How To: Run a Successful Free eBook Promotion

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Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.Are you a new author, wondering how to get the juice flowing on your recently indie-published ebook? Free ebook promotions can help, as long as you clearly define your expectations for the promotion and you make those expectations reasonable and achievable. I know established and successful authors who make the first book in every series free, because it helps readers take a risk on their writing that usually results in a mutually satisfying long-term relationship.

But that’s an established author, you say. They can afford to give their work away for free. I have to recover my costs! The issue here is that, as a small publishing entrepreneur, you need to think long-term. You need to work hard now to build a self-perpetuating engine of sales and promotion that will make it easier for you in the future. The essential element is that you have content, as I outlined in my article on Your Top 5 Priorities for Self-Publishing Success. Content is your product. Once you have product, you can then start thinking about how your are going to promote that product, and free ebook promotions are a great start.

Define Your Objectives

A product promotion always starts here. What do you expect to get out of the promotion, and is it a realistic expectation? It is not realistic to expect that your free ebook promotion will catapult you to the top of the paid charts, result in previously-unseen phenomenal sales, or an email from a large publishing house wanting to make you an offer. It can, however, improve reader awareness, increase your reviews, and generate sales for your other content.

Here are a few scenarios in which a free book promotion can be helpful:

1. You are a new author with only 1 title, and few (if any) reviews.

Your promotion goal should be to increase awareness of your title.

In this case, a free book promotion can get your name out there as your book rides up the best-selling free books list. You can also use the excitement to promote across your other communication platforms, such as your blog, facebook page, and twitter account. Hopefully some of the people who download your book will also give you some reviews to help future potential customers decide if your book is right for them.

Run your promotion for as long as possible. Amazon allows up to 5 days within a 90 day period. The longer your book is in the free list, the more time it has to ride up the ladder of most downloads.

2. You are a relatively new author with a few titles grouped into a series.

Your promotion goal should be to entice readers to purchase more of your titles.

This is called “Bait Pricing” in the marketing world. A retailer puts a low price on one item in the hopes that it will bring the customer into the store, where they will be convinced to purchase the higher priced item instead. For our purposes, the free book is our bait, with the hopes that the reader will enjoy your book so much that they will want to buy the other books in your series.

You will also get the secondary benefits from situation #1 above, in which you will get more exposure for your work and you can use any excitement generated from the promotion on your communication platforms. In short, it gives you something fun to talk about.

3. You are an established author with several titles in your series, and several series.

Your promotion goal should be to increase your readership.

At this point you probably have a number of reviews for your books, and a growing base of fans. In this scenario, your free ebook promotions will help you by making the reader’s barrier to entry into your writing non-existent. Offering the first book in your series for free makes it completely effortless for a reader to try your work. If they like it, they will be happy to purchase your other books. For readers who have read one series and are thinking about trying out your other series, it again makes it effortless for them. They will be excited to download that free book from an author they already like. If you’ve done your due diligence making your writing the best it can be, then you can look forward to your readers rewarding you by buying your other books.

Promote Your Promotion

You won’t rise in the free ebook ranks unless people know about your promotion, so spread the word! Share it on Facebook, Twitter, your blog, your email newsletter (if you have on), and your other social networking sites such as Goodreads and forums. Once it gets to a certain point in the list, people will notice its rise and be curious, and download it simply because of its place in the list, which will in turn make it rise even higher. There are also websites that exclusively promote free ebooks.

Evaluate the Effectiveness of Your Promotion

Did you achieve your promotion goals? If you did, congratulations! If not, go back and look at why your promotion didn’t work. Perhaps you need to build a stronger communication platform, or revise your cover art. Perhaps your timing was off. Research peak times for ebook sales (which will be somewhat different from hard and paperback books) and consider timing your promotion accordingly. And remember, the more content you have, the better your overall sales will be.