Quote:
Originally Posted by mitrodhar
That is depressing. A lot of gurus out there still preach newbies to giveaway ebooks for free, especially the first in the series. I wonder if that is a viable method anymore?
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Last time I did much reading on the freebies aspect the gurus seemed fairly evenly divided: some thought giving away a book was a good idea (it says to the new reader: "come on, take the risk, it won't cost you anything"); others believe that giving away your work for free sends all the wrong signals (it says to the reader: "this is so worthless I won't even ask for money").
I believe presentation and exposure are more important than price (at the prices most Indies charge). Does the book appear to be professionally produced? Is the cover and blurb attractive? Are enough people aware of the book so that some reasonable number may actually try it? (It will never be a big percentage.)
My experience, such as it is:
So far I've written three novels that form a complete series. I have never made the first permanently free, but I have twice taken part in the Smashwords July sale to make the first novel free for that month. The response was underwhelming. I think there are a few reasons for this ...
I think my blurb could be better, and I certainly could/should try to do more marketing (I've done only what's fast and easy: a thread in the self-promo forum here on MR). Beyond that, note that on Smashwords a book that is only free through a coupon code (such as during the July sale) is only able to be downloaded if the person is registered with Smashwords. This limits the people who will bother to download the freebie.
Contrast my novels with the short stories I started to publish last July. These were all published with home-grown covers and pretty iffy blurbs. Each has only been mentioned on Smashwords and here (and my blog, fwiw). But as permanently free ebooks they can be downloaded without being registered at Smashwords. The result: Each story has surpassed my novels in downloads within a week.
Being short will count for some of that, I'm sure, but I'm also sure that being free-for-all counts for a big part.
But, of course, downloads doesn't equate to readers; many download to add to their TBR and may never get to it (especially true of freebies). And readers don't equate to reviewers; very few people leave a review, good or bad.
I am not really sure what all that means, you can make your own interpretation. I found the lack of activity was very disappointing at first. It still is, to some extent, but I've grown wiser and more philosophical about it. What more could I expect given my lack of enthusiasm for marketing? Given the choice between spending my very limited spare time trying to do something I don't like (marketing) for dubious benefit (there is no guarantee of sales even with marketing), versus something I do like (writing) for obvious benefit (I enjoy writing), I choose the latter.