There's No Such Thing As "Free"

We started a free book giveaway yesterday, which prompted one of our team on the Zoom call (we don’t have an office – it helps keep costs down) to ask if free giveaways actually work.
 
Which is a very good question.
 
By the way, if you didn’t know about the free book, it just shows the value of signing up for our newsletter – but that’s another issue.
 
We know that people like to get something for nothing, but that isn’t why we give away free books. No, we give books away in the hope that the enjoyment the readers get from it will encourage them to buy more books by the same author.
 
But you knew that already.
 
What you really want to know is if it works or not.
 
Which is a very … sorry, we’ve said that once.

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One of our authors

The answer is that there is no short answer. We can’t point our finger at the work of one of our authors and say “Because we gave away one of his books for free, we then sold more by him” (or her as the case may be).

There are some people who do free book giveaways in order to generate lists of email addresses they can use for marketing - you have to email a certain address to get your free copy.

We don't do that. We think it's a little bit underhand. When we do a free book giveaway it is always done through one of the etailing sites so that we don't know the email address of the beneficiary. Or we allow a direct download from this website, for which you don't have to provide an email address. (see our "Freestuff" tab to find out what's on offer)

But to get back to the point, let’s take this from first principles.

If you are trying to get people to buy more books by the same author, then it follows that they must have more than one book available.

So, for first time authors, this isn’t going to do them much good. You may think that is stating the obvious, but it is amazing how many first-time authors do free giveaways in the hope of stimulating sales. Just goes to show how hope can delude people sometimes.

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“But it will get my name noticed.” Some authors will reply.
 
No, it won’t. Your name will only be noticed by people who take a free copy of your book. OK, they may come back for your next book, but you haven’t even published that yet, so by the time you do, your name will probably have been forgotten again.
 
For authors who have multiple, but disparate, titles it is hard to see a connection between the sales of titles that have no connection to the one given away for free, ie books that are about different groups of characters, even if they are in the same genre.
 
If you track your sales and there is a sudden surge of interest in some titles, then it does suggest that the free giveaway had some influence. But if the change in sales is less dramatic it could just mean that some new readers have discovered your books and it has nothing to do with the free giveaway. Indeed, the new readers may not even have read the free book and might buy it later if they like the ones they have bought.

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It is in sales of books that are written as a series that we see the greatest effect of free giveaways. If it is Book 1 of the series that is given away (which is the sensible way of doing things) then we know that Books 2, 3 etc are probably going to increase their sales if the readers of Book 1 enjoyed it.
 
So, if you are an author that writes a series, then this is something worthy of your consideration.
 
What about books written as ‘tasters’ – stories that are less than full length books which are given away as an introduction to the series. These are usually a prequel, but they don’t have to be.

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I have to say we have seen very little evidence that those justify the amount of work that is invested in them. If you know differently, then do get in touch and tell us.
 
There are a couple of issues with tasters.
 
The first is the amount of time they take to write. Every author has some idea of how long it takes them to write a full-length novel, but does writing a half-length ‘taster’ story take half the time?  Does it take less, or does it take more?
 
And we all know that Benjamin Franklyn said that “Time is money.”
 
Are you going to generate enough sales of your taster to make it worth the investment of time that you have made in the writing of it? You hope you will, of course, but I’ve already mentioned how hope can delude us.

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The other issue is quality. I have read some taster novels which are nowhere near as good as the books they seek to promote.

​Perhaps it’s a psychological thing and the author subconsciously doesn’t try so hard to write a good story for a work they know is going to be given away for free. And if the taster isn’t good enough, it isn’t going to encourage sales of the full price book.
 
That doesn’t apply to all tasters, of course. I have also read some that are brilliant and a good advertisement for their product. It just isn’t a universal truth.
 
But is it enough just to give the book away for free? Should you do more?
 
Yes, you should.

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As with all books, readers aren’t going to stumble across your free book by accident.
 
OK, most book etailing sites maintain lists of their free books, so your offering will appear there. But it isn’t the marketing channel you need to appear in.
 
The sorts of readers who haunt the listings of free books are the sort who want to read, but don’t want to buy books. Yes, they’ll download your book because it is free, but there is a good chance they won’t come back and buy the ones they would have to pay for. They’ll be back browsing the lists of free books, looking for their next read
 
No, you need to entice the book buying public, not the freebie lovers. And that means promoting the fact that you have a freebie on offer which they might consider looking at.
 
Those are the readers who will buy Book2, 3 etc of the series. You may also get some reviews, which always help sales.
 
So wherever and however you promote your books, that is where you also have to promote your free offer. You may even have to invest in advertising.

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I know it sounds insane to spend money in order to give something away for free, but it does work.

Thousands of businesses pay to advertise free and ‘buy-one-get-one-free’ offers and they wouldn’t spend the money if it didn’t work.
 
You need to think of this as a long-term strategy. Yes, it may cost you £50 to run a Facebook advert for your free book, but if you get enough sales of the rest of the books in the series, the cost of that advert could be repaid many times over.
 
So, for those of you who are considering doing a free giveaway, the key points to take away from this blog:
 

• If you are a first-time author – don’t bother with free offers. Wait until you have a volume of work to promote.
• If you have a volume of disparate work to promote, don’t let hope delude you. Give it a try, but don’t expect great results.
• If you write a series, then it is worth giving it a try at least once. You really have nothing to lose.
• Be prepared to put in some marketing effort to promote your free book to your target audience – and you may need to pay for some advertising to reach them.

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And if you are reading this before midnight on 31st October, you can still get “Operation Absolom” by Robert Cubitt for free. Just click the cover image to find out more.

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At least, that way, you won't miss out on our next free offer.

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