It’s time for another Writer’s Digest! What’s it all about, you ask? Every other week we will ask our authors questions about the writing process. While geared toward our fellow authors and aspiring writers, we hope you all enjoy this insight into our craft. This week, we wanted to dive into a more marketing-related question. See what our authors have to say.
“I don’t know about permafree, but I see a benefit to doing small free runs with my books in KU when combined with promo stacking, mainly because of the visibility it generates. Also, I’ve found that people in KU read the book rather than getting it for free, so that generates income. So for me, yes.“
–Kate Avery Ellison, Author of The Kingmakers’ War
“While they’re definitely not as effective as they were a few years ago, they do still work. Readers who love freebies enough will pay for the rest of the series and (probably to a lesser extent) works from the same author.“
–Melissa Wright, Author of The Frey Saga
“I do think they’re not as effective as they once were. The market has matured and I think with so many options, people are holding onto freebies and not reading them straight away. That being said, they are still great for generating leads and pulling new readers into a series. I think attracting freebie-seekers comes with the territory. It’s inevitable.”
–K.D. Jones, Author of A White So Red
“Yes, especially on non-amazon platforms, but you have to market them.”
–Sara C. Roethle, Author of The Tree of Ages
“Here’s my two cents. Free isn’t enough anymore. The best method is take advantage of every marketing tool you can. I have two free leads for two of my series and while they have helped me gain visibility, they haven’t translated into many sales. I’ve always heard that you really see returns on this investment after publishing several books in the series. If you’re going to have a longer series, this can be a great marketing tool. But it’s still about the long game and it always depends on your goals.”
–Jennifer Silverwood, Author of The Wylder Tales Series
“I don’t take advantage of all my free KU days, but the free runs still seem to be good investments for series. I agree with the above responses. You have to market them.”
–Belle Malory, Author of Wanderlove
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