tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post3859440859562113666..comments2024-03-28T02:00:11.260-05:00Comments on A Newbie's Guide to Publishing: PermafreeJA Konrathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08778324558755151986noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-54438960798396369862016-06-27T20:04:48.771-05:002016-06-27T20:04:48.771-05:00I would really not like to have Amazon have even m...I would really not like to have Amazon have even more ways to try to lock me down. I have some titles that are in KU and some that aren't, and the ones that aren't make more money than the comparable KU titles. If there weren't reasons to leave those few titles alone, they'd be wide too.P.D. Singerhttp://pdsinger.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-40611704966167186462016-06-10T15:29:41.830-05:002016-06-10T15:29:41.830-05:00I'm kind of ambivalent about this. If you'...I'm kind of ambivalent about this. If you'd asked me a year ago, I would have said yes. But I've noticed that permafree doesn't work as well as it used to. Readers have so many dang free books clogging up their Kindles, they'll never get to them all.<br /><br />Still, I suppose the option would be nice to have. Although I don't like your idea of a locked in year. Maybe 90 days. If permafree didn't work out so well for you, having to wait a year to course correct would suck the big one.Rob Cornellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04388119793952454397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-17747508749560543542016-06-09T07:32:46.463-05:002016-06-09T07:32:46.463-05:00Yes. Absolutely. Most of my books are in KU, excep...Yes. Absolutely. Most of my books are in KU, except for my two permafrees. Ben Rehdernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-82945773672785789932016-06-09T04:11:42.480-05:002016-06-09T04:11:42.480-05:00I share others concern about the number of free bo...I share others concern about the number of free books and wonder about its utility. (The first short story in my series has been free for a long time and I have seen little if any benefit from people downloading it.) However, I think permafree should still be an easily-implemented option because it is one of the perks of ebooks and indie authors don't need additional publishing hassles. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06740121595880017339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-8850474719944048422016-06-08T17:54:27.214-05:002016-06-08T17:54:27.214-05:00@Gary Ponzo: How is today's "environment&...<br />@Gary Ponzo: How is today's "environment" different? Are readers behavior and buying habits different? Has there been a titanic shift in reader's attitudes with ebooks? The basic tech is still the same, namely the internet, blogs, Amazon and Kindles. If the new environment is now over-saturated with ebooks, how is that changing reader's behavior and buying habits? If anything a larger number of ebooks and more varied ebook content should increase the number of ebook consumers. I think the number of ebooks being published has always been fairly large, yet readers still seem to find ebooks that they like, and authors still seem to make money.<br /><br />Keep in mind that people who get your ebook for free would most likely have not acquired, looked at and considered, or bought your book at all - At least they get exposure to your book which is crucial. They also might like it and recommend to a friend, furthering more exposure for you. If a reader had a choice between two ebooks for sale, one is an ebook by an author known to the reader, and the second book is by an unknown author and also maybe in another genre that the reader doesn't normally read, which ebook is the reader most likely to buy? The ebook with the known author I bet.<br /><br />Many people who become fans of an author's work will support them by buying their work, even if they can get it for free. If they want to see more of your work, they know they should support you. Of course not all readers will buy, but enough will. I believe that allowing free ebooks is an overall net positive outcome for an author, especially a new author who is not a James Patterson or Michael Crichton with big name recognition. With the low price of ebooks anyway, this is not a really big deal. If you have not seen a bump in sales, maybe you just need to keep writing more, just as Joe wrote about before.<br /><br />There is also this relevant book: <br /><br />Free: How Today's Smartest Businesses Profit by Giving Something for Nothing by Chris Anderson - 2010.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-34696762786477162342016-06-08T16:04:11.722-05:002016-06-08T16:04:11.722-05:00Anonymous, although I appreciate your contribution...Anonymous, although I appreciate your contribution, these two articles you posted are from 2008 and 2010 and that was light years ago. I think today's environment is a bit different. This is just my opinion. I'm sure there are many current examples of free books leading to a bump in sales, I just haven't seen it myself. I'm sure there are variables I'm missing somehow.Gary Ponzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13171541464149058048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-19576575956415892692016-06-08T14:18:25.617-05:002016-06-08T14:18:25.617-05:00Yet Again, Giving Away Free eBook Increased Sales ...<br />Yet Again, Giving Away Free eBook Increased Sales Of Author's Books:<br /><br />https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080714/1150181670.shtml<br /><br />https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100303/1430578394.shtmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-19540886571631951392016-06-08T13:38:46.727-05:002016-06-08T13:38:46.727-05:00YES! Amazon! PLEASE LET US MAKE OUR EBOOKS PERMAFR...YES! Amazon! PLEASE LET US MAKE OUR EBOOKS PERMAFREE WHENEVER WE WANT...without making them free on all our other sales venues first and jumping through the hoops. <br />JUST AS IMPORTANT!: DROP THE EXCLUSIVITY CLAUSE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED!!!!!! I am wide with all my 22 novels but I would resign up for Kindle Unlimited in a second for some or all of my books IF I COULD DO THAT AND STILL STAY WIDE! <br />COME ON AMAZON...do this for us Indies!ISN'T IT ABOUT TIME? Kathryn Meyer Griffithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05034564063539239120noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-17992171091003262902016-06-08T11:01:08.202-05:002016-06-08T11:01:08.202-05:00I discovered Joe and many favorites through free b...I discovered Joe and many favorites through free books. Truthfully, he gave away too many for free at the time, but I am now a fan and buy everything. Keeping one novel or novella free is a great way to entice new readers. I understand it is hard to give away your baby for nothing, but is it better to keep it at $4.99 and have no one read it?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-50642396263439359212016-06-08T08:50:22.069-05:002016-06-08T08:50:22.069-05:00Thanks for all the freebies Joe and the killer sto...Thanks for all the freebies Joe and the killer stories. Loved Rum Runner the audio book. I'd kicking around some more Jack Daniels OzValt Grant conclusions for Sleeper Towers Fall and the CODENAME Chandler follow up to RUN LIKE MAD. Excellent! Cheers!BRYAN HIGBYhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01126595775432851053noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-47886357369292130612016-06-08T07:02:12.295-05:002016-06-08T07:02:12.295-05:00Right now, I can't find it in me to give away ...Right now, I can't find it in me to give away my books. There are countless writers who talk about the benefits of building an audience this way, but I just can't do it. Amazon and Goodreads giveaways are as far as I go to give away books. Denise Baerhttp://baerbookspress.com/blog/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-65108928835829582552016-06-08T06:45:31.296-05:002016-06-08T06:45:31.296-05:00If you're an author into erotica, try a new ge...If you're an author into erotica, try a new genre: Transgender/Transexual, cuckolding or male feminization.<br /><br />Just do a search on Amazon for: feminization of males.<br /><br />Here is a sample of titles:<br /><br />"Caught in the Act: A Tale of Male Chastity and Force Feminization" by Mistress Benay.<br /><br />"My Best Friend ... My Secret Sissy!" by Arya Martin.<br /><br />"Turned into a T-Girl" by Tabatha Dallas.<br /><br />"My Hot Wife - A cuckold, Male Chastity, Female Led Relationship, Feminization Story" by Barbara Deloto.<br /><br />"Caught by His roommate's boyfriend: Avery's Feminization" by Amanda Mann<br /><br />"Popped and Knocked - Gender Swap 10-Pack" by Jezebel Fox<br /><br /><br />I wonder what their sales are.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-34541249116128813292016-06-08T00:19:28.479-05:002016-06-08T00:19:28.479-05:00I tried for 18 months to get a Christmas short sto...I tried for 18 months to get a Christmas short story permafree. Did lower price thing. All my friends helped with the lower price button. I emailed, several times. Nothing. I finally took it off everywhere and made it my goodie for signing up for my newsletter.Jill Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10754506629717417267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-88156729921909347202016-06-07T23:28:32.820-05:002016-06-07T23:28:32.820-05:00Why do you click "report lower price"? J...Why do you click "report lower price"? Just e-mail 'em. If you go through the help menus, they have a section specifically for such price-matching requests. You can get it done within days.Carradeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05431561739001270522noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-29089888303626107132016-06-07T15:04:28.015-05:002016-06-07T15:04:28.015-05:00Joe, I'm dubious about the value of giving awa...Joe, I'm dubious about the value of giving away free ebooks altogether. Currently one of my Nick Bracco books is free on Amazon and it's #60 overall and #1 for Mystery, Thrillers and Suspense, yet I haven't seen any upward movement on any of my other Nick Bracco thrillers. Maybe it's more of a long term play, I don't know. I've never seen much spillover. Gary Ponzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13171541464149058048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-60090147260500292972016-06-07T11:28:07.115-05:002016-06-07T11:28:07.115-05:00My experience was the same as Lambert's above ...My experience was the same as Lambert's above (free on Kobo, Amazon refused to price-match even after a cordial email exchange). Perma-free has always been a solid tactic for me and keeps a decent flow of new readers coming in between bigger promotions with Bookbub, but they seem to be trying to stop it to get those books into KU. <br /><br />Though KU has worked well for me, this recent clampdown seems unnecessary. Many of my readers downloaded my first book for free and then bought the rest at a decent price-point and will continue to purchase others. They get a free punt on a new author, Amazon get 30% of the rest of the book series sale and we get 70%. No-one loses here.Tom Barberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03172322858737633706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-80341094772778202072016-06-07T09:24:08.179-05:002016-06-07T09:24:08.179-05:00Yes. Flexibility is always important in marketing....Yes. Flexibility is always important in marketing. Amazon might at least give the idea a try. If some drawback crops up, something no one anticipated, new conditions might be applied or the program might be terminated. What's the harm in trying?Joe Flynnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17862186143599173970noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-16421943260545501052016-06-07T09:02:56.304-05:002016-06-07T09:02:56.304-05:00I have just had to pull my hard-won BookBub slot a...I have just had to pull my hard-won BookBub slot as Amazon have refused to price match for free with Kobo,(after I wrote two emails practically begging them to enable me to honour my contract with BB). I don't qualify for a paid BookBub listing as the thriller genre is so competitive and only the self-pubbed books with many more reviews than mine qualify. Lambert Naglehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15622449348582171907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-54545052088219256562016-06-06T23:51:57.836-05:002016-06-06T23:51:57.836-05:00Lack of universal permafree is also annoying for u...Lack of universal permafree is also annoying for us foreigners when authors advertise their books as "Free through Kindle Unlimited", which we're not allowed to sign up for. <br /><br />As an aside, I noticed last week that if you want to return a Kindle book, one of the options Amazon gives is "Found A Better Price Elsewhere". I wonder how many people have to return a book before Amazon will price match?Iolahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17199141868703826943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-43548826380109395202016-06-06T21:26:49.596-05:002016-06-06T21:26:49.596-05:00I recently got the rights back to my books from a ...I recently got the rights back to my books from a publisher going out of business. That meant Amazon required me to republish because Amazon would not just send me my royalty payments. Amazon said they were afraid of fraud from such changes. However, republishing destroyed the years of momentum I'd gain from Amazon's algorithms.<br /><br />Now my books are invisible, again. That harms my sales and Amazon. Amazon did respond to my complaints, but there was no changing them. I got to keep my reviews, though I'd like to get rid of about a third of them anyway lol.Walter Knighthttp://www.waltknight.yolasite.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-27796350459742253312016-06-06T19:16:33.941-05:002016-06-06T19:16:33.941-05:00I would like to be able to make a book premafree o...I would like to be able to make a book premafree on Amazon without having to jump through hoops. Always wondered why they don't let authors do that.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-34643061166529786262016-06-06T17:10:51.421-05:002016-06-06T17:10:51.421-05:00Frustrating situation for readers in Oz, although ...Frustrating situation for readers in Oz, although I will probably pay the $1.40 anyway. I enjoy the Jack Daniels books (thanks Joe!). We don't even get a wish list feature fire books on the Australian site....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-1323120213369477652016-06-06T16:41:27.782-05:002016-06-06T16:41:27.782-05:00Walled gardens have walls. Too bad the most popul...Walled gardens have walls. Too bad the most popular e-readers are each tied to a particular online store. Too bad you can't just stash the free content on your website in a standard format (e.g., EPUB) and give out short links that people could put into their e-readers to download them. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and others all want to be in the middle of everything. It's almost as though the readers belong to the retailers rather than the users who "bought" them.Adriannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-21351693766542863682016-06-06T16:04:49.826-05:002016-06-06T16:04:49.826-05:00Like Brian says, email them and they sort the pric...Like Brian says, email them and they sort the price matching without the multiple submission stuff. Wish I'd known that in 2013 when I was at #4 and heading to #1 only for the price match to switch off...Edwin Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07036402169743305192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-44037340153818818002016-06-06T14:21:37.303-05:002016-06-06T14:21:37.303-05:00I asked Amazon to make a book free in an email, an...I asked Amazon to make a book free in an email, and they took care of it quickly, pointing out that they didn't like to do that (not in those exact words, but the meaning was there) so I shouldn't ask too many times. Of course, as soon as I uploaded a change to the manuscript, it went back to paid. I've left it there for the time being.Brian Drakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01233187184688491057noreply@blogger.com