Working for Free Still Pays

by Peg Brantley

I have mixed feelings about making my book free. It's the only one I've published so far (#2 is in the editing stages), so the wonderful bump in sales many other writers experience for their other books is for me a moot point. On the other hand 'free' gives me a wonderful opportunity to expose my work to a wider audience and add to my reader base. I love that.

When an opportunity came up for me to be a guest on a live radio show I decided to capitalize on that event and make Red Tide free. So for three days, Sunday through Tuesday of this week, my one and only book was available to whoever wanted it.

Turns out, almost 35,000 people decided to give it a try. For the first time since the book was published in late March, I reached readers in not only the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany, but also readers in France, Spain and Italy. The after-effect of sales is gratifying (though I still don't understand why that happens) and I've lent more books from Amazon's lending library than ever before.

But I didn't just schedule it to be free and wait for readers to find me. I asked for a lot of help to get the word out. I tweeted (and tweeted), utilized Facebook until I was sick of seeing my own cover, and thankfully had prepared—in advance—for some backup.

About two weeks before I went 'free' I sent my information to the following websites (there is no guarantee that any of these sites will feature your book):

• Pixel of Ink has thousands of subscribers. I do know that my book was chosen by them for the first day, and I credit this site for a lot of my downloads;
• Free eBooks Daily has a bit of quid-pro-quo and listed my book at some point;
• Free Booksy listed not only me, but the joint promotion I had with my sister;
• eReader News Today also carried my book, and they have a lot of influence with readers;
• Bargain Book Hunter is a site I purchased (at least 48 hours in advance) a guaranteed placement for $5.

There are countless other sites, including at least four more who I submitted to but I don't think selected my book.

My point is, simply going free and sitting back to wait for fabulous results probably isn't going to work unless your name is Stephen King or Michael Connelly. When you're ready to push for some positive results by offering your book free for a few days, you need to have an army behind you. Plan ahead.

CFC readers, how do you find your free books—the ones you really are interested in?

CFC writers, if you offer your books for free, what are some of the things you've learned along the way?



My very special thanks to Karin Cox and Indie Review Tracker for providing me with a lot of ideas.

Superstitions

Photo by tolea

I thought we'd take a little breather today and talk about… well, today. Friday the 13th.

Bad things happen on Friday the 13th. Some people say this is the most widely held superstition in America today. People stay home from work and restaurants on Friday the 13th. They don't make any important decisions and some can probably be found tossing salt over their shoulders willy-nilly.

What are some other superstitions? I went on a hunt to track down a few.

• Getting out of bed left foot first is supposed to be bad luck. (I'm in trouble with this since I sleep on the left side of our bed.)

• Dropping an umbrella on the floor means someone will be murdered in the house.

• Here's an easy one: Never mend a garment while you are wearing it or misfortune will follow.

• Sneezing three times before breakfast is good luck.

• Sleeping on un-ironed sheets is also good luck. (This is not a problem in our house. I wonder if it counteracts the left foot thing?)

• A naked woman on a boat is supposed to bring good luck and calm the seas. 

• Golfers can have a successful day on the course if they begin their round with odd numbered clubs and don't use balls with numbers higher than 4.

What about you? Do you have any superstitions? A lucky pair of socks? C'mon. It's just us.

****In the event there's something to the Friday the 13th thing, you can shop from home today. Red Tide is free, along with a lot of other books in a wide range of genres. In addition to my own, you'll see one of my other blogging buddies there: Tom Adair's Scent of Fear is also free. You can see them all at Kindle Freebies.

Happy Birthday, Mom

Red Tide is now available through Amazon.

When I look at that sentence, I just shake my head. As long as it was in coming, it feels like it happened overnight. I talked about it, wrote about it, dreamed about it—then actually sat a target date for publication. April 2nd. What would have been my mom's 79th birthday.

The "Writer at Work, Stumbling Toward Publication" line by my signature is forever gone. Well, the last part anyway. We'll see what might take its place.

Today I'm looking at a long list of things I should do to get the word out. QR code, website, Goodreads Author program, guest posts, business cards, Twitter, Facebook, blah blah blah. I also want to begin the self-edits for my next book.

Stop.

For a few minutes, I want to tap into the feeling of accomplishment and savor it.

Before I leave to savor, I want to let you know that in honor of my mom's birthday, Red Tide will be FREE Saturday, March 31st through Monday, April 2nd. Honest reviews are appreciated.

Amazon's KDP Select Results

By L.J. Sellers, author of provocative mysteries & thrillers
When Amazon asked me to enroll a few books its KDP Select program, I went along. Like many other authors, because of Kindle Direct Publishing, I now have readers and I’m able to make a small living. So I’m deeply grateful, and even loyal, to Amazon. I don’t necessarily like the 90-exclusivity requirement of the new program, but I don’t sell enough of certain titles in other venues for it to be a financial consideration.

So I enrolled three books out of ten, and promptly listed two for back-to-back, five-day giveaways, the main perk of the program.

The results were better than expected. First, I gave away The Suicide Effect, my lowest-selling book. Between the US and UK, in five days, I had 34,888 downloads. A stunning number for a book with suicide in the title. The book is now #61 in the entire Kindle store and actually selling for the first time. I know this effect is temporary, but still awesome. The bonus is that I have an excerpt of The Baby Thief in the back, and I sold several hundred of that title during the giveaway, and it's selling better than ever too.

I also gave away The Sex Club, a book that’s already had a lot of exposure. In addition to the 23,868 ebooks downloaded so far, I’ve also seen a bump in the sales of my other Detective Jackson novels…even though The Sex Club is no longer listed as part of my series. (I recently blogged about that decision.)

So it’s been a good move for me. Ironically, two weeks ago I announced to my husband that I was giving up writing novels and looking for an office job...because I was working too hard and making too little money in this crazy industry. The power of Amazon!

Those three titles won’t be available on Nook, Kobo, or any other e-reader for at least 90 days, but I can live with that. I haven’t enrolled my Detective Jackson books in the program, and I don’t plan to. I want readers everywhere to have access to them.

I may never really know the full effect of this promotion. Many of those people will never read either story. Many may not read them for six months or more. But with so much exposure to my writing, it’s inevitable that I’ll pick up thousands of new readers. I’ve already had several people contact me and say something like, “I just started your book, but the writing is so good, I bought everything you have.” When you’re selling ebooks for $.99 and $2.99, it’s not a big commitment for a reader.

I’m sharing this information because many of my writer friends have contacted me to ask about my participation. How can I not recommend it?

But I’m leery of putting all my books in the program. Amazon would have to sweeten the deal considerably, such as by offering me a contract and/or promotional support. But I’m not holding my breath. I’ve worked myself into this position without any help from agents or publishers so far, and I suspect I’ll be indie for the long haul.

What do you think about this program? Have you participated?