Chris Anderson, author of several books including The Long Tail: Why the 
Future of Business is Selling Less of More, launched an interesting campaign to promote the release of his new book Free: The Future of a Radical Price. He made the book available for free in e-book format and in audio on Audible.com (and last time I looked, it was still available for free download and well worth the listen). What did this radical offer do? Inspire people to talk about it (like I’m doing here), which leads to book sales, consulting gigs, speaking engagements, etc.
Seth Godin is also a fan of free give-aways to promote his books. Whether giving away the ebook version or a bonus with purchase, he is a master of building buzz with the concept of FREE.
If your goal is to generate business with your book, giving away the ebook version costs you nothing, yet can yield big rewards. You can use ebook give-aways to:
- Build buzz and get readers talking about your book
- Get people to sign up for your mailing list
- Impress business prospects
- Send to bloggers
- Send to media professionals
- Conduct a contest and give copies away to winners
- Offer as a bonus with purchase of another product or service
- Offer as a bonus that others can give away with their products and services
- Distribute to the audience at speaking engagements
If you’re thinking that this strategy is going to cut into your revenues, then consider this: the real money in publishing isn’t in the book sales. The real money is in the business you generate as a result of your book.
I would personally rather give my ebooks away like candy, which builds buzz and leads to more sales of the print edition. It’s also been a proven strategy for helping me to land clients, speaking gigs, media interviews and more. So what if I lose a few bucks in ebook sales? I make far more from everything else that happens as a result!
By the way, it’s unlikely a traditional publishing company will allow you to do this unless you manage to negotiate it into your book deal contract (the publisher gets the majority of the rights—a frustrating down side). But if you’re self-published, the control is yours and you give it away as much as you want!
Hello Stephanie. I enjoyed your article. I have a graphic design business and I want to specialize in designing ebooks. Do you have any suggestions on who would be my best target clients? You talk about authors in the article, but business owners may also want to publish ebooks on their industry or expertise. Any advice would be appreciated.
Hi Sandra,
Your ebook formatting services should indeed be in high demand with entrepreneurs. Have you spent any time with groups on LinkedIn? I think that would be an ideal place for you to find plenty of opportunities. Look for groups that reach small business owners. I also run a Nonfiction Authors Group there which you may also want to check out: http://linkedin.com/groups/Nonfiction-Authors-Network-2950959?. Good luck!
I think this technique can also work well with authors that plan to write a series and draw people in so they will be clambering for the next book.
Absolutely! Ebook give-aways are a great way to build an audience and entice people to read additional books!
Stephanie, let’s suppose you give away an eBook after a speech. What does the winner take with them? Is it a card with a URL or a PDF on a CD? I’m not sure how we put an eBook in a tangible format. Your thoughts…
Mark, I wrote a related post about printing up “ebook cards” which could be a solution: http://authoritypublishing.com/book-marketing/strategies-for-promoting-ebooks/. You could also use promotional postcards and then write down a coupon code for the winner to download it for free on Smashwords.
I gave away over 14000 copies of my book The Wolf’s Moon. Since the give away book sales jumped damatically. Yes, I thought about how much money I lost but the comments left at my website(thelindenchronicles.com) were so encouraging that I could not have paid for that type of advertising. Especially the comment from one young man that thanked me for the free read because he just didn’t have any money in order to buy the book – even at the 2.99 price. He said he couldn’t wait for the next book. That comment made just writing the story worth the time it took.
Great article for new authors. I hope many will read this and understand that it isn’t just about the money.
Patrick Jones
Congratulations, Patrick. That’s a great story and I appreciate you sharing!
Stephanie,
I have enjoyed your replies. I would like to speak with you. My book, just completed is an amazing story and has an AWESOME title: GODgoogledMe, just uploaded on Amazon. I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks.
Hi Charles, We offer a variety of marketing services so if you would like to explore those, please send me an email and we’ll get the conversation started. Thanks!