Kindle Forum banner

Is free dying?

5K views 48 replies 31 participants last post by  JWright 
#1 ·
Lately I've been reading a ton of posts about how ineffective using free books to drive traffic has become. Many people will download your book and just sit on it. Thousands of copies are downloaded for free and sell through is less than 10%. Paying for every click to sell that free book doesn't seem cost effective even if you have a long series.
Would a better strategy be to keep the price high 3.99 and up and consistent for your entire series? Then slowly try to grow your following through marketing, newsletter, KU, and word of mouth.

Doesn't this also increase your chance of getting a BB deal? Even not going wide they like a large difference in price.


Thoughts is Free dying or am I just focusing on the negative too much?

 
#2 ·
As a reader, I know that I have probably hundreds of free e-books on my Kindle. I doubt I'll ever read most of them. When I pay for a book, even if it's only $0.99, I feel more like I need to read it. I did pay for it after all.

Similarly, I want to read books I download through KU because I'm paying for the subscription.
 
#3 ·
I pray that we soon see the end of free books. Some authors swear by them, but my experience has always been negative. I've used 99 cents on the first book in a series to get people to try me, but at the moment all my series books are full price. I for one wouldn't mind if the sales sites set a minimum of $2.99 on all books in their stores.
 
#5 ·
If a book is free and I'm even remotely interested, I'll 'buy' it without looking at reviews or the Look Inside. Whereas if I'm spending money, I'll spend more time evaluating it which means I'll skip buying it or I'll buy it and read it because I'm more interested in it after doing my due diligence. I might get to the freebies, but they might also get buried and forgotten.
 
#6 ·
I'm not sure when I joined this board, but people have been declaring "free" dead since I joined.

My read thru for free is above 10%. I have thought about pulsing to 99-cents to try and get on some more also-bots, but eh ... not broken why fix it?

It is true that people are more likely to read a 99-cent book, and I would like to get the first book in I Bring the Fire into a not- trying-to-list box set for that reason ... however, Soul Marked and Magic After Midnight might serve the same function so that might not be necessary.
 
#7 ·
Free is not dying. And yes, I know I say this as someone who has invested a lot of money in growing a free newsletter.

Say you spend $30 on a newsletter promotion and get 500 to 1000 downloads to promote the first book in a series. It varies from book to book -- some genres (mystery, romance) might get up to 1,500 downloads for that 30 bucks.

And you have five other books priced at $2.99.

We'll take the low side of everything and say only 10 percent of those 500 downloads read the book and really love it. They go on to buy your other five books at regular price over the next year.

Fifty buyers x five books x $2 per royalty. That's a $500 return on your $30 investment. Plus, page read royalties if the book is part of Kindle Unlimited. Plus, these people tell their friends that you're an awesome writer and some of them buy your books, too.

Free is a great strategy if you use it wisely.

Don't use it for your one and only book, unless the goal of the book is to help you sell other services. And don't use it until you have invested in professional copy editing, formatting and cover design so the free book is PERFECT. No one will buy books #2, 3, 4 and 5 unless they love the first one.

Jeffrey
 
#11 ·
Free is the only way I try new-to-me authors.

That's how I discovered Konrath, Russell Blake, Bobby Adair, and many others.

If I like the free book, I buy everything they write.
 
#12 ·
Many people I've seen who've declared "free is dead" determined that based on their free book they didn't promote well, that doesn't have a grabby cover or blurb, and maybe isn't even written very well once you get into the book, and often is a stand-alone with no push to get the person to go on to another book. Just making any old book free isn't the best strategy. All the pieces need to be in place to get the most out of it. That's not even a guarantee, but it works great for a lot of authors.

It's like when someone releases an urban fantasy or or any other genre novel that doesn't sell because they did so many things wrong and then decides "urban fantasy is dead!" "Witch cozies are dead!" "Romance is dead!" because my poorly covered, boringly-blurbed, rambling bloat of stream of consciousness first draft didn't sell.

It's so much easier to look outside oneself for the problems.

 
#13 ·
Shelley K said:
It's like when someone releases an urban fantasy or or any other genre novel that doesn't sell because they did so many things wrong and then decides "urban fantasy is dead!" "Witch cozies are dead!" "Romance is dead!" because my poorly covered, boringly-blurbed, rambling bloat of stream of consciousness first draft didn't sell.

It's so much easier to look outside oneself for the problems.
Well said. ".... rambling bloat of stream of consciousness first draft...." haha.
 
#14 ·
I have several free Book 1s, and it works for me. I love that people can try my work without dropping any cash. Since it's not easy to get into libraries as an indie, this is an alternative. If a reader isn't a fan after Book 1, I don't want them wasting their money on my stuff. If they're ready to pay to read on, awesome. They know it's worth it to them.

P.S. Please don't bash free if you're in KU. Your books are essentially free too. People subscribe then don't even think about that money that automatically gets sucked out of their account each month. Just be glad it's still an era where we're getting paid extremely well for those page reads. I'll be shocked if KU doesn't eventually go the way of Spotify. 
 
#15 ·
LindsayBuroker said:
Just be glad it's still an era where we're getting paid extremely well for those page reads. I'll be shocked if KU doesn't eventually go the way of Spotify.
<Googles "How much does Spotify pay artists?">

:eek:
 
#16 ·
LindsayBuroker said:
I have several free Book 1s, and it works for me. I love that people can try my work without dropping any cash. Since it's not easy to get into libraries as an indie, this is an alternative. If a reader isn't a fan after Book 1, I don't want them wasting their money on my stuff. If they're ready to pay to read on, awesome. They know it's worth it to them.
I can attest that this works, having just read through two of Lindsay's entire series after snagging her freebie, and eagerly awaiting the next book!

I do agree, I have a stack of unread freebies on my kindle. But while I may not read every one, almost every series I start started with a free book. (And I have a stack of 99c books I haven't read too!)
 
#17 ·
kw3000 said:
I'm afraid to ask. :-X
Average of .004/playback, based on leaked royalty reports? I have to admit, I don't know much about music streaming; being old enough to remember 8-track tapes, I haven't really transitioned to that mode of music consumption. But the industry sounds like a bit of a mess. Maybe Amazon won't be too eager to emulate it ... <fingers crossed>
 
#18 ·
Becca Mills said:
<Googles "How much does Spotify pay artists?">

:eek:
It's a completely different business model. Spotify pays every time a song is listened to. KU does no such thing. There are musical artists who have made tons more money off me over the years because they're in my Spotify playlists than they'd have made if I simply purchased a CD or download. KU pays once, period. Apples and rutabagas.
 
#19 ·
Shelley K said:
It's a completely different business model. Spotify pays every time a song is listened to. KU does no such thing. There are musical artists who have made tons more money off me over the years because they're in my Spotify playlists than they'd have made if I simply purchased a CD or download. KU pays once, period. Apples and rutabagas.
Hm. Right. Makes sense.
 
#20 ·
LindsayBuroker said:
I have several free Book 1s, and it works for me. I love that people can try my work without dropping any cash. Since it's not easy to get into libraries as an indie, this is an alternative. If a reader isn't a fan after Book 1, I don't want them wasting their money on my stuff. If they're ready to pay to read on, awesome. They know it's worth it to them.

P.S. Please don't bash free if you're in KU. Your books are essentially free too. People subscribe then don't even think about that money that automatically gets sucked out of their account each month. Just be glad it's still an era where we're getting paid extremely well for those page reads. I'll be shocked if KU doesn't eventually go the way of Spotify.
This in spades and not just because I'm a fan ;)

Putting my stuff in KU is my way of saying here, try me for no cost to you but time. You can bet that as soon as I actually have more than one book, I'll be seeing about actual free free in addition to KU free to entice. It's an advertising tool, nothing more.

I should add that my original post might sound like I don't read frees, but that's not true. I try things I might not have thought about trying when free is dangled before me. And I do have a slew of freebies laying around, but every now and then I force myself to not spend (yeah, like that works well!) money on books until I read what I have. (But moods... I don't wanna... ugh... ) ;)

Rinelle Grey said:
I can attest that this works, having just read through two of Lindsay's entire series after snagging her freebie, and eagerly awaiting the next book!

I do agree, I have a stack of unread freebies on my kindle. But while I may not read every one, almost every series I start started with a free book. (And I have a stack of 99c books I haven't read too!)
Yep, Star Nomad is waiting for when I get back into a sci fi mood. Free and 99c are good things!
 
#22 ·
FWIW, Spotify pays well, just as Pandora and radio streaming sites pay artists well, because the royalty is set via US Federal Law. Roughly half of Pandora and Spotify's revenues are taken up in royalty payouts, if memory serves....

And when I say these services pay artists "well", you won't hear that from many of the artists, some of whom apparently can't do the math well. They receive more from streaming per play than they do from radio or other broadcasting per play, generally, when one considers 'impressions', i.e. number of people hearing the song played per play.

With Amazon it's a different animal, obviously. They apparently set the pay per page read, as part of their business.

Edit to add: As far as my own experience with 'free', I don't do 'free'. I'll choose cheap over free when pricing my books. If someone can't afford to pay a buck for a book, then they're not going to pay $1.99 or $2.99 for one later on. At least that's my philosophy on it. Everyone's mileage obviously varies.
 
#23 ·
According to my Book Report dashboard:

Free Book 1 of X Series: 388,379 copies given away.
Paid Books 2-8 of X Series/Prequels: 175,295 copies sold at $2.99-$3.99 + $4.99-$8.99 box sets.

That doesn't include sell-through across my catalog to readers who discovered me by picking up my freebie, then went on to buy all of my other series. Obviously, not all my free books have been downloaded as much as this one and most don't have enough sequels behind them to earn as much in sell-through. And even my best freebie doesn't get downloaded as much as it used to. But free is still a valid strategy and one I use on series where it makes sense. It just requires more advertising and lower expectations than in the pre-2015 days.

Looking at one of my less successful freebies (permafree lead-in to a different series), downloads of the freebie were much lower, but sell-through was higher, with roughly 20 % of the readers who downloaded Book 1 for free going on to buy Book 2 at $3.99. That series has 3 sequels at $3.99 + a $9.99 box set, so it all adds up.
 
#24 ·
Free works ...

Sure, there are "freebie hoarders" ... but those people aren't going to buy your stuff anyway. (The same kind of people who pirate thousands of albums and never listen to them back in the Napster days.) It's not a lost sale, they weren't going to buy anyway.

But freebies are great ways to introduce yourself to actual paying customers who don't know who you are ... and if people like your freebie, they will jump in on your other stuff.
 
#25 ·
I'm still in the early stages of my writing career, having only been published for about 18 months, but I haven't found 'free' to be dying, though as a number of people have said, it all depends on how you use it.

I have only the 1 book free right now, it's the 1st book in my mystery series and I use it to drive people to my paid books. I promote my free book just as much as I do my paid books, and often when I have a promotion for book 1 going I see sales of the other books in the series, which helps to earn back my costs.

I suspect that part of the problem is that people are expecting immediate results, they think people are going to download their free book, read it inside of a day, and immediately buy their other books. Only occasionally is that going to happen.

Patience is required because it's likely to take a while after someone downloads a book for them to get around to reading it, and possibly a while longer after that before they get any more books by the author, unless they have absolutely loved it. The fact that they have read and enjoyed an author's free book, though, increases the chances that when they see another book by that author promoted they will buy it.

We all want a great result and quickly, but, and it might sound like a cliche, publishing is a marathon not a sprint. Be patient, keep promoting, and, most importantly, keep writing good books.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top