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gmw · 05-10-2012, 02:23 AM

Many authors offer selected works for free(*) - sometimes temporarily as part of a specific marketing campaign, sometimes permanently as part of some more long term thing.

It seems to me that there is an inherent dilemma facing the author that chooses to do this. It is often the case that the first book(s) an author writes are not their best (there are exceptions), so offering the first book as a freebie may not have the desired effect. People may read it and find it ... uninspiring, and so not be inclined to try more. So an author may have better success by offering one of their later books, one that better demonstrates their talents. The obvious counter argument is that the better books are more worth more, something you are more confident about selling (for whatever price), and so something that you are less inclined to give-away.

IF you decide to offer a book for free, what do you offer? Your best? Your first? Or some other selection criteria?

(*) Sometimes such freebies are the first of a sequence (a trilogy or whatever where the first book is an integral part of some larger story), where the hope is to attract readers to buy the rest of the sequence. This post is NOT really about such offers - because there is no choice here, no dilemma, the only book that can feasibly be offered is the first. I use the term "sequence" to distinguish integral story sequences from books that form a series of mostly independent stories (Agatha Christie's Poirot, Discworld novels and so on) - this post IS inclusive of series such as these.

(**) It may be obvious, but this post inspired by the fact that I am reading a freebie from an author previously unknown to me. It is one of their first and I suspect (from reviews I've seen of later books) not one of their best.

05-10-2012, 02:23 AM	#1
gmw cacoethes scribendi Posts: 5,818 Karma: 137770742 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650	The freebie dilemma Many authors offer selected works for free() - sometimes temporarily as part of a specific marketing campaign, sometimes permanently as part of some more long term thing. It seems to me that there is an inherent dilemma facing the author that chooses to do this. It is often the case that the first book(s) an author writes are not their best (there are exceptions), so offering the first book as a freebie may not have the desired effect. People may read it and find it ... uninspiring, and so not be inclined to try more. So an author may have better success by offering one of their later books, one that better demonstrates their talents. The obvious counter argument is that the better books are more worth more, something you are more confident about selling (for whatever price), and so something that you are less inclined to give-away. IF you decide to offer a book for free, what do you offer? Your best? Your first? Or some other selection criteria? () Sometimes such freebies are the first of a sequence (a trilogy or whatever where the first book is an integral part of some larger story), where the hope is to attract readers to buy the rest of the sequence. This post is NOT really about such offers - because there is no choice here, no dilemma, the only book that can feasibly be offered is the first. I use the term "sequence" to distinguish integral story sequences from books that form a series of mostly independent stories (Agatha Christie's Poirot, Discworld novels and so on) - this post IS inclusive of series such as these. (**) It may be obvious, but this post inspired by the fact that I am reading a freebie from an author previously unknown to me. It is one of their first and I suspect (from reviews I've seen of later books) not one of their best.