New Rule: 100 Free = 1 Sold

[Benjamin Sobieck]

I've noticed a trend with my KDP Select freebies. For every 100 e-books I give away, I make one sale within one week. I can almost set my watch (er...cell phone) to it.

Anyone else noticing that? Can there be a formula to this madness?

[Conrad Johnson]

I won't go anywhere near KDP Select from reading what people post on forums. Not saying so in your case, but it seems to be more of an ego trip than anything else.

[Susan]

Results of freebies vary widely. I did a couple in July and had terrific sales numbers afterward. I did one in August and got nowhere. I think the key is not to do them too often, like maybe space them out 60 days. I did one the end of Oct and my November sales are great. It's all about visibility/discoverability. When my ranking dropped to #50, I dropped the price to 99-cents (from $2.99) As of today, my rankings are

#5,762 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

• #43 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Mystery > Hard-Boiled
• #50 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Mystery > Hard-Boiled
• #96 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Police Procedurals

We'll see what happens over the holiday weekend.

Don't know how many review your books have ... it helps to have at least 20. And if you give away 6,000 books and sell one for every 100 ... hey, those are pretty good numbers.

[J.M. Garlock]

To paraphrase the great Ma Rainey: if I can't sell it I'm sittin' on it.

J.M. Garlock

http://www.actionmysteries.com

[Jemir Johnson]

While preparing my new work for release I've been weighing the pros and cons of offering the first book featuring the character for free on Kindle to see if it would help the kindle and print book sales of the (soon to come) modern work. In the scant research - "scant" meaning glancing at message board posts like this just before I log off to see what those with experience with the matter have to say on this site and others - I've done it's still hard (for me) to determine if the practice works best as a short term sales boost or long term spotlight bump (additional reviews, wide exposure, etc). With what I've read thus far - thanks to everyone for sharing their opinions and accounts, by the way - I'm not likely to offer the new/current book for free but may do that at seperate intervals for the first one. Wishing everyone a great week and much success.

 

[Benjamin Sobieck]

Success to you, too!

There aren't any set rules, so research is a must. Experimentation is, too. Give it a try with your first book and see if it's worth it for the new one. That's the only way to know whether it's the right fit.

[Cammy May Hunnicutt]

I got interested enough about this to ask my publisher if that number rang true.

Said this:

The most recent anthology, where I had a short humor post, had one free day.  Mostly to reviewers, contributors, and fans--not really all that promotional.   Gave away 556 copies.

Since then have sold 105.

The previous anthology, where I also had a piece, has never been free, but they bought a "Book Of the Day" on an email hot-list, offering the book at full price  ($2.99) and sold $600 worth (paid royalties) in around 6 hours.

They're go start doing free days on mine later this month and I'll be interested to see how it works.

[Stephen Seitz]

That's not much of a return. My own giveaway is going slowly, but there's still three more weeks.

http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/57081-secrets-can-t-be-kept-...

[Stephen Seitz]

When "Secrets Can't Be Kept Forever" was offered as a free download on Kindle, I had 147 hits and have so far made one sale from it, as predicted.

This is going to be harder than I thought.