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The Conundrum of Freebies
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It's funny that you refer to yourself as jaded and yet you're surprised that people who take advantage of free aren't giving back en masse. Silly, silly people.I can say from experience that the "give it away and pray" business model is beyond naive. Some people aren't generous, some mean to review, but forget or can't find the time, and others simply don't understand how important reviews are to authors so they don't think about it. The missing factor in this equation is giving readers a reason to care enough to act. A book cover blurb can only do so much in terms of advertising/marketing, that's why it's so important to actively develop a fan base. Use every opportunity you have (your website, inside your book, on YouTube videos...) to request people share and review your work. People like to feel like insiders, so a personal invitation from an author they admire might be the nudge some of them need to act.
In the case of Smashwords, freebies didnt work...but with Amazon, when i offer freebies for a couple of days every couple of months...the actual sales go up too, a lot some months. So as a sales pitch it works on Amazon.
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I can say from experience that the..."
Good advice. Let's hope persistence pays...
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Nice to know, I'll give it a try. Haven't paid too much attention to Amazon.
Where do you get the majority of your sales from? I took my books off Smashwords as I wasn't getting reviews and only a few sales...Once on Amazon got reviews and now regular royalty cheques.
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My novels are not self published. All four of my books are through Wing ePress. They're a midlevel publisher specializing in e-formats but also POD trade paperback. However, I am still responsible for my own marketing--an arduous task to be sure. I ran my short stories through Smashwords to 1) get them out there, as they've been sitting uselessly on my computer for years; 2) generate interest in my books. My thought was that if people read and liked the short stories they might be inspired to read one of my books. All of my books are available through Amazon as well as my publisher and my webpage. I even have them in our local brick-and-mortar book store.
To answer your first question: most--if not all--of my sales come through word of mouth or via suggestions from friends on Goodreads. I've spent quite a bit of money advertising both locally in my town as well as through Google, Yahoo, and even Goodreads. It has resulted in a lot of people "adding" books "to read" but as of yet, not much in sales.
My marketing efforts have been frustratingly non-productive for years. Perhaps I'm going about it all wrong. I've read every blog from every "successful" indie author, I have heard all the amazing "rags-to-riches" tales and followed all of their sage advise. I must be missing something because in the end, what I take away from it all is that
pure blind luck is the only factor in determining success.
So, I keep writing and listening to writer friends for hints and suggestions and hopefully I'll make my own luck!
I have no experience with Smashwords, but doing free promos on Amazon has really worked pretty well for me. Particularly the last time I did it (disclaimer: you have to plan about a month in advance and do a LOT of leg-work... not hard work, just tedious and time-consuming... in order to have a successful promo on Amazon). But my sales have gone up dramatically, and my reviews have doubled.Another disclaimer... I'm still a LONG ways away from being a "successful" self-published author.
I wrote up a blog post about what I did and why I think it worked after I did the promo... and because I'm lazy, I'm just gonna share the link to that post rather than type it all up again. :)
http://jenelleschmidt.com/how-did-it-go/
Mod
Thanks Jenelle. Great contribution.
No. It is. I AM cynical. Jaded. Whatever...
But I've also been told that because of the unique way in which I wear that label; I actually make it quite endearing.
Anyway, today I am marveling at a social phenomenon that, quite honestly (and rather frighteningly) is becoming less of a phenomenon everyday: The Freebie.
By way of illustration I give you the example of an author who publishes a few short stories on Smashwords (ed. I fully support and endorse Smashwords. I think it is a wonderful venue for the independent and self-published. This article is not about the mechanisms is place, but rather the users of).
Anyway, this author lists his works for free for a period of time and to his surprise--and pleasure--the downloads are staggering. 20-30 downloads a day and with twice as many views! He's totally stoked! He thinks: "Maybe I'll ride this for a few more days and then I'll add a price to one of the stories. Nothing too greedy. Its a short story after all. $0.99 would be fair." That's the minimum price allowed, by the way.
So he does just that. He charges essentially a dollar for one of his original stories. Why not get a little something in return for your hard work?
The downloads for that story cease immediately. Oh, it's still getting looks and sample downloads like before; but not a single purchase. This stagnation goes on for a few weeks and then the author decides to employ a little experiment: He drops the fee and returns his work to Freebie status. You all know what happens next, don't you?
Within hours, the downloads of his story return to previous levels. The readers are glad to have their free lunch once again.
Now, I must say that at least two of the initial readers of the free version left kind reviews (and the author is grateful and thanks them profusely). But after that, there has been nothing.
What's my point? I guess I need to ask this: Isn't there some sort of social commitment from the reader of a free story to at least comment on the gift they've been given? Kind of like a one or two sentence "thank you". I would like think that conventional courtesy would prevail and someone might feel the obligation to take the time to at least offer a quick review of the story. It saddens my heart to see how deeply greed and entitlement have permeated our culture. I have accepted the fact that we live in "couponing" world--everyone is out for the big savings, scrambling for the next huge giveaway. It's gimme-gimme. But have we gotten so self-obsorbed that we aren't even willing to acknowledge the simple gift of a free story? Really?
That worries me.