Last week I decided to host a free ebook promotion where I gave away copies of my latest book, Own Your Niche, free of charge for three 
days. Over 72 hours, I received over 1,000 registrations from users who downloaded the book, which far exceeded my expectations. (My goal was to give away 400 copies in three days!)
There has been a lot of buzz recently about ebook promotions, specifically with Amazon’s KDP Select program (where you can give your book away to Kindle users for 48 hours). I chose NOT to participate in Amazon’s program primarily because Amazon requires exclusive distribution rights, which means I would have to cut off my distribution via Smashwords, which would prevent my ebook from being available for Nook readers, iPad users, etc. The other downside of promoting with Amazon is that you never know who downloaded your ebook. There is no email address capture or any way for the author to communicate with readers after the promotion is over.
So, I decided to launch my own campaign. Here’s how it all went down:
1. I set up a registration page on my site where visitors could fill out a form with their first name, last name, and email address. Short and sweet. My web designer created the form, which put all email addresses into a database that I could export and then import into my email management system.
2. After registering, users received an email with a link to a page to download the ebook. I offered it in two formats: PDF or Smashwords. For PDF, they simply had to save the link to their computer. For Smashwords, they had to go through the steps of purchasing the book with a free discount code.
3. I offered up an extra bonus for readers letting them know that if they wrote a review in the next 30 days and posted it on Amazon, BN.com, Smashwords, their own blogs or social media sites, and then sent me a link to confirm, I would send them an additional nine bonus download items (reports, worksheets, etc.). Within the first day of this offer, I generated twelve sparkling new reviews.
Ebook Giveaway Promotion Strategy
To generate buzz for this event, I did the following:
1. Announced via my social media networks each day with messages like, “Just two days left to grab your free ebook: Own Your Niche!”
2. Added a Tweet button to the registration page so that users could easily tweet out a pre-written message: “Free Internet Marketing Book: Own Your Niche by Stephanie Chandler @bizauthor Grab your copy here: <link>”. Tweets were a big part of this campaign with dozens of tweets circulated.
3. Sent an email announcement to each of my mail lists (I have several), letting subscribers know I wouldn’t be reminding them again so they shouldn’t wait to download the book. (I’m not a big fan of email blasts so I wasn’t going to bug my subscribers more than once, though many marketers would disagree with this approach and would suggest a reminder on the last day. I’m quite sure if I had done that, there would have been an additional flurry of downloads.)
What I Would Do Differently Next Time
1. There were a few glitches with my process and the download page. I was in a hurry to launch and didn’t test the process thoroughly. Next time, I would definitely text the process two or three times to make sure the links are delivered as expected and everything is in working order.
2. I didn’t reach out to any of my peers or alliance partners to ask for their support, though several spotted the promotion and mentioned it on their own on various social networks. However, next time I will be more proactive about letting others know about the campaign and simply asking them to help spread the word.
3. It would have been interesting to send out a press release via PRWeb for this campaign to see if it got picked up by any other media outlets. Next time!
Why I Did This
If you’re wondering why the heck I’d be thrilled about giving away over 1,000 copies of my ebook, let me fill you in. The goal for every author should be to get your book into the minds of as many readers as possible, and giving them away is an easy way to do that. Even if just 10% of those who downloaded the book tell a friend about it, that will create some ongoing buzz and interest in the book.
Offering the additional bonus items also helped to spur some great online reviews, and I’m sure many more will come in before the 30-day deadline. And because I hosted this giveaway myself, all who registered have been added to my mailing list. My book also ties in nicely with my business, so I am quite sure this campaign will lead to some new business opportunities (clients, speaking engagements, etc.) in the long run.
It doesn’t cost anything to give away a digital book and I’d do this campaign again in a heartbeat. It has been great fun to hear back from gracious readers already, thanking me for my generosity and complimenting the book. You can’t ask for more than that!
I absolutely do not view this as revenue lost—it is quite the opposite. Hundreds of people will read my book and my not have even heard about it before all those tweets were unleashed on Twitter. The upside is far greater than the downside.
So if you’re looking for a way to stir up some interest for your book, a free giveaway campaign can work really well. It’s relatively easy to execute, just make sure you plan ahead and put the right processes in place. Also note that I’ve been building my audience for YEARS. I am quite active with social media, have mailing lists of subscribers who have been with me for a long time, and have built a lot of loyalty over time. But even without a large network, you can certainly build plenty of buzz and either way, you will add new subscribers to your mailing list—and that alone can be golden.
Good luck!
Stephanie, This was helpful! I’ve been thinking about doing this for my fiction, in addition to my nonfiction. I too second the encouragement to test all your links ahead of time. I’m curious to know how many people downloaded the PDF — can you track that? What percentage overall went for the Smashwords version? I know you have to get a free account on Smashwords to use it. Thanks so much for sharing your experience. I’ve passed on this post to my peeps via Fb, Twitter and LinkedIn. BTW, I discovered this post on Google+. You just never know where people will hear the news about your book!
Hi Beth, It looks like just under 10% of the downloads went through Smashwords, leaving 90% to download the PDF. From the feedback I received, I learned that a lot of the people who downloaded the PDF aren’t usually ebook readers. Several mentioned printing it out! So it was a good lesson in realizing that not everyone is reading on a device yet, and offering it in PDF format leveled the playing field. Good to know that you saw this on Google+! It’s my least favorite social network, though it does bring views and traffic so I’m trying to play nicely in the sandbox.
WOW! I’m fascinated by those pdf statistics. No doubt the fact that it is a non-fiction book has a big bearing on how people prefer to read it, but still, that’s a lot of pdf.
I’m guessing you chose not to have the epubs/mobis etc actually on your site alongside the pdf, so you’d get the Smashwords traffic?
Thank you for this fantastic outline of how you went about it, Stephanie. I’m inspired.
Hi Belinda, I distribute my ebooks through two primary channels: Kindle and Smashwords. I like that Smashwords provides a one-stop shop for all the other retailers. Simplification is good! Thanks for your comments.
As always Stephanie, you have great advice, insights and creative ideas. I shared your promotion with my connections/networks because I enjoyed the book so much and found it extremely helpful! Now I just have to write a book to give away.
Thank you for sharing, Kahlilah! Much appreciated!
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Hi Stephanie,
For your tracking purposes, I found your article through Joel Friedlander.
I love the way you took the reigns in your hands this way. I wonder if a service already exists that would create the form and tracking that your web designer made for you.
Congratulations on a successful giveaway.
Hi Deb, Thanks for letting me know the source that led you here–that information is always helpful! The web form was nothing fancy and something you can easily do yourself with a free WordPress plugin (if you have a WordPress site). I think we used “Contact Form 7.” Thanks again and best wishes to you!
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Great information – I’ll try it with my next book. I, too, saw your article first on Joel Frielander’s site, but didn’t have time to follow through there. LinkedIn helped me get back to it. Thanks.
Got to love social media! It’s keeping us all connected. Thanks for stopping by, Paul.
Really helpful information Stephanie. I think it makes sense for you to avoid participating in KDP because you already have your platform and a wide audience. For authors just starting out or still relatively new, KDP is an amazing resource to help us not only sell more books (because there is always a big spike in sales after free days) but to get our books to more readers. That said, I’d love to give this a test run for one of my books that’s coming up for renewal in KDP middle of this month. I can always opt out for a few weeks to run the test and then decide whether or not to sign up again. Thanks for the inspiration!
Well there’s not a lot of risk to trying out one of these campaigns on your own, so why not?! And I agree that the KDP program can be helpful for new authors. No matter what you do to market your books, as long as you’re keeping the wheels turning you will be moving forward!
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So, I understand the benefit of getting more people to read the book, but if you send them a PDF, is it something they can simply send to a friend? Do you set it up so it can only be opened on one computer? Or do you think it matters that it gets passed around?
Also, did you set it up so when they registered, they were automatically sent a link? Or did you do that manually for each registration? I use WordPress for my platform. I know how to set up a form, but I’ll have to do some research to see if there is some way of sending out an automatic e-mail.
Thanks for the info. I didn’t want to do KDP, so this is a good option.
Oh, and I found this story via LinkedIn.
Thanks,
Joelle Burnette
Hi Joelle, Yes, a PDF can get shared. My philosophy on that has always been pretty laid back. To me it’s no different than lending a friend a book off of my shelf. The author may miss the sale, but he/she also just gained a new reader who will hopefully become a fan. I believe it’s best to get your book into the hands of as many readers as possible, which is exactly in the spirit of hosting an ebook give-away! There is a way to set up WordPress to send an automatic email out; I had my web designer set that up. I also made the download link available on the Thank You page once visitors registered. Thanks for sharing your comments (and letting me know where you heard about this post!).
Thanks for this–I am deep in the trenches of marketing my new non-fiction volunteer travel book, and like others here, I chose not to go KDP, but would still love to generate buzz with a giveaway. I live your comment about sharing the PDF, I have several partners who wrote other books in the series mine is a part of, and they really believe we are hurting ourselves by putting PDFs and DRM-free .mobi files out there. Thanks for your perspective!
Thanks for your feedback, Shannon, and good luck with your promotion!!
Thanks for writing this article in such a clear way! I have written 4 fiction books which I am going to e-publish soon. I agree that KDP Select is a bit too restrictive in their exclusivity and am going to first publish on Smashwords. Getting a buzz going on the books was on my mind and as a complete neophyte in utilizing social media channels to develop interest and ultimately SALES is my goal. Are there resources you could direct me to that would answer that question?
I am approaching you on this matter because your article was terrific and gave me a lot of food for thought. If you are unable to respond because you are too busy, Congratulations! At any rate, your article was helpful and I found it with a Google search. Thanks, KD McLean
Hi KD and congrats on your books! You’ll find lots of information on book marketing online, including here on our blog!
Here are some other resources I like:
http://parapublishing.com
http://bookmarket.com
http://buildbookbuzz.com
Hope that helps–good luck to you!
Hello Stephanie,
Just read through your article and I can say it very inspiring and motivating.
Actually, I am planning to publish my first book online and so far, I have been reading and reading. Though most of your techniques are so important but I categorize one of them, that is, the style of reviewing and offer bonus. It’s seems powerful in my view and I would love to try it.
Take care.