Support for Indie Authors discussion

I've read on a few blogs and heard in a few podcasts that if you want to build up your fan base you should have at least one permafree book. Does this work well as a way to funnel new readers to your work?

Yeah that makes sense. One of the indie authors I know made the first book in her trilogy free (also got the bookbub deal) and it helped her drive up sales for the rest of the series.

I've never heard of that. I will have to check it out

R.K. wrote: "I've read on a few blogs and heard in a few podcasts that if you want to build up your fan base you should have at least one permafree book. Does this work well as a way to funnel new readers to yo..."

Permafree can work, but be prepared that it can also attract drive-by one-star ratings on Goodreads (or elsewhere). This is typically because some readers think, "Oh, I don't read that genre, but it's free, so..."

I've also seen that the strategy is far less effective today than it was 3 or 4 years ago.

Ken wrote: "R.K. wrote: "I've read on a few blogs and heard in a few podcasts that if you want to build up your fan base you should have at least one permafree book. Does this work well as a way to funnel new ..."

Stupid 2017 lol

I haven't tried permafree but I've seen other authors use it with success. Seems like the trick is to put a lot of promotion efforts behind the free book. I'm not sure how much good it does to merely have a permafree book existing on the sales channels without active promotion. It can get lost in the sea of books just like the non-free books.

Marie Silk wrote: "I haven't tried permafree but I've seen other authors use it with success. Seems like the trick is to put a lot of promotion efforts behind the free book. I'm not sure how much good it does to mere..."

True, very true

I'm not even sure how you do this on KDP?
I was thinking about it, but having read the comments, maybe part 1 of my duology will be 99c then normal price for part 2. Would that work? There's some value to it then. (*scratches head*)

All my other books are stand alone, so never been a consideration for me before.

I'm about to try and do it with my next children's book. I'll let everyone know how it goes!

Ben wrote: "I'm about to try and do it with my next children's book. I'll let everyone know how it goes!"

Good luck!

T.L. wrote: "I'm not even sure how you do this on KDP?
I was thinking about it, but having read the comments, maybe part 1 of my duology will be 99c then normal price for part 2. Would that work? There's some ..."

I publish through Pronoun, which is distributed by Macmillan. You can set the price free there.

T.L. wrote: "I'm not even sure how you do this on KDP?
I was thinking about it, but having read the comments, maybe part 1 of my duology will be 99c then normal price for part 2. Would that work? There's some ..."

It's technically possible to make a book permafree on KDP but it's a hassle. It involves making your book free on other major sales channels and then contacting Amazon to price match. I've seen the price match process take anywhere from a few days to several weeks on Amazon's part.

My brother often brings this up often as a method to generate more sales for a book series. That if you have a series, eventually make the first book of the series free (after you've published a couple of other books in the series, of course) in order to hook readers in. He says he's gotten into a lot of book series because of this.

As I like to say, it never hurts to try and I plan on giving it a go myself one of these days when I finally get my series out - if not permafree then at least massively discounted.

For stand alone books I'm not sure it would work as well. I could be wrong about this, of course, but I think permafree tends to work better with a book series since people will want to know what happens next.

Melissa wrote: "My brother often brings this up often as a method to generate more sales for a book series. That if you have a series, eventually make the first book of the series free (after you've published a co..."

My thought was using permafree books to generate newsletter signups