Kindle Forum banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

FreeBookService (FBS) Update ,

92K views 510 replies 77 participants last post by  Ann in Arlington 
G
#1 ·
Hi everybody. This is William-- from William & Tom's Free Book Service. Some of you may be familiar with the service that I offer, some are not.

Basically we are an alternative to bookbub, a Promotion/Advertisement service that will bring you a huge number of eyeballs on your book during a free KDP promotion service. We currently offer 3 packages, where we offer a minimum guarantee of downloads (2500+ [$147] , 5000+ [$247] , 10000+ [$327] is the normal pricing), or your money back if we don't perform.

One of the main reasons why we offer this guarantee is because we noticed that self published authors often times buy "marketing" to their book, but this "marketing" never really stipulates what they are actually doing for you. We fill this void as we make a guarantee-- a hard target that we must hit. We have worked with over 200 clients since releasing this service to the public, and we also promote our own books, as we are Kindle authors too.

Where do we get our readers?
I have talked with Tom and we decided to give a better response to this question.
The bulk of our reader-base has come from including opt-in forms on our own books. We placed forms in the description area using HTML, and with that, were able to build our list. We kept this extremely close to our chests, because literally everybody would be using the same method to create their own reader-base, in effect diluting our own list that we worked hard on creating. Since then, Amazon has overhauled their description pages, and you can no longer add Opt-ins to your book page.

Some books are still grandfathered in... Note, that is not my book: (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F23Q9CI/) however this can no longer be done. All of our readers are double opt in and completely can-spam compliant, and this method of promotion, as with BookBub, is in accordance to Amazons ToS.


We have been selling this service WarriorForum, another forum that which is mostly comprised of marketers, but has a section for Kindle Authors that are looking to find ways to increase traction of their book. The thread can be found on warrior forum here: hxxp://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-special-offers-forum/850596-kindle-domination-free-kindle-download-promotion-service-hundreds-sales-afterwards.html

We have many reviews in that thread already, if you wish to see what purchasers of the service think about it.

But we don't feel those reviews alone are enough.

Some users of this forum do not put much weight in threads from warrior forum so we decided that we would give out 3 "freebies" to some members of this board. We are actually currently working on their books right now.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0036Z9W00/
http://www.amazon.com/Smell-Leather-Files-Sullivan-SERIES-ebook/dp/B0081WTCQ2
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008X3NCRE/

These are the three books we are promoting today (dec 2), for members of this forum. We are asking them to be a test run for this service, so you guys, as a community have somebody you can trust telling you how it works for them.

We are here for the long run and intend to be a helpful resource for this community. We are here to prove ourselves, and the service.

If you are looking to contact us directly you can send us a message at "freebooksservice@gmail.com" (Please double check your spelling when you email us!).. Please note I am in the Eastern Standard time zone, to get an idea of when you might hear back.

If you are wondering if the service is legitimate, Estelle was kind enough to post her contact with amazon

I have added her email correspondence with amazon below:


eta: further communication from Amazon by members who tried this service indicate that using the service violates the ToS Authors agree to when uploading their books. Please see This Thread for more current information. -- kboard moderators
 
See less See more
1
#52 ·
freebookservice said:
Hi, I was not getting it in chrome however I tested in firefox and I did indeed get a funny popup like you were mentioning, when I clicked the warrior forum link, then pressed back, I was able to replicate the popup.

I have disabled the warrior forum link, so if people want to go there, they will have to manually type the link into the address bar. This is the first time ive seen a popup like that from warrior forum.
Thank you -- I've received several complaints about this. We no longer post ads that link to warrior forum because of that kind of marketing tactic.

If people are interested in this service, check out the web site in the OP and avoid the warrior forum link.
 
#53 ·
Update:

About 3AM here and the downloads have picked up a bit. I'm 22 away from the 10,000 mark. #12 in the free store. Pretty crazy. Might actually break into the top 10. Hard to say. Haven't had any more sales of other books, but that's going to take some time, I reckon.

Some good discussion in this thread. I'm as much a skeptic as anyone, so I can understand why some think this service shady. By and large, we're used to being able to verify what's going on under the hood for services like these, so when one comes along that refuses to reveal that part of their business, it sets off a few alarms round here. Understandable. Of course, I can see the other angle: They don't have to provide us with any details. If we don't like their secrecy then we don't have to spend any money on their services. And it would seem that some here (myself included, though I didn't actually pay for anything) are willing to give them a chance nonetheless.

We should start a poll, LOL.

How is Freebookservice pulling off these numbers?
1) They're legit, just like Bookbub et al
2) They've got a room full of puppies and are literally punching them in their tiny doggy mouths until dog-lovers the world-over agree to download the books they're promoting
3)Freebookservice employs a staff of ten wizards.

Personally, I hope it's a mix of 1 & 3. I freaking love wizards :3
 
G
#54 ·
OJ Connell said:
Update:

About 3AM here and the downloads have picked up a bit. I'm 22 away from the 10,000 mark. #12 in the free store. Pretty crazy. Might actually break into the top 10. Hard to say. Haven't had any more sales of other books, but that's going to take some time, I reckon.

Some good discussion in this thread. I'm as much a skeptic as anyone, so I can understand why some think this service shady. By and large, we're used to being able to verify what's going on under the hood for services like these, so when one comes along that refuses to reveal that part of their business, it sets off a few alarms round here. Understandable. Of course, I can see the other angle: They don't have to provide us with any details. If we don't like their secrecy then we don't have to spend any money on their services. And it would seem that some here (myself included, though I didn't actually pay for anything) are willing to give them a chance nonetheless.

We should start a poll, LOL.

How is Freebookservice pulling off these numbers?
1) They're legit, just like Bookbub et al
2) They've got a room full of puppies and are literally punching them in their tiny doggy mouths until dog-lovers the world-over agree to download the books they're promoting
3)Freebookservice employs a staff of ten wizards.

Personally, I hope it's a mix of 1 & 3. I freaking love wizards :3
Thanks for your continued input OJ. Different perspectives are important. I encourage everyone here to speak with their wallets. For now our business sense has been working for us so we are sticking to it. If the landscape changes, we will change with it.

On a side note, I am glad your promo is going pretty strong by the looks of it ! :D
 
#55 ·
^ Nice, Estelle! Any buy-through activity going on for you that you might attribute to the promo?

I'm at about 11,000 downloads and wondering how I might maximize the visibility gained by this boost in ranking. I have a feeling that the three of us will be even higher on the free list when they update next.
 
#56 ·
Small update:

Estelle's at #8, I'm at #11 and Monique's at #13. Still chugging along. Today will be an interesting day. I wonder how long we'll continue to see this kind of growth. I also wonder how long we'll stay high up in the charts.

So close to the top ten. SO. CLOSE. I can taste it. In my mouth.
 
#57 ·
As I said in the beginning the real proof will be in the sell through. If 10,000 downloads only generates 38 sales, then I would say the quality of the service is not worth the cost. If 10,000 downloads generates 1,000 sales then their list is worth it and I would likely hope on the yellow submarine with them.



 
#58 ·
ClarissaWild said:
I'm sorry, but you're providing a VERY unrealistic idea here. 10% of the freebie loaders buying your next book is not going to happen.

Usually it's between 2-5% of the people that get a free book who'll move on to the second. So don't go expecting that a service like theirs may provide 10%. People should be happy if 2-5% of those 10k people will buy the next. That's 300 buyers. Lets say your book is 2.99. Means you get 2.093 x 3% (300 buyers avarage) = 627,90 dollars. That's more than double what you paid for the ad, and I think it's enough.

If 3% moves on to the next book that is. If it were only 1% then I'd think twice since you earn less than the ad cost. But we're still waiting for the results of the others, so let's wait on that before jumping to conclusions.
10% is not unrealistic, many people here post that they get that... I personally have posted my numbers (in another thread) and have hit 10%, and I am lower then I could be due to the lack of a cliff hanger, BUT I was just tossing out an example using round numbers. :) If its 5% then I would still consider it. If its 1% then no, probably not.

The point I was making is that the quality of the 10,000 leads is what matters, far more then the quantity. For all we know they are running a bot network and not a single one of those 10,000 is actually a person. The conversion rate will give us a clue to that.
 
#59 ·
This is a most interesting thread and I'm more than a little curious to see how it ends up regarding conversion rates.

Also, I'm most curious like others here about how it works.  Since there seems to be no 'list' of subscribers, all I can think is that you send out 10 million random spam emails promoting the books and if that doesn't result in 10,000 downloads, you send out another 10 million spam emails and so on until you reach or pass the 10,000 download mark.

Has to be something like that, right?
 
G
#60 ·
Boyd said:
I did the math, and most of my titles sell for 2.99 so after amazon's cut.. ~2$ per sale...

I'd only need to have 115 sales or about 1% sell through between the series... I was a skeptic when I saw this on the other thread, but seeing the screenshots, I'm starting to change my mind also. Maybe my wife will let me pick out my own christmas present this year? ;)

It does seem that the platinum package would be the way to go though, Freebookservice what is the package most folks have been using since that has gone live?
Most people seem to purchase the largest package, however most people that have bought this service are actually not part of kboards and don't really do the perma-free thing. So far 95% of the books I have completed orders for were for a KDP promotion where the book is free, and then goes back to paid after the promotion ends, so I don't really have much data on how permafree books do.

Philip Gibson said:
This is a most interesting thread and I'm more than a little curious to see how it ends up regarding conversion rates.

Also, I'm most curious like others here about how it works. Since there seems to be no 'list' of subscribers, all I can think is that you send out 10 million random spam emails promoting the books and if that doesn't result in 10,000 downloads, you send out another 10 million spam emails and so on until you reach or pass the 10,000 download mark.

Has to be something like that, right?
Ive answered this question multiple times. Not to be rude, but If that were the case, then I would probably be advertising something other than free kindle books...
 
#62 ·
Man, I just got permafree sorted about an hour ago and I'm a hopeless idiot optimist about this type of thing.

Someone please persuade me not to do it :p

Oh god it was only yesterday I was throwing money at advertisers for a book that hadn't even been pricematched

*tries not to look at thread*
 
G
#63 ·
KRG said:
Man, I just got permafree sorted about an hour ago and I'm a hopeless idiot optimist about this type of thing.

Someone please persuade me not to do it :p

Oh god it was only yesterday I was throwing money at advertisers for a book that hadn't even been pricematched

*tries not to look at thread*
Take a breather! This service isn't going anywhere, we will be here for the long haul. :)
 
#64 ·
I have a question for the three testers.

Right now (5:08AM PST) your free books are #10, 11, and 13 in the Top 100 Free Store. Congrats!!

I was looking at the other books in your series and see that they are also in the Top 10 or so of their categories. Has that always been the case or is this a result of the promo?

Cheers and good luck!
 
#65 ·
Estelle Ryan said:
Take a deep breath and step away slowly. :D :D

Now continue doing that for the next seven days while we give feedback on our results. That way you can be an informed, "hopeless idiot optimist". That is what this trail run is for - to see if it will be worth spending money on. If you are happy with our results, you can still get your ad in before Christmas!
:)

Yep, that'll work :D

Phew!
 
#66 ·
As of 9:07 AM:


Also, +1 to this:
Estelle Ryan said:
Take a deep breath and step away slowly. :D :D

Now continue doing that for the next seven days while we give feedback on our results. That way you can be an informed, "hopeless idiot optimist". That is what this trail run is for - to see if it will be worth spending money on. If you are happy with our results, you can still get your ad in before Christmas!
 
#74 ·
Haven't used the service, and don't know the people behind it. But best advice is to always let the results speak for themselves. I encourage more people who try it to post their results here.
 
#75 ·
Ann in Arlington said:
I'm not a writer. If I want to sign up to find out about free books through your service, how do I do so?
This is the question you still seem to be dodging. You may have "assured" us many times this isn't spam, but, in your words, "not to be rude," you still have not answered the question as to where the ads we're being asked to pay for wind up.

I need new services to promote just like everyone else. I'm willing to pay for effective ones. But honestly, wait 7 days isn't what I've found when it comes to selling series books while one is free. Even with the looooong reporting delay right now, we've sold 234 of the second book in one series over the last two days while the other book has been on free promo via BookBub (it hit #2). We're running another Top 100 Free book with far fewer downloads that's cross-promoting to another book in the same genre - not even the same series - and it's still sold 42 books of the cross-promoted book above it's normal volume.

I've run over 150 freebook promos through every algo change, with 6 books hitting #1 and a dozen more in the Top 6. Freebies aren't downloaded in a vacuum - especially not for folk who are savvy marketers in their cross-promoting (which I know 1 of the testers is, at least). I know what results free runs used to provide and what they provide today.

The long reporting delay is going to muddy the waters some, and I'm watching the results closely like everyone else. But when I purchase an ad, I do want to know where it's going, how it's being used, what the relevant demographics are, etc. I know of no other advertising venue that asks a client to purchase "blind." Give me the data any other advertiser will provide for the asking, and I'll happily become one of your best customers.
 
#76 ·
Can you explain more about this from your FAQ? What happens if 1. We don't end the promo early? and 2. If we do end the promo early at the suggested times?

Thanks.

"One thing I would like to mention on this topic is, DO NOT under any circumstances let the promotion end on its own. You want to end your promotion manually within your kdp account on your second day of free when buyers are online (4pm-9pm EST). Ending your promotion during these hours is the only way to get good results. This is extremely important."
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top