Here’s Why I Won’t Be Doing Anymore Free Book Promotions on Amazon

A few years ago, after I published Human Detritus, I began to notice how many authors were giving away Kindle versions of their books for free on Amazon. It seemed crazy to me at the time, because writing a book is a lot of work. It’s also a hell of a lot of time, sweat, ink and puking up your soul into a word processor. Self-publishing is even more work, because self-publishing means wearing more than one hat, which is a lot more weight on your skull and shoulders.

It seemed insane to me to just give all of that away for free. However, it seemed like it was at least worth looking into. So, I did.

What I learned was that a free promotion through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing could increase sales in the long run. Better yet, it could greatly increase the audience. Okay, so I’d have to remove my book from all other electronic markets to give Amazon exclusive use of my digital content. I thought it’d be worth a try to increase my audience, even if it meant making no money, because audience is more important than dollars.

I ran a free promo for a few days and it went quite well. I was happy with the number of downloads and my sales did increase after the promo ended, so it seemed worth it.

I’ve done a total of three free promotions in four years and what I’ve learned is, it isn’t worth it anymore. And here’s why:

1. Amazon has changed their algorithm

See, doing a free promotion would jump start an author’s paid ranking, increasing the visibility of the book, leading to a boost in sales after the promo. However, Amazon has since tweaked their algorithm so that a free promo jump starts jack shit. Also, there are now so many free Kindle promos going on at one time that it’s all become saturated and messy.

2. Free promos are not free to authors

The way the free promos work with KDP are, for every 90 days Amazon has exclusive rights to my digital work, they give me 5 days to use for a free giveaway. So, this means planning when to run the promo, scheduling it, then scheduling the promotion with various websites that advertise free Kindle books. These advertisements are not always free. As you likely already know, most writers are like any other type of artists. We’re fucking broke. (If you meet an artist or writer, please give them a sandwich and a juice box.)

3. Most people don’t pay it forward

Let me start this off by saying: if someone gives you something free of charge, then, no… you do not owe them anything. But, here is why authors give their books away for free on Amazon:

• – to boost sales later on
• – to increase readership
• – to garner more Amazon reviews (or Goodreads ratings, whatever)
• – some authors are nice and want to give you presents (this one sounds a little far-fetched, but could be true)

Giving my books away has lead to some word of mouth and a review here or there. I’m thankful for all of that. Unfortunately, the number of downloads and the amount of ratings/reviews are drastically different. Hey, I get it. I’ve downloaded free books on my Kindle app that have been sitting in my Amazon cloud for over a year. I understand how books pile up and go unread for a long time. And for my part, I don’t write a review for every single book I read. But, when I get one for free, I do at least give it a rating on Goodreads because, hey… I didn’t pay for it. The least I can do is click on the little picture of how many stars I think it deserves.

I’ve seen some authors advertising a free book promotion along with a statement saying something along the lines of, “I’m giving you this for free. Don’t just take it and be a jerk without writing a review.” I’ve found that harsh enough to avoid their book altogether, but I can also understand why they’re saying it. Although, maybe it’d be better if they just said it on the inside of their head, and not on Twitter. And, like I said, if someone gives you something for free, you do not owe them anything. But, paying it forward is always nice. Unfortunately, it just isn’t happening enough for me to justify the time and cost of running a free KDP promo anymore.

4. It isn’t fair to loyal readers who are willing to pay

And here is the greatest reason of all. I am not a famous writer. I am not a popular writer. I am just a writer way out here in some far-off corner that a few people have taken notice of because of a story or two that they liked well enough to stick around for a while. These people are not so numerous, but incredibly, thankfully, they do exist. Some of them have put forth their hard-earned dollars to buy one of my books on the day it was released, or bought them directly from me so that they could skip the middle man and have a signed copy. They tell their friends and strangely enough, pass worn copies to others, telling them, “You have to read this.”

Yeah, that surprised me, too, when I learned about it.

Those people are genuinely interested in reading my work and supporting it. So, I feel a bit like a first-rate dick when someone coughs up the $2 for the Kindle version of my book and I turn around and give it away to a bunch of people who give zero shits about my work. Not because they are bad people, but because they most likely don’t know who I am and most people downloading free Kindle books have a tendency to hoard free Kindle books without ever reading them. I have nothing at all against hoarding free shit. I’ve done it myself more times than I care to admit. But this is something that makes me feel like I’m doing a disservice to these super-cool, loyal readers — some who have been supporting my literary efforts for a very long time — and they bring me the type of joy that can only be matched by a room filled with nothing but Corgi puppies, Zach Galifiankis’s beard and never-ending pints of Guinness.

If you happen to be curious about reading one of my books and were waiting for a free promo in order to check it out, I’m sorry, but it won’t be happening. I tried it a few times as an experiment, but the KDP thing isn’t for me. That’s not to say I won’t ever have my own giveaway again where I hand out some signed paperbacks. Because I might. Who knows?

If you’re not willing to part with your two dollars because you’re worried my fiction might suck, that’s okay. Clicking on the Stories tab on this site will take you to a few dozen published stories that you can read for free, and to a variety of really fucking great online lit journals.

If you think I’m being a shitbag, well… it’s okay. Each one of the books I’ve written so far has taken a year of my life. Writing the stories, then rewriting them, workshopping them, then rewriting them again, it takes time. I won’t even get into the emotional investment. All artists regardless of their medium deserve payment for their work, and I’ve made the decision to stop devaluing mine.

Now, the good news is, I’m free of that KDP exclusivity bullshit, so both of my books are now available again at more online book sellers like Smashwords. And of course, paperbacks are still available from Amazon and signed copies are available from the Store tab at the top of the page.

I am planning on releasing another collection in 2015. I’ve completed a novella, Tied Within, that I’m currently shopping around to small, indie presses. There are a few stories hanging out in submission limbo and I’ve started working on the follow-up to Tied Within. I hope you’ll stick around and read them. But, they’ll probably end up costing you a buck or two.