Now, here’s a thing.
A blogger posted recently that he was offering one of his books for a week or two as a free download.
Later, he posted angrily that lots of people had downloaded his book for free and why the devil could they not have bought it from him?
I do wonder whether I am missing something here.
The debate rages (I say ‘rages’, perhaps that is a bit of an exaggeration) over whether we should give away books for free to promote ourselves, or to promote other books in a series.
Now here’s a thing.
On one side, there are those who say that people are attracted to free downloads, and this will help to get the author’s name known. Then after the book has been read for free, the reader might be more likely to buy another book by that author.
On the other side, there are those who say that most free downloads languish on disks and are never read, and that they create an expectation that writers will give away their work for free, thus making it less likely that the reader will buy more books.
At times like this, I do what I always do when I need advice and guidance.
I ask Bob.
‘Do I want a free book?‘ he asked me. ‘Of course I do! Have you got it with you now?’
‘I’m afraid it was a rhetorical question, Bob, but I note your reply. What if you were the author, though. Would you give it away?’
‘Of course not! Don’t be ridiculous!’
‘Well, that doesn’t make any sense. Isn’t that rather a contradiction?’ He shrugged.
‘Maybe. But you asked me the questions, so I answered them.’
‘Fair enough.’
‘But no wonder your friend was cross,’
‘They’re not my friend, Bob.’
‘Whatever. No wonder they were cross, if they offered their book for free and lots of people had the cheek to take up that offer.’
‘But that doesn’t make any sense either, Bob. What would you have done?’
‘Me?’
‘Yes’
‘I’d have taken the book.’
‘But would you have offered it in the first place?’
‘No, of course not.’
I knew I had been reminded of someone when I read the original posts.
It could have been Bob.
I’m going to self-publish my first book in a month or two. Though I have no idea what I’m doing re: marketing, my instinct tells me giving something valuable away for nothing is not the way to go. It takes away from its value. On the other hand…when I buy makeup, if I get a free sample of a product I’ve never tried, sometimes I’ll start buying that product. But…I think a book is a different story. Pardon the pun.
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It’s hard to see where the truth lies, here. There is certainly logic on both sides, but my gut feeling is that giving your book away essentially devalues it; the reader thinks ‘if it was free, it can’t be much cop’. And if you download 2 books from (e.g.) Amazon, one for free and one at $2,99, I’ll bet you read the one you paid for first.
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I agree!
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And good luck with the book!
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I tried a giveaway of one of my older books when I published a new one. It resulted in a LOT of free downloads but hardly any new sales. I am still fumbling along, trying to figure all of this out. Maybe I’ll be famous when I’m dead! 😵
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Ah, yes. It has often been remarked that death can be a good career move!
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I hope not to find out too soon!
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No, I’m in no hurry to become famous that way!
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I would read the book I paid for, unless I got it from the library, of course. Those free books hold equal merit to purchased ones for me somehow.
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Ah, the library is a different kettle of thingamybobs. Authors get royalties on books borrowed from libraries.
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Reading your post, I am reminded, Mick of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I can’t for the life of me imagine why …! Possibly some of those who downloaded the book for free will leave a review. However on reading the blogger’s complaint concerning all those who took advantage of his free publication, I suspect some of them may be disinclined to do so. Again, I can’t think why …! Kevin
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Precisely, Kevin. I think he has shot himself in the foot with his complaint.
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This seems to be a dilemma with a no win situation either way. A lot of authors nowadays seem to add the first chapter of their next book at the end of their present book as a way of tempting you to buy the next.
I think though that if you offer something for free and people take you up on it you can’t complain.
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Yes, the first chapter idea is a bit like going onto Amazon and looking at the first few pages of a book, as you can usually do – much like a browse in a bookshop. It seems perfectly logical and reasonable.
And no, it’s a bit much to complain when you make an offer and it is accepted.
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Certainly one can’t complain if offeers something for free and people…. accept… 😀
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Precisely.
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I have never run a giveaway, Mick, but my thoughts are that people might think the author was a bit desperate and that the story isn’t that good. I don’t have experience so I am just writing what I would think as a reader and purchaser.
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I think that is the feeling many have, Robbie, including me.
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As a writer who labours for many months to present a book, would people take me seriously if I gave it away, I don’t think so!
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That’s certainly a common feeling, Malcolm.
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Human beings!!! We are a weird mob. We can all be strange at times.
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This is true, of course.
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I’m very conflicted over this issue. I’m not sure what the right answer is, if there is a right answer
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there isn’t, of course. It’s whatever is right for each of us.
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I did try publishing ebooks on Amazon some years back but found the same as your disgruntled person, that as long as it’s free quite a few people download it, but once you revert to even the lowest price, which I think used to be 1.99 dollars, nobody buys. I did read somewhere that the population of buyers on Kindle is completely separate from the population of free-downloaders. Suspect ebooks only really useful to established authors who already have a successful ‘paper’ book out and whose publishers then put an e-version on Amazon for them, to add to sales. Marketing is really the big problem, and a great ocean of competition. If I were to write another book I think Iwould go back to traditional publishers, keep trying there.
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That would be my preferred route, if I could get picked up. My kindle version is only as an alternative to the paperback copy, and I don’t do giveaways. I’ve probably sold slightly more paperbacks, but the ebooks have sold.
There will always be plenty of people happy to download a free book, and perhaps never read it. Chances are that 99% of them would never buy it, anyway.
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Offering part of a book free makes sense, but not a whole book… not unless it’s one of a series that is already published. Or unless it’s in return for some publicity, like a review on Amazon or similar.
That said, years ago on an older blog, I used to give away free artwork to other bloggers – not for any reason except it’s what I enjoyed doing, and then one day someone asked me if I had any for sale… and fairly soon afterwards that person bought several paintings I had on an art site. So… freebies can work, but not necessarily in the way you expect. And, of course, that’s art, not literature.
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Quite so – it needs to be the bait, in some way.
I’ve never given away artwork in that way, mainly because it represents a much higher price than an ebook.
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Most of the artwork I gave away, I created to give away.
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That makes perfect sense then.
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I don’t download free books but I can understand why. I cannot understand his annoyance though. I do know many who do specials for a day or so to drive sales and to try increase reviews. I’m not sure about free but I do think ‘free’ does cheapen book buying and make people critical and reluctant to pay a reasonable fee.
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I’m with you in that I think ‘free’ does send a message that the book in question isn’t worth paying for. And i wonder if that would then affect my opinion of another book by the same author – it certainly might.
No, it was his annoyance that caught my attention in the first place.
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Don’t think giving it away for free is the right move after all the work put in creating it. I would think that most people would be more likely to read something that they had paid for. Maybe.
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I think you’re probably right, Jonno. At least, that is where my thoughts tend to go (as per other comments on this thread).
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Give them a finger, and they’ll take the whole hand. Such is a human nature.
Good wishes with advertising.
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Thank you. Now, advertising could be a whole other blog post.
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In fact, I think it might be…
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It’s a dilemma that I struggle with too, Mick. All that hard work given away. But some of those downloads get read and reviewed and other books get sold, so I figure it’s worth it. The downloads that don’t get read wouldn’t have been read anyway, so not much of a loss there. I hope that the day will come when I can step back from giveaways. Not quite there yet.
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You feel it works for you, then, Diana?
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Sort of. I do actually sell books as a result, but it’s not paying for the groceries. I don’t have the magic answer to book sales other than hard work.
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If you sell as a result, I would say it works. Like a lot of problems, I’m sure the perfect answer does not exist.
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I’m not in a position to know, but I suspect that I wouldn’t offer copies of my book for free. Too many people just want free stuff, and that doesn’t mean they actually plan to read the book (or review it, or recommend it to others, or look for other books you have written as well.) There’s just something about “free” that makes people say, “gimme!”
It’s like those all you can eat buffets–everyone goes back for seconds, sometimes third helpings, when you just know they’re already full. But the food is free, so they want more of it!
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I think it is a bit like that, Ann. I do have a couple of ebooks I downloaded for free a while ago, and somehow those ones always seem to be at the bottom of the list when I choose another one to read. because i haven’t paid for them, they somehow feel as though they are of less ‘value’.
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Hmm! It’s a tough one, this. I think it’s down to the individual author as to what they think is the best way forward. But the chap is an idiot if he is cross with people for taking advantage of an offer he instigated. I suspect he is one of those touchy creative types.
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In order: I agree – what seems to work for some people doesn’t for others.
Yes he is.
I’m sure he is.
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I did it but it didn’t make much difference to how many were read and reviewed so i doubt I’ll do it again
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Thanks, Geoff. I have a feeling that’s the majority verdict. I do think giveaways are rather fuelled and pushed by a few sites such as Goodreads.
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All this reminds me of how difficult it is to promote a book, whether it’s by giving it away for free or by standing on the street corner and handing out flyers for it–or berating innocent passersby for not buying it. Or any of the more conventional ways. I wish I knew the secret, but so do a lot of people.
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I’d never thought of berating passersby for not buying it…any luck with that one?
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Oddly enough, no. But I’ll keep trying. Sooner or later it’s gotta work, don’t you think?
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Bound to. Keep me posted.
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This is an interesting conundrum and it seems to mainly be a problem that artists of all sorts have. In an overly broad sort of way, I would give an art product to my car dealer when he or she gives me at least a free 15,000 mile service on my car. I would give the dealer a lot of free books for a free new car and so it goes.
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I love the idea of barter. My local Indian restaurant raised the possibility of buying some of my paintings, but decided they couldn’t afford them. I was tempted to try to do a deal around the paintings and a number of meals, and I wish I had tried, now!
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I don’t think books given for free are of less value, but then that’s just me. And I also feel that just because you pay for the book or it is recommended by a whole lot of people who have given it 5 stars, it has to be good in any way.
But I don’t understand why anyone would complain after willingly giving out their book for free.
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No, I don’t understand, either. That was what prompted the post.
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Yes
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Hmm…
Did Bob find out you are having a giveaway?😃 🙂
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Ssh! Don’t tell Bob anything!
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😂
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