For the past month (early January into early February), I’ve been running an experiment affectionately titled, “Let’s see if offering free books is a Good Thing.” (I feel affection towards most all of my ideas. At least in the beginning…)
Well, Martha, the results are in and the resounding conclusion is yes, free books are a good thing. At least for me. Having the first book in 3 of my fantasy series free to download means pretty much anyone can access my work (and two of those first-in-series are also available as audiobooks) – kind of a try-before-you-buy situation.
Those free books get lots of monthly downloads across all the usual online retailers, especially when I run promotions through Bookbub, Freebooksy, The Fussy Librarian, etc. The buy-through numbers are lower. Figuring out how to increase those numbers is an ongoing task for my marketing team – aka “me.”
Oh! And another book experiment I tried was enrolling all 4 books in the Magic Series into the Kindle Unlimited program. The BIG take away from that move? I would need to run Amazon ads to get traction in the KU Universe – and I just don’t have the resources to do that at this stage.
So, I’m about to fix a strong cup of tea and re-set the pricing on Magic Remembered, Once Blessed, Thrice Cursed, and Paper Dragon back to free. It brings me pleasure to do so, in part because I’ve been introduced to so many authors and series through free books.
