I’m forgoing my usual Flirty Friday post this week in favor of doing this post about the concept of FREE and running a very special giveaway. We’ll get to the giveaway in a minute.

There was some discussion on one of the email loops I am on last week about FREE. It’s a powerful thing. I think it’s what gave the independent and self-publishing movements the traction it needed to really break out. For instance, JA Konrath originally made his ebooks free on his site. He never intended to make money off them.

There’s a problem with FREE.

Authors really need to look at this FREE thing. The newest craze is the Amazon KDP Select program. Authors give Amazon an exclusive for 90 days and make their books free ONLY ON AMAZON. What’s the problem with FREE books though? Besides giving Amazon an exclusive so they can sell more Amazon Prime memberships, there’s another thing to think about. How does FREE work? Scott Sigler gives his content away for free as podcasts and now has major publishing deals. JA Konrath gave his books away for free, created a readership that would pay him money. These guys got their start in FREE. But what’s the problem?

FREE is meant for short term.

How many authors are out there giving away their stuff for free right now? How many books are in the Kindle Lending Library for Prime Members? If everyone sets their stuff free, what is the long term effect? Right now, I have about 300 books on my Sony Daily Edition. About 80% of them were free, and I have yet to read them. Why? Because when I open my Sony, I almost always go for the books that I’ve bought first.

The markets are saturated with FREE. Readers have no incentive to buy. Why should they? If they are patient enough, the author will put it out there for free anyway. We’re setting a precedent here. Readers expect to get FREE all the time. I know that people want to make money, which means they need to market themselves. Oh, wait. That’s a key word there. I said “market themselves” and not “market their books.” Huh. Freudian slip maybe?

Market you, not the books.

Actually, that’s what I meant. I talked about this in my Personal Branding series. Too many people don’t see the elusive art of marketing as an art form. I’m fascinated by it. Social media revolutionized it. People mistake the product for being the book. It’s not. It’s the author. We are the product we’re selling. Let Barnes and Nobles and Amazon sell the book. You need to sell you.

How about offering your book at a reduced price instead of FREE all the time?

Even this is a tactic to use sparingly. We are creatures of habit. Seeing something at a certain price point means we’ll be angry if we see it higher later. Honestly, and you could talk to bestselling authors and they’ll agree with me, but FREE isn’t a standalone book tactic. Neither is the $0.99 price point. Social media is a fantastic marketing tool, but it’s not meant to sell books. It’s meant to build an engaged following of relationships with people that will buy whatever you put out.

That’s the key in my opinion.

Throwing links at people announcing your free book hoping one will stick isn’t the answer. You need to garner great content, create a great book, and let other people do the work of getting your name out there.

What do you think? Do you think FREE is the way to go? Is there a situation where FREE works? Why? Let’s discuss. I love hearing from you!

Alright, let’s get to the giveaway portion of our post today because today is Sidney Bristol‘s release day for Personal Adventures! I accidentally bought two this morning, so one lucky commenter will receive a copy of Personal Adventures FREE! (See what I did there?) All you have to do comment here and talk to me about FREE.

I’ll announce the winner here in this week’s Six Sentence Sunday post over the weekend.

If you’d like an extra entry, hop over to Facebook if you’ve got it, and LIKE Sidney’s Facebook page.

For yet ANOTHER entry, go LIKE my Facebook page as well.

Go forth, my dear readers. Go forth, and win free stuff.