Since I started offering Wild Child and Lust,
Money & Murder (Book 1) as free downloads, I frequently receive questions
from people asking me why I'm doing it. "Don't you lose
money?" "Doesn't it bother you to give whole books away
free?" I thought I would take out a moment to explain why.
First, all of us love to get free stuff. I know I do!
The offer of a free product has universal appeal. A more common method writers use to promote
their books is to offer sample chapters. But somehow, offering free sample
chapters doesn't sound nearly as enticing as offering entire books for free.
To me, "sample chapters" conjures up images of a ragged sheaf of
papers held together with a paper clip, not a nice, neat finished polished
product wrapped in a pretty package.
But there's a second and more important reason
I give books away free. If you are a reader who does not yet know me,
asking you to fork over your hard-earned money on the blind faith that I will
provide you with an awesome reading experience...well, that’s asking too
much. Your time is just as valuable as mine, and that’s what I’m asking
you to invest—your time. I’m taking the
gamble that if you like my free book, you will reach into your pocketbook (or,
more realistically, "click" on a Buy This Book button on Amazon or
your preferred online retailer) and purchase one of my other novels.
In reality, the amount of time that I ask you
to invest is relatively small. My
philosophy is simple: if you’re not
immediately drawn into my story and reading forward because you want
to, then put the book aside and
read something else. There’s no reason
to push yourself through a novel, not in today’s world, where there are
so many
other pleasurable distractions available.
Reading fiction should be a fun, entertaining experience. The last
thing it should be is work! Work, and the pressures of our daily lives,
are precisely what most of us are trying to escape from when we sit down
to
read a good novel.
So, in summary, what I ask new readers to do is
invest a little of their time—usually not more than five minutes—to download
and start reading one of my free books.
In return, they (hopefully) discover a new author who can give them
many, many hours of reading pleasure.
Mike, I just got done reading "Wild Child" and what a fun story it was. Though short it was engaging and interesting, while remaining clever and quick paced. My time spent with it was memorable. Especially considering it was my first kindle book! Thank you so much and I will be sure to purchase other of your novels. I will gladly review it on your sites of choice, but was curious if I could review it on my own blog if you permit. Again thank you for an awesome read.
ReplyDeleteWild Child was a great read, I'm looking forward to the sequel. ^^
ReplyDeleteA great deal. Looking forward to reading it1
ReplyDeleteI love to read and have since forever and your right if I can't make it through a chapter in record time, I will put it down never to be atempt again.
ReplyDeleteFood for thought. I might try this with SOMEONE ELSE'S DAUGHTER after I finish the third book in the series. Thanks, Mike.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to being a darn good story you can't put down, Wild Child is short, which makes it easy to finish reading (in comparison to some good, but long tomes on my Kindle right now), LOL.
Such a good marketing strategy. Your books are recommended books to read,seriously. I hope next time your name can be famous as sidney Sheldon or others famous publIsher. God speed
ReplyDeleteYou are so right on! I love giving away my books to build my readership.
ReplyDeletewww.sharonwoodshopkins.com
I think you have a great concept!! If your books had not been offered free I may not have taken the time to notice your work. Great idea!
ReplyDeleteMike in today's market place this makes heaps of sense. Thanks. Look forward to reading it.
ReplyDeleteI aslo think this is a good strategy. As a reader, I don't purchase books that I don't know: I only put an eye on the ones I've seen reviewed or that someone has recommeded to me.
ReplyDeleteI aslo look very carefully at the free books. If I don't like the cover, the book has little posibilities for me, then I read the summary and some of the reviews, and then, yes, I purchase it if I think it can be a reading for me.
And I usually purchase more novels of an author I've read and liked before, even though the book is not part of a series.
Very good explanation Mike, thank you!, I always learn something with you!
ReplyDeleteThat´s a great strategy. I love Lust, Money Murder. Your writing are fast paced and intresting and fileld with suspence. It does remind me of the great Sidney Sheldon, who also started out as a screen play writer. And that´s a compliment.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Monica!
DeleteI also give my eBooks away for free on iTunes and Kobo. It seems to be very much discouraged and frowned upon by fellow authors. However, I agree with many of your points above.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question [author] Mike Wells, no, it's not just only a good deal, it's very fantastic deal.
ReplyDeleteLife has a very simple manual a lot of us ignore and most of us out rightly don't even know: to receive you must give - simple.
As an aspiring writer, I know how tedious any form of professional writing can be made whether as a full-time writer or a part-time and writers are very protective of their intellectual properties & credibility in th writers' community - so for someone who writes professionally to finally finish a book and offer it for free - that's a BIG DEAL, a fantastic BIG DEAL.
Thank you Mike, thank you! You've got yourself a dedicated reader & customer.
Please don't stop writing the good way and the good books you've been giving u free & paid - thank you again kind Sir...