Don’t Give Your Life’s Work Away For Free!

I tried not to say it, thinking that this dangerous trend would die out over time…(I still have hopes in that direction)…but for right now, it appears to have increased in both prevalence and incidence (I purposefully employ adjectives used to characterize disease.). Making books a free download via online retailers has become all the rage among Indie and self-published authors/writers. Its touted out as a “tried and true ” method to market/promote a series and newbie authors. Give the first book away for free to anyone with internet access in the hopes that the readers who like it will purchase the second book in the series or any subsequent book written by the author.

I think this is a bad idea and a very misleading marketing/promotional concept. Why? Because it creates the false impression/conception that books are not worth the money that they cost and that the effort, organization, and money spent to create them is minimal. When really the opposite is true . Books take months to write, and money to produce even in eBook format (cost of professional editing, cost of formatting for different eBook platforms, cost of professional cover design, cost of blog tours/blitz, cost to maintain author website, etc. The list goes on and on.) And after all this…blood, sweat, and tears…Everybody and their dog can download it in one click, on a whim, without paying a dime…WTF?! And this makes sense?

If something (food, key rings, or whatever.) is advertised for free, I immediately think 3 things…

-Its worthless and they are trying to get rid of them. Keep it. I already have too much junk.

-There’s a catch. Or a trick, it’s not really free. Ok, I’ll bite. And I take it out of casual curiosity, not genuine interest.

-It must cost nothing (in time, effort or money) to produce. Others who are selling it are beating me out of my money. I’ll never make the mistake of paying that much for it again. I’ll just stick with the freebies. Whatever I don’t use/need, I’ll toss.

These are common feelings among the populace, trust me. Now, translate these three reactions into the phenomenon of free books and here’s what you get.

-Free books suck, and I don’t want to waste my time reading them.

-Sure, I’ll take it. I mean, its free right? That’s a no-brainer. Read it…I don’t know, maybe. (Later) Geez, I need to clean out my eLibrary…This free stuff is taking up too much memory on my tablet. I don’t even remember what site I got this off.

-Man, I will never pay for books again. I can get a million of them for FREE! I’ve already got like a hundred on my iPad. Why would I pay $6.99?? Duh!

Are there exceptions to these scenarios? Of course. The bible. If someone is giving me a bible I think differently about that book. Others? Naw, not so much. Seriously do you really want to take the chance that your book or series of books will be that rare exception? I don’t.

My advice…do a carefully thought-out/planned giveaway of a limited number of books. Between 1 and 5. Make the giveaway time sensitive…and time it to the release of your book…or do it as part of a Cover Reveal, Blog Tour, Contest or Event. And add stipulations. Those who enter to win must like your Facebook page, sign-up for the mailing list/newsletter, write a review, etc. Readers who want to get a copy of your book should be willing to do something to get it…otherwise, they don’t really want to read it. They will also perceive that the book must be worth it if they have to do all this just to get a copy!

True Story: The airline/flight service known as “The Concorde” was a financial bust…at first. (Concorde flights traveled above the speed of sound…so cross country and transatlantic trips could be made in a much shorter length of time.) Sales were disappointing. Then, The Powers That Be decided to re-package the marketing for these flights…to target The Elite. They raised the prices and touting The Concorde as a Luxury Flight service. Sales increased significantly… and the Concorde Flight services ran until 2003…(when a few very deadly crashes dampened its appeal). As long as it was offered too cheap, people did not place much value on it. Just saying.

D. Alyce Domain