Indie Life: The benefits of making my books free

12.6.13


When I published my first book (Raven) back in the Spring of 2011, I had absolutely no idea what I was letting myself in for. I hadn't a clue about how to get myself known in a world full of authors. And over the past couple of years this world has grown dramatically. I think I was lucky I started when I did, because I managed to get my foot in the door just before millions of other authors started to realise how easy (and awesome) it is to publish independently.
Raven's sales were slow at first, a few per month for a couple of months. Then around the time that I was about to release my second book, December Moon, I decided to make Raven free. Boy was that a great idea! I believe that single moment was what launched my writing career.
Raven continues to be free and still sees downloads in the thousands every month.
With the launch of the first book (The Ghost of Josiah Grimshaw) in my new series (The Morgan Sisters) late last year, I had yet another struggle to let everyone know about it. Sure, I had thousands of readers of The Raven Saga, but no way of letting them all know about the new series. So here I am, essentially starting from scratch. Earlier this year, I penned a novella (Daisy Madigan's Paradise) and made it available for free. Downloads have been slow - nowhere near as good as Raven (even though I've had some awesome reviews). I wondered whether it's because it's a novella? Maybe people aren't so keen? I really don't know. Since then, I've released the next book in the series, The Temporal Stone. And to try and increase sales, I've just made the first book free as well. Fingers crossed that it will work this time! Wish me luck!
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5 comments :

  1. The best of luck to you! Keep it up :))

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  2. I've always wondered how authors make a go of it by making their books free. This makes total sense!
    Cheers to you! Raven is still nestled away on my Kindle waiting to be brought out!

    Brandy's Bustlings

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  3. I've found having my book free for a limited time has helped me get sales, definitely. I'm also using it to build a mailing list now, so I'll be able to send out notifications when the next book in the series is released. Putting info about your other books into the back of the free one is probably useful too, though since I only have one book out, I haven't tried it yet.

    Rinelle Grey

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  4. Wish you more luck, Suzy! :)

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