Going FREE! Kindle eBook Promotional Campaigns for Authors

To Be Free or Not to Be Free

The Pros and Cons of a Free Promotion

One advantage indie authors have over traditional authors is the ability to set up a free promotional campaign. It's a difficult decision. Do you give your book away for free to potentially thousands of readers? Will your free promotion lead to sales? So what are the pros and cons of a free ebook promotional campaign?

PROS - Many authors report a surge in sales after a free promotion. As one author said after gaining 800 sales, "Do the math." And that's what it boils down to: sales. Another advantage of a free promotion is increased visibility. Your Amazon ranking is effected for weeks, if not months after a free promotion. In fact, a lot of authors experience a surge of sales, and then a steady daily number long after their promotion ends. If you have one book, a free promotion can get your book out there. If you have a series (or just multiple single titles), then promote the first book for free in order to draw traffic to your other books. Two to three days is considered the most ideal amount of time to run a promotion in order to see maximum benefit.

CONS - Before you put your book out there for for free, wrap yourself up in thick skin because the reviews are coming. In fact, you might want to have some good reviews posted before you host a promotion. It's widely know that when an author gets hundreds or even thousands of free downloads on their book, then they are almost certain to get some bummer reviews. A lot of readers download free books simply because they are free. They get books they wouldn't normally read in genres they don't know. And then they review your book. Get ready for it. If your book is well written and interesting, you should score good reviews as well. The other con is that you're giving your book away for free. Some authors don't like that idea, but others find that it's worth it in the end.

How to Go FREE on Amazon

There are two ways to make your book go free on Amazon:

1. If you publish your book on Smashwords, you can set it for free. Then you go to your Amazon book page and click to notify Amazon that your book is priced lower elsewhere. You might have to do this every day, and even get friends and family to do the same for you in their accounts. It might take days, or weeks, or months before Amazon's bots pick up your book and change it to free. There is also the chance that it will never go free. Once you set it back to your normal price on Smashwords, then Amazon will generally reset your book price. You will not make any royalties on your book while it is free. You can possibly keep it free for days, weeks, months, or even years. Amazon does not guarantee they will price match your book.

2. You can enroll your book in Amazon's KDP-Select publishing program. If you do this, you need to know that you are essentially signing a 3 month exclusive contract. Your ebook cannot be available anywhere else on the web -including excerpts on your blog. But you can set your book for free for up to 5 days during the 3 month period, and you can do this again if you stay enrolled during the next 3 month period. Enrolling in KDP-Select also means that Amazon Prime members who own Kindles can borrow your book for free, but the good news is that Amazon will pay you for each borrow out of a half million dollar pot (subject to change each month). The bad news is that you won't know how much you will earn per borrow until the middle of the next month. (December 2011 KDP-Select members were paid $1.70 per borrow.)

Notify Top Sites About Your Free Kindle eBook

If you plan ahead rather than randomly go free, you can take advantage of popular websites and blogs who cater to readers who search for free books. Simply visit the following websites / blogs, and send a notification containing information about your book and the dates it is set for a free promotion. Going free is about visibility and building a brand. These sites can help you get your book noticed. It is recommended that you give these sites one month's notice.

Pixel of Ink: Pixel of Ink is the number one site every author should check out. Simply go to their Author's Corner and fill out the form to notify them about your free days. You can also request to be featured on their site. Be sure to sign up for their author's newsletter to stay in the loop. This site has thousands of visitors looking for your book! UPDATE: You need to contact POI at least a month in advance. You need to have good reviews already posted on Amazon in order to have a chance to get picked up by POI, but if you do, you've just hit the jackpot!
Ereader News Today: Scroll to the bottom of this blog to contact the administrator. Let them know when you are going free. They advertise a book of the day and free Kindle books.
Books on the Knob: Books on the Knob is another site to contact about your upcoming free promotion. Simply click on the contact button and send them a quick email.
Indie Book List: Simply fill out the Indie Book List form to get your free book promotion listed on their site the first day.
Free Kindle Books and Tips: Send an email to Michael: kindle at gagler dot com to request a shout out.
Authors on the Cheap Facebook Page: You are allowed to post your free promotion on Authors on the Cheap Facebook page. You must include your price, rating, and genre in the book description or risk having your post removed.
Effective Teaching Solutions Facebook Page: Children, middle grade, and young adult authors are invited to post their free promotions on Effective Teaching Solutions Facebook page. You must include your blurb, age range (picture book, early reader, middle grade, or young adult), genre, and rating or risk having your post removed.

Educators may also post free promotions for books marketed to K-12 teachers. Include a short blurb, subject matter, and grade level(s).
Amazon's Meet the Author Forum: This is the ONLY forum on Amazon you are allowed to self-promote. You can post your book blurb in the threads here, along with information about your free promotion.
The Book Bazaar at Kindleboards: You definitely want to join the Kindleboards forums (check out the Writer's Cafe). You are allowed to create one on going thread in The Book Bazaar to promote your book. You are only allowed to post to the thread once per week, or in response to a reader. Be sure to read the forum's TOC, or risk the wrath of Betsy the Quilter. Time out your posts, so that you can post your free promotion on the day it begins. Post your free promotion results in The Mega Thread in the Writer's Cafe (do not create a new thread).
eReader IQ: Scroll to the very bottom and look for the contact button to notify this stie about your free book.
Kindle Daily Nation: Add your book to KND's ebook tracker to get picked up in their free ebook list. This is a huge site with a ton of traffic. They offer paid sponsorships, but they start at $139.
Flurries of Words: Flurries of Words is a small, but growing blog that accepts submissions for free advertising. Scroll down to find the guidelines and email address.
Kindle Daily Deal: This free service will blast your free promotion to 12,000 followers.
Freebooksy: Fill out the short form to let Freebooksy know when your books is free on Kindle or Nook.
Bargain eBook Hunter: Fill out Bargain eBook Hunter's contact form to let them know about your free promotion. They will not respond to you. Check their site on the day of your promotion to see if they gave you a plug (or not).

More Tips for Going Free

Other ways to promote your free Kindle ebook:

1. Tag your book on Amazon with the words "free ebook" and "kindle freebie" so that the search engines and some sites will pick it up.
2. Tweet (use hashtags #FreeKindleBook #freebook #free #amreading #FREE #freeforall #ebook #Kindle #RT)
3. Post to your Facebook page.
5. Create a small graphic and post it to your blog or website. Pin the graphic on Pinterest.
6. Blog it, of course.
7. Post your promotion in writer's forums. Make sure you follow TOC's and only post your promotion where it is acceptable.
8. Arrange with book bloggers to guest blog during your free days.
9. Send a message to @kindlenews on twitter. They have over 20,000 followers. Here are some more twitter accounts that tweet and retweet free books: @DigitalBkToday
@kindleebooks
@Kindlestuff
@KindleEbooksUK
@KindleBookKing
@KindleFreeBook
@free
@free_kindle
@FreeReadFeed
@4FreeKindleBook
@FreeKindleStuff
@KindleUpdates
10. Wait to go free until you have 10 or more good reviews (4 or 5 stars) for best results.

Promote Your Books

Great Books to Educate Yourself on Book Marketing

All authors, whether traditionally published or indie, must learn how to manage and promote their books. You can only rely on yourself. The best way to begin is through self-education. Fortunately, a lot of veteran book marketers have learned the ropes and written down their methods. Read your way to book marketing success!

DIY: Format a Simple MS Word Document for Kindle

Only $0.99 cents! Available on Kindle or Kindle APP

Do you dream of publishing your book on Kindle, but feel overwhelmed at the prospect of facing the task of formatting your document? You can find a ton of information online explaining how to format your document for Kindle. Unfortunately most of it is complicated, technical, vague, and frustrating. This short ebook gives you step by step, easy directions for formatting your Microsoft Word document for Kindle. No complicated HTML code. No additional files or software needed. This is as simple as it gets, and it really is quite simple. The instructions included in this ebook are meant for formatting a plain document -no fancy fonts, pictures, or graphics. It was written for the non techie who can't or won't pay for something they can do themselves. This short document also assumes that you basically know your way around Microsoft Word. The directions are based on MS Word 2007, but can be applied to 2003.

Pre Formatted MS Word 2003 Document for Kindle & Nook

Forget DIY!

Do you want to publish a book on Kindle or Nook? Does HTML code and Mobi files give you a headache just thinking about it? Do you dread paying someone a ton of money to format your book? If you just want to publish a simple document (simple text, no fancy fonts, no photos), then simply download this pre formatted MS Word 2003 document Add your text in this ready to go document, then upload it to Kindle Direct Publishing and / or Pubit (this document is NOT formatted for Smashwords). A pdf file with instructions is included. You are purchasing a ZIP file with two files inside: one pdf file and one MS Word 2003 file. Please read the pdf instructions first.

Pre Formatted MS Word 2003 Document for Kindle & Nook: Available at Payloadz.

Author's Marketing Club

FREE!

The Author Marketing Club is a free book marketing resources for authors. It provides tools, tips, learning and resources to help new and veteran authors find ways to market and sell books!

Promotional Websites

Extend Your eBook Promotions

The following list of sites are worth watching and jumping on the participation wagon for future promotions.

eBook Swag: This new site built a 1000 followers in two weeks! They are a site to watch as they grow into an interactive site allowing readers and authors to come together. You can buy a one day sponsorship for $10.

New Guestbook Comments

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MickParker May 20, 2012 @ 11:40 am | delete

It worked for me. I hit the jackpot in February/March on Kindle Select notching up 40000 free downloads and a subsequent sale of over 7000 e-books. It has slowed down now, but I am selling about ten e-books a day on average now. I will be promoting again for three days with two e-books at the end of the month.

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RosemaryB Apr 20, 2012 @ 7:56 pm | delete

Great Site. Thank you for putting such thought and info on it.

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RosemaryB Apr 20, 2012 @ 7:56 pm | delete

Great Site. Thank you for putting such thought and info on it.

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jamestwood Apr 16, 2012 @ 4:28 pm | delete

I just wanted to thank you for writing this. I followed all this and my eBook is currently sitting at #6 in the Amazon Free Store. When I did this on my own, the highest I ever got was into the 400s. And I've still got 36 hours left on the promotional period...

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aspiringmom Mar 26, 2012 @ 9:38 am | delete

Wonderful and extremely helpful lens. Have liked it etc. Great work

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caeru71 Mar 9, 2012 @ 1:28 pm | delete

Great article, I found it very helpful. Thanks for the tips. One of my short stories will be free this weekend, check it out if you like at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Choose-Your-Future-ebook/dp/B004Y0XOSW
Best wishes, Stephen Livingston.

Reply

LisaGrace Feb 7, 2012 @ 12:07 pm | delete

I just tweeted this article and squid "liked it", and sent it to Facebook. Thanks for putting it all together. Now put the Amazon links to your books in the sidebar!