As most of you know, I've decided to dive head first into the indie pool. Eek! Since making that decision, I've been obsessively absorbing information about the process. My obsession has made me a lurker at Susan Kaye Quinn's blog. It's totally packed with valuable information about indie publishing.
One of the areas I'm curious about is marketing and free books. I mean, I don't want to be totally annoying and scream to every uninterested passerby, "MY BOOK! MY BOOK!" Like those creepy guys in Las Vegas who pass out fliers about strip clubs, even to moms and dads who are walking hand in hand with their little boys (I swear, it happened to us). I'd rather be the happy sign twirler who's jammin' to Madonna's Vogue while doing those really cool dance moves (strike a pose!). I'm not a seller.
Susan's post Pricing Your Ebook caught my attention. She mentioned the book WOOL, by Hugh Howey, and how it's permanently free on Amazon (download it here). I'd heard about Hugh Howey's amazing journey, and was curious about his book. (Read the Wall Street Journal story here. It's crazy cool)
Using Susan's link, I downloaded Wool. It's free, so what did I have to lose? Nothing. I read Book One. I was riveted. After finishing, I immediately downloaded the Wool Omnibus Edition. My son downloaded Book One. He was riveted. He immediately downloaded Book Two. Howey now has two loyal fans in our household...all because Wool was free.
Brilliant marketing.
It seems to me that pricing Book One in a series low or free is a great idea (upon subsequent releases). Same with pricing a book low or free when we have other books for sale. It invites readers to give us a try. At least that's what I'm learning.
I'm still figuring all of this stuff out, but here are the main points I keep seeing over and over again:
- Story matters most. When we tell a great story, and people genuinely love it, we won't need to pester people to buy the book. They'll want to.
- Get the word out. If no one knows about our book, they can't buy it. If we honestly believe it's worthy, we should feel comfortable telling others about it. I'm still going to be shy about this, but I'll work on it :)
- Free works best when there are other books to lead buyers to. For instance, Susan has made Open Minds, book 1 of her Mindjack Trilogy, permanently free. As she points out, it's 24/7 marketing for her work. I can see the logic in this.
Have you heard the Wool story? Not only the story story, but the author's story? Have you downloaded free books, then returned to buy books from that author? Have you downloaded free books, then realized that author's style isn't what you like? Do you have other ideas for how to make free books work for you? Please share!
The Wool story is rather amazing.
ReplyDeleteMy publisher marks down my first two books about a year after their release. While not free, it's enticing because spending $2.99 on a book is nothing. With my third book out now, sales of the other two have definitely spiked!
Alex, I've heard that's how it happens...sales in earlier books rise once new books are released. I suppose that's in line with the idea that productivity increases sales. I'm SO happy for you and your successful series!
DeleteAck, Juilie! I've been buried so deep in my cave that I hadn't heard about your decision! Oh, I am so happy for you. And of course you are being completely smart about it. I am so, so, so proud of you!
ReplyDeleteHugs!
M.
Thanks, Martina! I have so much to learn but it's a fun subject :)
DeleteI downloaded Wool recently, can't wait to read it!
ReplyDeleteKaren, I hope you like it! My expectations were low, since it's not really my genre. But I loved it.
DeleteCongrats on your decision! Susan's blog has so much awesome info for self-publishing. And yes I've heard of Wool, but not the whole marketing plan. It does sound really good.
ReplyDeleteNatalie, the story itself is really cool. And the indie publishing story is awesome.
DeleteWool is new to me. Must grab. I admire how "smart" you are being about your indie journey.
ReplyDeleteLeslie, I have a feeling you'd enjoy WOOL. Killer concept with deeply drawn characters.
DeleteI have heard about Wool and Howie's marketing strategy but I didn't know Wool was free! Cool!
ReplyDeleteThanks :)
Marcy, if you have an ereader, I highly recommend downloading this book. There's nothing to lose!
ReplyDeleteI haven't read Wool yet, but I've heard only great things about it. I love it that his first book is free. What a brilliant way to garner fans! Wishing you lots of luck on your journey, Julie. I'm looking forward to your posts!
ReplyDeleteHappy reading and writing! from Laura Marcella @ Wavy Lines
When I worked in retail, one of the things the managers taught us was that people respond to offers. We didn't give away free stuff at the stores, of course, but there was always some sale or promotion going on. That was always more likely to draw customers in, even if they hadn't been intending to spend any money. So I agree that pricing your first e-book at a low price or giving it away for free is more likely to make people notice and want to read your book; it's a good idea. And thanks for the info about Wool!
ReplyDeleteI can see how giving away the first book in a series can draw people in. If it's free, there's nothing to lose.
ReplyDeleteEek, Eek, and Eek! I hadn't heard about your Indie decision. Way to go. Im here to help in however you need. Excited for you. And no one is moe knowledgeable about success in the Indie industry than
ReplyDeleteSusan.
I have all three books on my kindle and can't wait to read them. I love HH--he is very genuine. :)
ReplyDeleteI will so totally drop my book's price from the planned $2.99 to Free when I have another in the series or two others out of the series. Congrats on your decision to go indie!
ReplyDeleteHi, Julie. *waves* I've been thinking about making book one in my crossover vampire series free, but I may wait until I have the third one finished. I did free giveaways earlier on, but ended up giving a lot of free books away that never came back in the form of reviews. Sometimes I think we readers load up our Kindles with so many books that we can't read them all.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, it's all a learning process and constant evaluation into what does and does not work.
Best of luck to you, my friend. :)
-Jimmy
Wishing you the best in your indie adventure :)
ReplyDeleteI haven't read Wool. Congrats on your decision. =)
ReplyDeleteThe only problem with this is you've got to entice people to download the book AND read it. I've got a number of free and 99 cents books that I still haven't read yet. They've been on my iPod since last year and have long since been forgotten. If you release the first book for free, book 2 needs to be ready to go.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your decision to self publish, Julie!
I read Wool and loved the entire thing. I didn't need to download the free version. I just read a few sample pages and knew I'd like it. there was also the curiousity factor though too - I wanted to read a best seller. :)
ReplyDeleteRuthie Cardello has done the same thing and she's VERY successful. It's definitely my plan when (if???) I'm ready to publish :)
ReplyDeleteGood for you with all this research. I'd feel shy about self-promo too, but it's a necessary "evil" with self-pubbing. I've downloaded free books that I didn't care for, but then, I've downloaded free books that made me buy other books by that author. It IS a good marketing idea!
ReplyDelete