Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom Fitch
I feel that self-publishers, certainly of e-books, should offer at least the 4 to 5 first chapters for free. That way, interested readers can get a decent idea of the book before spending money.
Tom
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That is exactly what they do...
...at least the first 10% in the walled garden stores...
...and larger extracts at their websites.
And 100% of the titles they choose to enroll in Kindle Unlimited.
Another common strategy is to offer the first title in a series free either sporadically or permanently.
Visibility is a problem for everybody and one of the reasons the midtier tradpubs are getting squeezed: The BPHs have the money to buy (or not) front table visibility so the favored few can get necessary exposure. (Only a handful of authors benefit but it is possibility.) The midtier tradpubs, however, usually don't have the pockets for much payola or the deep discount game so their titles tend to suffer at B&M.
Indies, on the other hand, have the advantage over their tradpub siblings in that they control their own pricing and distribution so they can choose what to offer (or not) for free. They can do all sorts of dynamic marketing and promotions that just aren't practical for tradpubs since they have what amounts to a dedicated marketing manager.
