The Strategic Use of Book Giveaways and How They Can Increase Earnings Potential

by Patrick Goethe

Do free books wounded authors (or publishers, for that matter)? The short reply is no. For nan agelong answer, support reading.

What’s Your Funnel?

This is nan cardinal question that each strategical writer needs to ask. The chimney is nan way that readers return from becoming alert of you to becoming a fan.

Giveaways (or freebies) are celebrated for bully reason; they’re a classic, frictionless measurement to make group alert of your work. Just astir each manufacture has immoderate measurement of utilizing “free” to their advantage, peculiarly game, software, and app developers. If you tin get a capable number of people successful nan door, and they like your stuff, you tin waste them different things erstwhile you person immoderate benignant of spot aliases narration successful place.

If you’ve seen the celebrated Alec Baldwin reside successful Glengarry Glen Ross—it’s a favourite of mine—it’s nan aforesaid thought being expressed. A-I-D-A. First, get people’s attention—whether done an ad, a freebie, accepted media coverage, whatever. That creates interest. And if each goes well, you have desire and action to make a acquisition later.

I don’t find it useful to talk (or demonize) giveaways successful nan abstract, because unless we tin necktie it to a peculiar strategy for a peculiar writer astatine a peculiar time, it’s intolerable to measure it properly. If nan giveaway leads to paying fans down nan road, it’s smart. If nan giveaway leads to nary further action, past it should beryllium reconsidered.

I don’t judge that 1 giveaway leads to an anticipation that each of an author’s books will beryllium free. When we get a free food cube astatine nan market store, we don’t expect to transportation distant nan full food without paying. When we see ourselves fans of an author, we mightiness expect promotional pricing for buying early, and of people adjacent pricing successful general, but not free worldly forever.

If location is simply a broader problem pinch giveaways specifically successful nan indie writer community, it mightiness beryllium that you’re perchance cultivating readers who don’t springiness a damn astir you and are only retired for nan cheapest read. In different words: giveaways tin pull low-quality readers. But they pull high-quality readers, too. This is really business works. Some leads will beryllium good. Other leads will beryllium bad. Business savvy authors study complete time how and where to usage nan giveaway incentive to summation nan high-quality leads and trim nan low-quality leads.

What’s Your Demand Curve?

When I precocious interviewed Richard Nash, we discussed really each writer has a request curve. Here’s what he said:

Certain activities you prosecute in, you whitethorn do for free, and definite activities you prosecute successful are going to beryllium very, very expensive. It’s free to locomotion into nan Prada shop astatine Broadway and Prince, but it is highly costly to bargain a dress. It is little costly to bargain cufflinks aliases a blouse. It tends to beryllium that astir group who spell successful location bargain nothing—which is besides existent of nan Apple store.

Take nan novelist and writer Jim Harrison. … I cognize Grove is ever trying to fig out, “How are we going to waste much Jim Harrison copies?” And nan reply is: it is really f—g difficult to crook a request curve for personification who’s been successful nan civilization for 30 years. [You can’t expect] immoderate deus ex machina to descend [and move] nan constituent on nan request curve for Jim Harrison-ness—where location are 20,000 people who want to prosecute for $15—to wherever location are abruptly 40,000 people who want to engage.

But nan point is, location are each kinds of different places connected nan request curve that are wholly underutilized. So successful nan lawsuit of Harrison, I retrieve respective years agone Googling him, and nan 2nd introduction was a Wine Spectator article, which I publication and I discovered that he is an epic gourmand. He has arranged these four-day bacchanalian orgies of nutrient and vino successful Florida successful nan wintertime pinch a bunch of nutrient cronies.

If Jim Harrison picked a vessel of vino for you to portion while reference nan opening of his adjacent book, you could get 1 of those woody unvarnished boxes, instrumentality nan signed hardcover of nan book and a small explanatory statement from Jim successful there, and waste each 1 of them for 3 100 dollars, easy.

You tin besides person a 99-cent download, and you’re going to get much group to publication him. Are you going to cannibalize a small spot of paperback sale? I don’t deliberation truthful astatine all, actually. Even if [you do], from a gross standpoint and from a readership standpoint, some numbers person gone measurement up.

I’ve been trying to advocator for this pinch publishers for years, but fundamentally they conscionable don’t look capable to grip it—not astatine scale. On an ad-hoc basis, you’ll spot a fewer publishers trying a fewer things.

Fortunately, wherever publishers mostly fail, indie authors tin excel. (And startups and online-based entrepreneurs have figured this each out, by nan way.)

The giveaway is 1 of nan much powerful devices successful nan caller author’s arsenal because it’s a measurement to get attraction erstwhile you whitethorn not person thing other going for you. There is nary request curve for you yet. And particularly if you person nary patient backing you, then it’s important to provide societal impervious to imaginable readers, aliases person immoderate measurement of indicating merit earlier they’ll put clip aliases money. (Thus nan title for reviews, societal media presences, etc—anything that indicates your activity deserves attention.)

But should established authors do giveaways? The “permafree” strategy is well-documented arsenic an effective trading tool—which intends you make nan first book successful a bid permanently disposable for free, arsenic a gateway supplier to nan remainder of your work.

Where I deliberation indie authors tally into problem is erstwhile they only person 1 aliases 2 books to sell, and they person thing other to connection readers—and moreover worse, they don’t found immoderate intends to interaction nan scholar successful nan early (via email newsletter aliases societal media). So location is nary chimney aliases way for readers to follow. It is a dead-end road. The imaginable instrumentality finishes nan book, and past … you suffer them. Maybe they’ll find your adjacent book, if and erstwhile it comes, possibly not.

The different drawback present is that your activity has to person value that matches nan expectations of your audience. If it doesn’t, nary magnitude of giveaways help. When nan food tastes bad, you extremity taking nan samples.

What About Traditional Publishers?

As Nash points out, immoderate are amended than others successful reasoning much strategically astir an author’s request curve. They occasionally usage nan powerfulness of nan giveaway, but much often they usage nan powerfulness of heavy discounting. (Some person started their ain versions of BookBub!) I do callback 1 notable research when Suze Orman’s newest book was fixed distant successful PDF format, correct earlier its charismatic release, successful conjunction pinch an quality and announcement on Oprah. The adjacent week, nan people version deed nan bestseller lists.

Also, while I was astatine Digital Book World, subscription services were discussed arsenic a measurement to summation discoverability for authors’ backlist, and to get caller attraction for aged books—an opportunity to build a pipeline of fans.

Better Than Free

Giveaways can beryllium an effective part of a larger contented and trading strategy. Don’t usage them without considering your funnel, arsenic good arsenic your request curve. If you person fans who worth your work, they aren’t seeking everything for free—and successful truth erstwhile you person a fanbase, they’ll beryllium looking for experiences that are overmuch amended than a free book. Kevin Kelly commented astatine magnitude astir each nan ways you tin present thing that makes it a delight for group to manus complete their money.

Rather than pointing nan digit astatine a organization that you judge doesn’t worth your difficult work, inquire yourself why what you’re offering doesn’t seem worth paying for. People don’t pay more for thing because of a logical mentation (or an absurd title that civilization costs money). They salary for thing because they judge successful it.

And if you haven’t seen nan Alec Baldwin speech, present you go. (Language not safe for work.)