I am getting there.

All I know is that it seems to be working for me. I decided to go this route after reviewing what other successful indies did. I am not blazing new ground, just following along where the success have walked. I am still working the plan, and have a ways to go yet. I made some mistakes early on that hurt me and slowed me down, but eh, I carry on.
Hey, "getting there is" is awesome. Glad it's working for you. I'm really leaning toward (I've got three novels pretty much ready to go), doing the first one totally free and then the other two for 99 cents. The Amazon Monster is still lurking, though, with its warnings and delays (see below--the last two paragraphs are from KDP Forum). I don't know, I guess I could do the first book in the KDP Select for three months and then go totally free with it. Still batting it around. I hope you don't mind but I'm kind of using you as my guide. (So if you have any more info for me I'm all ears.) Thanks.


Some authors have effectively marketed a series by giving the first book away for free for an extended period (i.e. months). It doesn't always work. The authors who succeed usually have a good business plan and good marketing ideas. They also have a lot of belief in their books, i.e. in terms of the first book (and the blurb) being good enough to hook the reader and the remaining books being good enough to reward them for continuing. It may not be quite as good for similar titles that aren't part of a series because then the reader isn't being hooked on the same concept or characters.

If you succeed in getting Amazon to price-match and change your mind later, there may be a lengthy delay (like a month) in getting the price restored (and then you may have to agree to stop discounting your price elsewhere).
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Old 05-06-2013, 06:18 PM   #11
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Hey, "getting there is" is awesome. Glad it's working for you. I'm really leaning toward (I've got three novels pretty much ready to go), doing the first one totally free and then the other two for 99 cents. The Amazon Monster is still lurking, though, with its warnings and delays (see below--the last two paragraphs are from KDP Forum). I don't know, I guess I could do the first book in the KDP Select for three months and then go totally free with it. Still batting it around. I hope you don't mind but I'm kind of using you as my guide. (So if you have any more info for me I'm all ears.) Thanks.

Make your first book GREAT. Best cover art you can afford (mistake I made). You can darn good pre-made covers for $25-$50 that are professional looking. Your cover is critical for your first book. Google up "pre-made book covers" and you will find them by the 100's.

Make sure your books are FULLY and PROFESSIONALLY edited before release (mistake I made) and post the heck out of the free one everywhere that accepts free book adverts all at once. Your goal is to spike downloads as early as you can and get about the top 1 or 2 thousand on the Kindle Free boards. Once you cross that line you get in all kinds of "also bought" lists, and "you might be interested in lists." Head over to Kindle Boards, they have a yellow pages of sites that let free books get listed.

Have book two and three ready to go and advertise them in your first book, at the very end of the book. Almost all readers skip all front matter, but adverts that are done well that follow the text in the last chapter seem to work well. Until you have your mailing list ready this is by far your best advertising medium.

Setup a mailing list with someone like MailChimp (free for small fries like us). This will be your BEST source of advertising by far once you develop it. Put links in your ebook to the subscribe list and then protect that list with a vengeance. Only send out announcements about new books and that kind of rare update. Never give up or share your mailing list. Geting this list can be a long painful process, but if you build it, it will pay you back a gazillion times over.

Make out plan before you release of all the places you will hit with advertising, all the people you plan to announce too, and etc. Make sure your web site, facebook, twitter and mailing list are ready and look mature before you release.

Also price your books at 2.99 or 3.99, not 0.99. Studies have shown (and been linked here) that the 0.99 price looses sales compared to 2.99. 2.99->5.99 seems to be the best range for a new indy.

Hope that helps. I wish I knew all this when I got started. My free book hit #5 on Amazon for several weeks... but was not edited and had no advertising in it. I lost all of those readers who only know by the unedited work and I have no way to reach them now.
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Old 05-06-2013, 11:34 PM   #12
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Wow!

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Make your first book GREAT. Best cover art you can afford (mistake I made). You can darn good pre-made covers for $25-$50 that are professional looking. Your cover is critical for your first book. Google up "pre-made book covers" and you will find them by the 100's.
What a lot of great advice that is, Vincent. Thank you so much. I feel pretty good about my covers and editing but will have to do the email stuff (it makes sense) and the stuff at the end of the book (which makes sense too). So, as usual (lol), more work, but I'm sure it will be worth it. Thanks again!
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