As a part of their promotional strategy, many authors introduce free ebook deals for a limited period. During a specific duration, the authors make their ebooks available for free and then promote it vigorously to increase its downloads. While some think that this is a total loss of revenue, some authors swear by this strategy.
So the biggest question is, does the free ebook promotions really work? Is it worth all the time and effort?
Let’s analyze the strategy of free ebook deals in this blog.
The Value of Free eBook Promotions
To decide the worth of free ebook deals, let’s weigh both the sides first.
Let’s consider a scenario where you don’t offer free ebooks as a part of your marketing strategy. Instead, you try all other common ways to market your book and get a decent response.
On the other hand, let’s assume that you made your book available for free for a limited period, say a week or so. What’s the worst thing that could happen? You may not get the required downloads as you expected. However, as you are trying out other promotional strategies, you will still see its results. So even if the free book promotions don’t work, it wouldn’t affect your marketing efforts.
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No-Risk for Readers and Therefore, More Downloads
If you consider the user’s point of view, the free books deals ought to entice them. There may be a few readers who were eyeing your book but have kept it in their to-buy wishlist due to the cost. So when you make it available for free, they will pounce at this chance and buy it! What is there for them to lose, right?
They may like the book and recommend more readers to buy it. By this time, your book price may have come back to its normal. However, due to the worthwhile content, the new readers will take the risk to buy your book.
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Increase in Amazon Rankings
If you see on the side of book popularity too, the free ebook promotions will make a mark. Even if a new reader comes across your book, they will immediately buy it if it’s free as nothing is at stake. As the number of ebook downloads increases, your book will increase its ranking in Amazon, which will increase its visibility. More visibility means more eyes on the books, which further means more downloads.
Towards the end of your ebook deal, your Amazon ranking would have increased and so will the number of ratings and reviews. This ratings and reviews will influence the reader’s dilemma to buy the book or not when you resume selling it at its original price.
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Creating a Steady Stream of Readers
Gaining readers is like a rolling ball that gathers mass. The more readers you gain for your books, the more exposure it gets. This leads to more and more readers, creating a steady flow of people who are ready to buy your book. Once you have completed the free ebook marketing strategy, you can see a noticeable increase in sales even when you don’t do anything. That’s who much the free ebooks have the power to influence your revenue.
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Increase Conversions of Other Books Too
When more people love your book, they tend to buy more of your books. In most online book marketplaces, the books written by the same author is suggested to the readers who have purchased the previous book. This will have an impact on the entire revenue you get from the sale of all your books from the particular domain.
This is of so much value for book series. If you are making the first book from a book series for free, then it will have a great impact on the sales of the entire book series.
List Your Free eBook Deals at AllAuthor
If you have introduced limited period ebook deals, you can list them on AllAuthor to further add to the exposure. Several readers regularly visit the free books deal and limited period ebook deal sections on AllAuthor. In these sections, you can include the ebooks that you have made available for free for a limited time. You can also include books that you have discounted for a short time.
Take advantage of the limited period deal sections on AllAuthor now and quickly gain more audience for your books!
If you haven’t signed up yet, then create an account as an author and add your book deals now.
