"Does she mean, FREE?"
Yep, I sure do!
I know you are wondering if this helped generate more downloads from Amazon...
Yep, it sure did.
Did I feel good about having to give my beloved children's book away for FREE?
No, I surely did not.
I understand this is a way to spread word about our work as authors but I have been thinking a lot about this lately. Only because I was debating on doing another FREE promotion. And when I saw my Twitter feed blowing up with fellow authors giving away their books at either a lower cost or for nothing, I changed my mind.
Why?
Because I don't think we should have to lower the bar when it comes to our most prized possessions.. our books.
I know some of my readers will disagree and that is absolutely fine. But my reasoning for not wanting to engage in such promotions any longer lies within the hard work and dedication that is put into creating a picture book. My sister, who illustrated my book, worked four months on the images to breathe life into them. And it took many edits and time to make my story perfect before being published.
And then there is all of the time I dedicate to school author visits and volunteer work. I think about the commitment I made to this industry and how far I have come. I have built my brand from the ground up so why should some people get to download my book for free while others have to pay for?
I have written one novel but this is a far cry from being ready for publishing. But once it is released, I am still unsure if I will ever lower the price from its original cost. I think about the mornings I woke up at 5am so I could write before the day job. I think about the weekends I spent indoors while people were out and about. I think about the heartache, the ups and downs, the pulling of hair, the fights and chaos going on inside my head which my characters created.
Are these things worth being paid for once the final product is polished and released into the world? I think so.
Plus, I feel like there are tons of people on Twitter always looking for a handout. When they see #FREE or #GIVEAWAY, they immediately click on the link. So when authors tweet the actual cost of their books, I think those people who are always looking for FREE are less inclined to pay for something.
And asking readers to pay anywhere from 2.99 to 8.99 for a Kindle copy of our books isn't too much, is it? We are providing them with entertainment, laughter, cries, and experiences, hopefully, they will never forget. Should these gifts be offered at a lower price?
What are your thoughts? I'd love to hear them!
Last week, I was nominated by C. Lee for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award. Thanks, Lee! I'm honored.
Rules for this AWARD.
1. Thank the person who nominated you, and link to their blog.
2. Display the award logo.
3. Nominate at least 15 other blogs (more or less) and provide
a link where they may be found.
4. Then, go to their blog, leave a comment to let them know they have been nominated, and where to find the information they need to accept (rules).
5. Mention three things that inspired you the most during the past few weeks.
My Three Inspiring Things for the Past Few Weeks.
1. I attended the Celebrity Read Kick-off breakfast hosted by United Way. There were big time people who were also there and it was nice to celebrate the fact we would all be participating in a shared goal... to inspire children, especially within low income schools, to read and write. I'm visiting six schools this month!
2. I gave a brand new pair of ski gloves to a stranger because he needed them more than I did.
3. My muse is hounding me which is lovely! I've finished two children's book manuscripts in just two weeks!
My Nominations.
1. JcCee Barney
2. Joy Ezeka
3. Sandra Cox
4. Quanie Miller
5. Kelly Hashway
6. Claudine Gueh
7. Paula Reed
8. Christina Z
9. Liz Blocker
10. Crystal Collier
11. Sarah Boucher
12. Meradeth Houston
13. Beth Ellyn Summer
14. Chrys Fey
15. Marc Kravets
I have a perma free book but I did that after I made money on it and when I just wanted to get my name out there. I don't think we should have to do this though. Books cost less than a sandwich, yet people think nothing of dropping $9 to eat lunch that's consumed in minutes while a book is entertainment for much longer.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the nomination, Gina. :)
My pleasure, Kelly!
ReplyDeleteYep, books do cost less than a sandwich and can go a whole lot further!
I feel much the same about free book promos; maybe that's why I have stuck to blogging. Thank you for the nomination, Gina. Mine, however, is an award-free blog, and you can read about why I made that decision here: http://paulareednancarrow.com/awards-policy/. I do greatly appreciate the compliment.
ReplyDeleteI totally understand, Paula. I, too, am weary sometimes with award posts. This one I felt I had to participate=)
DeleteThanks for stopping by!
Thanks for the nomination, Gina dear:)
ReplyDeleteIt's a tough question about freebies. If mine has been out awhile, I don't mind using it as a freebie. I wouldn't necessarily want to put the newer ones out for free, though.
My pleasure, sweet Sandra=)
DeleteAnd good point! Maybe once I have more books under my belt, I MIGHT offer the older ones for free... MIGHT
yay, I'm doing this on Friday! and I am with you 100%...I see a lot of authors giving away books for free and I feel bad. I'd rather pay to be honest. We work SO HARD. So it's so sad that one way to get buzz about a book is to lower the cost to nothing :/
ReplyDeleteI will be by on Friday to comment!
DeleteI see it more and more every day now... free books being tossed around. And I feel the same way you do. I would rather pay for an author's work rather than get it for free. Because Meradeth offered one of her books for free, I bought An Absence of Light. So now I have both books in my Kindle.
Hey Gina, even though I am not an author, I will agree with you. By reading your experience, I see there is a lot of work and time put in the creation and development of a book and I don't feel that the prices you mentioned above as been too much. I think that readers should think of this when it comes to trying to get a freebie all the time. Regardless of what type of book it is, the author is providing the readers with something (laughter, inspiration, suspense, etc.) that they may enjoy or need. That should mean something. So before a reader wants a book for free, it would be nice if all those thoughts came to mind. Thanks again for the nomination :)
ReplyDeleteYour welcome, JcCee=)
DeleteYou should be an author! Your writing is inspirational=)
We really do put all of our heart and soul into our stories. It's both mentally draining and time consuming.. but in a good way.
And the fact of the matter is that most of us would like to make a living off of our sales. Or at least be able to buy lunch! I am always inclined to buy books from my fellow authors because I know all of the dedication that goes into it. We are providing our readers with an experience filled with emotion. A few bucks isn't asking for much.
I completely hear you on the free book thing! I recently ran a free promotion on one of my backlisted titles, which was fun, but did bother me some for the reasons you outlined. It's like a chunk of my life that I'm expected to give away for free, and that's not cool. I think there's been a lot of damage done to the writing world by so many free books floating around. Though I can totally understand the desire for exposure! And thanks a million for the nomination!! :)
ReplyDeleteOf course, Meradeth!
ReplyDeleteAnd that's exactly what I mean. There are so many books being tossed around Twitter and Facebook for FREE which makes it harder for our books to sell even for 2.99. Yes, it's great for exposure but the whole FREE thing hurts the sales of our books... at least this is how I feel right about now, lol.
Gina, I agree with you about no more free promotions. I did one also once and felt terrible. I get the marketing strategy and blah blah blah, but in the end, why should creators be expected to give away their work for free? That goes for musicians, too, who are going through the same issues as writers.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you agree, Karen. Like any profession, our work should be taken seriously. And if that means no handouts, then so be it.
DeleteI sure hate that we have to lower the price of our books, but when I saw that Hurricane Crimes was suffering BADLY, I decided I needed to do my first sale for it and dropped the price to 99 cents. I got a couple of reviews from that (so far) and my rank had sky-rocketed. I won't know the real numbers until after the quarter ends.
ReplyDeleteBack when HC first came out, my publisher was using Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing, which includes 5 free days. I was fine about because I really wanted to get my name out there, but I'm glad my publisher realized it wasn't working and now we don't use KDP. When HC was free, over 2,000 copies were downloaded, though. Except I only got about a handful of reviews (and I'm guessing on that figure) from all of that.
Thanks for nominating me! Last Wednesday I actually accepted this award, but I greatly appreciate the thought and nomination.
Oh, and you know I had nominated you for this award back in January. I left a comment on your blog, but you might not have seen that.
DeleteI apologize, Chrys! I do remember you nominating me now but the last few weeks have been crazy so I forgot to respond. I'm so sorry!
DeleteWow, 2,000 downloads! Incredible
One thing I've learned working for a nonprofit is that people are more willing to donate and answer calls to action if there's a premium involved. It's the same mindset of liking free stuff. Which is also why followers subscribe to a site's email list just to get the free download afterwards. So maybe there can be a way to gain readers by tapping into that mindset, without making our books free and also help get an author's name out there. By offering a product of some kind that comes with the purchase of the book. But the problem with doing that is figuring out what product to offer, the funds to create it and distribute/ship it to the reader. Would it work with an ebook, the print version or both?
ReplyDeleteGreat question, Lidy. I wouldn't know what product to offer though. As of now, I offer most of my school author visits for free. In doing so, I'm trying to get my name out there.
DeleteBut as far as books being handed out for free, I don't mind doing this for multiple giveaways and donations.
I didn't mind offering my Ebook for free last year because I had no idea how many authors were doing the same thing. Now that I see so many free books out there, I feel like readers expect to get books for no cost rather than pay for them.. Sadly.
Oh Gina! Thanks for the nomination! I have never met you in real life but anytime I come to your humble home, I feel very welcomed and actually enjoy my stay. No visit has ever been boring! Thank you again for the nomination :) On Freebies, most people click on any link that has #giveaway or #free and most authors use it as a tactic but when you click it's not free! Having a giveaway once in a while I think is a good strategy, but it has got to be a strategy not a usual event. It effective if applied properly.
ReplyDeleteAwe, thank you so much, Joy! You put a smile on my face:) Please come by anytime!!
DeleteI agree, giveaways are a great strategy to get our work out there. I try to have giveaways a handful of times a year. The first year my book was published, I had about 10 giveaways & received a good amount of sales and reviews:)
Thanks for nominating me, Gina! I'm honored! And you know what? I think that pricing a book as free might be a good strategy for authors who have books in a series. If readers like the first book then they will hopefully go out and buy the others. Some readers will download a free book but others may think it has no value. As an author I've never listed my book as free but if I wrote a series I might consider free (or .99 cents) for the first book. Good topic!
ReplyDeleteI think this a great strategy, Quanie. I didn't think about offering the first book of a series for free to draw people in. But after that, no more freebies.
DeleteI offered my children's book for 99 cents 6 months after I did the freebie. Nearly 1000 ppl downloaded it for free whereas a handful for 99 cents. I feel like people were waiting for FREE again which made me never want to promote it like that anymore.
And you are very welcome!!
Good for you, Gina! I agree with you on this issue. My book is available on amazon as an e-book and I wouldn't ever give it away. Too much work and time went into it but besides that, books are valuable. The cost is so little as you mention, who can't afford $5 for a valuable resource? I've read that many people who download free books often don't end up reading them because they didn't pay for them. Ya. They leave them at the bottom of their TBR pile like an invaluable extra free thing they don't take care about...great topic. I'm really glad you brought this up.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you agree, Lisa. I have been thinking about this topic for a while now but wasn't sure whether or not to bring it up because I know there are people who promote their work for free. Even I have! Once..
DeleteAnd I also feel like people download, download, download and then the books begin to pile up. If you are going to download it for free, at least read it and leave the author a review. A review is a fair exchange for a free book. But sadly, there aren't enough reviews to make up for all of the free books!
I have to get your book still!
Thank you for the nomination, Gina! I am inspired by your dedication to helping children (and others). Enjoy your school visits. :) As for the price drop or setting our ebooks as free, I wanted to do it to gain more exposure. I'd decided that some books are meant for exposure while the subsequent ones are for followers who like my writing style. But to do that, I'd have to go through my distributor and that'd cost me a sum. So I never got around to doing it. I get you on how much efforts we've put into our works, and so they should be paid for. I agree, of course! All those hard work. But on days when a newbie author wishes for more exposure, setting a book as free makes it easier for the reading community to decide to give this author's book a try.
ReplyDeleteGood point, Claudine. I just wish more readers would at least give authors reviews in exchange for the free book. This way, even though we are not compensated, we are rewarded with a review.
DeleteYour style of writing is so unique. None of your books should be free!=)
So glad you liked the award. I love how you passed it on, which is, of course, the idea. Share it and a little about you and connect. Lovely.
ReplyDeleteAs to free books. . .I do have sales and do have giveaways, but they are at special times and very seldom. I've noticed how all of this giving away business has escalated to be insane. Now, in order to garner attention, writers are giving $$$ AND books. I'm not going to jump into that. I'll write the best books I can. I'll promote them as much as I can, but I'm not going to give them away all the time, and I'm not going to give Amazon more money than they make from me already by offering $100 GC to contestants.
There. Vented. Feel better. Now I'm going to read a book that I bought.
I laughed at the ending of this, Lee=)
DeleteI love buying books, especially from the authors I support in our community. I just wish readers would understand how much time and work goes into our stories. Ever since Twitter and Facebook has been blowing up with handouts, I noticed a decline in purchases.
I understand we need more exposure, especially when we are new to this industry. But I wish more authors were careful with how many times or books they offer for free to the thousands and thousands of people out there. It's like they expect to not have to pay a few bucks anymore.
Free books tend to collect dust, but I'll read the ones I pay for. There are so many authors screaming "free" that their books get lost in the social media noise, as well as lost on people's reading devices. I'm not self-published and my publishers never list my books for free, although I have given giveaway copies and copies to reviewers.
ReplyDeleteI agree. A lot of the free books go at the bottom of the reader's TBR list. I've learned my lesson. I will never give a book away for free again unless it's part of a series and I am trying to sell other books or if I host giveaways. As far as my picture books go, never again.
DeleteAuthors have this debate about Goodreads quite a bit. In the month after my book releases, I do Goodreads giveaways--plus this time I did a giveaway on my own blog for Valentine's Day. I got a LOT of Goodreads adds...and my Amazon numbers have been fairly high. Is that why? I'm not sure. I have discovered there are a LOT of people who will enter every giveaway just to win. One of the winners in my last contest didn't even send me her mailing address when she won a free paperback of my book. I'm guessing it's because she just wanted the $25 gift card--and a LOT of the 1300+ people probably were the same way. But it got my book cover in front of a lot of eyeballs...so it's all advertising. I think that's the point. And some people who read your book for free may recommend it to others..or may choose to pay for your book.
ReplyDeleteI worked with a guy who told me he downloaded a book for free and got so addicted,he paid for the rest of the books in that series. That seems to me to be a great use for the "free download." Make the first book one that ropes them in...then compels them to buy the next book in the series?
I think giveaways are a great way to promote our books, especially if you link up with a huge blogger or book reviewer. I remember when my children's book was first published and I partnered up with a parenting blog who had tons of followers. I paid a hefty price for the Amazon Gift Card but had a lot of purchases for my paperback.
ReplyDeleteI think the way to go "free" is if you have a series and you want to hook people in. Quanie also brought this up and I do agree with both of you. This way, if someone likes one of your books, they are more likely to purchase the rest of the series.
I can't remember if I commented... But just in case, thank you for the nomination! I'm honored.
ReplyDeleteFree is not what it used to be. Once upon a time you could run a free special and garner a ton of attention. Now there are so many free books that they get lost in the mix. I think my biggest frustration with "free" is that then the book sits on a person's reading device, sometimes indefinitely. Regardless, I think to broaden one's audience, especially while starting out, a free book can be a good thing.
Free is definitely not what it used to be which is why I am hesitant to offer my work for free again.
DeleteBut I do see the other side of the spectrum as far as broadening our fan base. And free can work well with the first book of any series in order to draw people in.
I think after observing my Twitter feed over the last few month and seeing all of the free books around made me really think about this more. I guess it works for some whereas others have their free books collecting dust, sadly.
And my pleasure, Crystal!! You deserve it:)
Thank you so much, Gina! I'll try to post about this next week :)
ReplyDeleteYou know, I agree with you - I've never felt comfortable about giving my writing away for free. There's a lot of pressure to do it in the industry, and maybe for short bursts of time I could handle it, but not for much more than that. Our work has value and should be treated that way. I have published some of my non-fiction work to non-paying journals, but I did that because I'm looking for publishing credits from reputable places - in order to get published in paying places! So sometimes there's a need for it, but not all the time.
You're welcome Liz!
DeleteI think that's GREAT you have published work in non-paying journals. This is totally different because at least you know your work is being read and rightfully respected. Good for you! I hope one day, you can get paid for submitting your nonfiction.
A free book is never really free. It still costs time for the writer and the reader. Before I had a job, I rarely bought a book, but I read all the time. I borrowed from the library quite often. I still download free books. I buy a LOT of books too. I'm rather an impulse buyer when it comes to books, so I have more than I'll ever read.
ReplyDeleteIn the end, free is a tool, and it can work for some to gain exposure. I know authors who wouldn't be making money today if they didn't have their first book in a series permafree.
I do like the idea of promoting the first book of a series for free if you are new and trying to gain exposure.
DeleteStill, I just wish more people would at least leave reviews after they have read their free books. They are gaining an experience and entertainment so I think a review is a nice thank you:)
I have always loved borrowing books from the library, especially picture books for the kids.
Having made no money at this job so far, I don't worry about that anymore. I only write what I love, and am happy to share with people (though my publisher does't agree). The one thing I won't do is spend any money on promotion, tours, art, or editing. That would make my "career" just a hobby I have to pay for.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy if your happy sharing your work, Lexa:) I will still always pay for your books!
DeleteHi Gina,
ReplyDeleteThis is my first time discovering your blog! I saw your comment on Quanie's site and decided to pop over and see what you're up to. It's interesting that you posted about free promotions. I'm doing a guest post on Quanie's blog about that very thing Monday. We have totally different outlooks on it, but I respect your opinion and views. I'm a writer too, and I know how much work we put into every work we publish, so I get how difficult it can be to let it go for free. I like to look at it as building a fan base. I'm a new novelist and therefore I'm unknown. If I can offer my book for free at some point and get lots of exposure and potential new fans who will then go on toe BUY my next book, I'm all for it!
I hope you check out my guest post on Monday, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Don't shoot the messenger, lol!
Hi Faith! Welcome to my cozy home:)
ReplyDeleteLol! I won't shoot the messenger.
I do agree for new authors, it could be an advantage to promote for free. I'm rethinking a lot after I read everyone's comments. Although I still feel readers SHOULD pay for a good book, if you want exposure and don't mind giving your work away for free, then go for it. Whatever works! As long as they at least leave reviews.
I will surely stop by Quanie's blog! Always do. Nice to meet you.