The freebie dilemma

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.

mr ploppy · 05-10-2012, 05:26 AM

Short stories tend to make better advertising freebies, especially if you can write one containing characters from one of your full length offerings. They are more likely to be read than anything else because they are easier to slip in soon after download.

If you look on Goodreads you'll see people with TBR lists thousands of books long. A full length free book will just join that queue and never be read. That would only be any use if your intention was to milk the "also read" system or bump up your "sales" figures to get near the top spot in some obscure genre. Both worth doing, but they won't lead to increased sales of your other books.

rhadin · 05-10-2012, 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

Short stories tend to make better advertising freebies, especially if you can write one containing characters from one of your full length offerings. They are more likely to be read than anything else because they are easier to slip in soon after download.

Just be aware that there are plenty of readers, like myself, who do not like short stories and never read them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

If you look on Goodreads you'll see people with TBR lists thousands of books long. A full length free book will just join that queue and never be read. . . . Both worth doing, but they won't lead to increased sales of your other books.

I'm not on Goodreads but I am a downloader of free ebooks that interest me and I admit my TBR pile grows. However, my reading mood changes regularly and so there is no way to know where a particular book really stands in the queue.

As for leading to sales, I think a free ebook can definitely do that. Just a couple of days ago, I finished reading Rebecca Forster's Hostile Witness, which was a freebie (available at Smashwords and B&N) that had been in my TBR pile for 6 months. It is also the first book in the series. No sooner did I finish reading the book than I went online and bought her 3 other ebooks in the series -- Silent Witness, Privileged Witness, and Expert Witness -- at $3.99 each. If the freebie hadn't been offered, I never would have looked at her ebooks and would not have bought her other 3 books. Had she offered only a free short story, I never would have found her either.

jbcohen · 05-10-2012, 08:22 AM

I can certainly understand your delema here. I frequently do business with Baen who frequently make the first book in a series available for $0 and charge for the rest of them, I can plainly see the loss leader concept here. I like being able to see how an author writes before being asked to commit my hard earned dollars.

kennyc · 05-10-2012, 08:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rhadin

Just be aware that there are plenty of readers, like myself, who do not like short stories and never read them.

.....

You make me very very sad.

kennyc · 05-10-2012, 09:01 AM

to the O.P. my thoughts are that to make give-aways work (e.g. create sales). It has to be something that grabs the reader and makes them want more -- enough so that they purchase the book or additional books based on the sample they get for free.

Unfortunately that's what all writing is about for the most part, so it makes me wonder if a simple blurb or "look inside" by Amazon doesn't do just as much in that regard.

I don't think there is a simple answer, but I do think whatever you offer as a sample of for free should be something like a "best typical example" of your work (or the series or the book as a whole).

Enough rambling...

orlok · 05-10-2012, 09:10 AM

For a first time author the dilemma is worse, in a way, as there is only one book to choose from. Having put a huge amount of effort into it, I certainly don't want to give it away free. I like the "Look Inside" feature being used to its fullest advantage.

Offhand, does anyone know if the author controls the content of the "Look Inside" feature, or is it always just the first X pages?

pdurrant · 05-10-2012, 09:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by orlok

Offhand, does anyone know if the author controls the content of the "Look Inside" feature, or is it always just the first X pages?

One just has to trust to Amazon's judgement.

orlok · 05-10-2012, 09:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdurrant

One just has to trust to Amazon's judgement.

Hmmmm. Pity, but I guess they know what they are doing by now.

kennyc · 05-10-2012, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by orlok

For a first time author the dilemma is worse, in a way, as there is only one book to choose from. Having put a huge amount of effort into it, I certainly don't want to give it away free. I like the "Look Inside" feature being used to its fullest advantage.

Offhand, does anyone know if the author controls the content of the "Look Inside" feature, or is it always just the first X pages?

It's generally the first 10% I believe, but there is actual information on the Amazon site.

And it's not just "trust Amazon"

But it's also true that you can't explicitly choose what it contains.

You do choose what is in the book description. Which is why I put the beginning of my Flash Fiction piece there the reason being that the first 10% was essentially blank due to the length. (It was just the title and first sentence or part of the first sentence..)

GeckoFriend · 05-10-2012, 09:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by orlok

Hmmmm. Pity, but I guess they know what they are doing by now.

No, they don't. I have looked at lots of the free books offered and frequently the sample is the title page, copyright page, and table of contents. I might download a free book based on that kind of sample but I certainly wouldn't pay for one from an unknown author.

kennyc · 05-10-2012, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeckoFriend

No, they don't. I have looked at lots of the free books offered and frequently the sample is the title page, copyright page, and table of contents. I might download a free book based on that kind of sample but I certainly wouldn't pay for one from an unknown author.

Yep, exactly depending on the length.... that's what happened with one of mine a I mentioned above.

mr ploppy · 05-10-2012, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kennyc

It's generally the first 10% I believe, but there is actual information on the Amazon site.

And it's not just "trust Amazon"

But it's also true that you can't explicitly choose what it contains.

You do choose what is in the book description. Which is why I put the beginning of my Flash Fiction piece there the reason being that the first 10% was essentially blank due to the length. (It was just the title and first sentence or part of the first sentence..)

One of mine has a 50% sample, but I don't know why. At first I thought it might be due to KDP Select because it happened around the same time and it wasn't enrolled, but others I've put up since are around the 10-20% range.

orlok · 05-10-2012, 09:49 AM

Thanks, useful info all.

kennyc · 05-10-2012, 09:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

One of mine has a 50% sample, but I don't know why. At first I thought it might be due to KDP Select because it happened around the same time and it wasn't enrolled, but others I've put up since are around the 10-20% range.

Right, so there is certainly more going on behind the scenes. As I mentioned there is more information on the Amazon site and the KDP community forums etc.

The Flash piece I mentioned, initially had a preview as I described, but currently has "No Preview" and I'm not sure exactly why, unless someone from Amazon read my description and disabled the preview. I haven't asked, because that particular one was the first one I put up and was/is really just a test of formatting, publishing, etc.

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.

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05-10-2012, 05:26 AM	#2
mr ploppy Feral Underclass Posts: 3,622 Karma: 26821535 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Yorkshire, tha noz Device: 2nd hand paperback	Short stories tend to make better advertising freebies, especially if you can write one containing characters from one of your full length offerings. They are more likely to be read than anything else because they are easier to slip in soon after download. If you look on Goodreads you'll see people with TBR lists thousands of books long. A full length free book will just join that queue and never be read. That would only be any use if your intention was to milk the "also read" system or bump up your "sales" figures to get near the top spot in some obscure genre. Both worth doing, but they won't lead to increased sales of your other books.

05-10-2012, 08:22 AM	#4
jbcohen Wizard Posts: 3,032 Karma: 11196738 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Where am I? Device: Kindle Paperwhite Signature edition and a Samsung S24 Ultra	I can certainly understand your delema here. I frequently do business with Baen who frequently make the first book in a series available for $0 and charge for the rest of them, I can plainly see the loss leader concept here. I like being able to see how an author writes before being asked to commit my hard earned dollars.

05-10-2012, 09:01 AM	#6
kennyc The Dank Side of the Moon Posts: 35,897 Karma: 119230421 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Denver, CO Device: Kindle2; Kindle Fire	to the O.P. my thoughts are that to make give-aways work (e.g. create sales). It has to be something that grabs the reader and makes them want more -- enough so that they purchase the book or additional books based on the sample they get for free. Unfortunately that's what all writing is about for the most part, so it makes me wonder if a simple blurb or "look inside" by Amazon doesn't do just as much in that regard. I don't think there is a simple answer, but I do think whatever you offer as a sample of for free should be something like a "best typical example" of your work (or the series or the book as a whole). Enough rambling...

05-10-2012, 09:10 AM	#7
orlok Close to the Edit! Posts: 9,797 Karma: 267994408 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis, Amazon Fire 8", Kindle 6"	For a first time author the dilemma is worse, in a way, as there is only one book to choose from. Having put a huge amount of effort into it, I certainly don't want to give it away free. I like the "Look Inside" feature being used to its fullest advantage. Offhand, does anyone know if the author controls the content of the "Look Inside" feature, or is it always just the first X pages?

05-10-2012, 09:49 AM	#14
orlok Close to the Edit! Posts: 9,797 Karma: 267994408 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis, Amazon Fire 8", Kindle 6"	Thanks, useful info all.