How To Make The Most From Your Free Ebook For Kindle Promotion

Any author publishing with Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) knows about free Kindle ebook promotion.

You can offer your ebook for free for five days during your ninety-day enrollment in KDP Select.

Some may not know that free ebooks for Kindle have now become another little industry in itself.

There are many, many sites on the internet that are listing and promoting free ebook offerings.

Giving away ebooks is not easy

When KDP Select started, it was enough to book your free days and then promote it via your social networks.

Now, however, there are so many free ebooks on offer every day. Getting noticed is more and more challenging.

It is not easy to find free ebooks on the Kindle Store anymore.

On top of this, for Kindle Unlimited subscribers, free ebooks are of little interest or value.

To get good value now from free ebook promotions, you really need to get your book listed on as many free Kindle ebook sites as possible.

It is the only way to get the traffic you need to give away enough copies to move your book up the rankings.

This is the whole point, of course.

Getting your book up the Amazon rankings where book buyers can notice it after the promotion has finished. I gather that this has now been called the bounce.

I have tried a lot of ways of using free Kindle ebook promotion for my books.

I’ve booked some days with no careful planning and promotion of free campaigns.

I also experimented with different days of the week and of the month.

In general, promotions in the first few days of a month are worth avoiding, as are Fridays and Mondays.

Another element I have noticed through my trial and error is that luck can also have a big hand in how successful a free ebook promotion is.

I’ve had carefully planned promotions flop while ones with almost no promotion skyrocket. No idea at all why.

But in general, better-promoted ones have fared far better.

KDP free ebook promotion works best with a plan

Without a doubt, my most successful promotions have been when I planned weeks in advance and notified as many free ebook listing sites as possible.

Then crossed my fingers and hoped to be picked up by some of the bigger sites.

As they all tend to pick and choose what they will promote, I suggest contacting at least fifteen sites and even more if you’re keen.

It is also essential to have at least eight to ten book reviews, as very few will list books with fewer reviews than this.

Another crucial element is to have your book listed in the best keywords and categories on Kindle.

If your book is under the category of Fiction-Romance, it will be competing against many thousands of other titles to get a decent ranking.

But if it is listed under Fiction-Romance-Romantic Suspense, there are far fewer titles in this category.

So it’s much easier to climb to a decent ranking and then profit from the bounce after your promotion ends.

Are free ebooks still popular?

Should you offer free ebooks for Kindle? Many authors are probably scratching their heads. Yes or no?

But with 59 million Google search results a month for free Kindle books on Amazon, there is definitely a reading market out there for you to leverage.

I have read many times that some authors are worried about giving away a book for free.

But it is worth remembering that free books are not a new idea at all for both fiction and non-fiction.

In fact, it is a very old marketing ploy and one that the book publishing industry has been using forever and a day.

In my work as an English teacher, I am offered a lot of free textbooks every year.

When I was a teacher trainer, it was more than 100 free textbooks each year. Getting the right people to use or recommend them is what drives textbook sales.

Teachers, principals, school owners, and public servants in the education sector are all targets for free books because they can recommend that students buy them.

In other words, give free copies to people that can influence your book sales.

It is not dissimilar for fiction publishers.

They send thousands of copies to advance readers, television, and radio stations. In fact, anywhere to find a little promotion or influence.

Publishers also send advance copies to newspapers to get the reviews you see printed on the back of many traditionally published novels.

Free ebook options for self-publishers

The opportunity Amazon gave to self-published authors with KDP Select was a very logical initiative.

Five days out of every ninety days are available for free Kindle ebook promotion.

Why not use it and do what publishers have been doing forever to promote your Kindle ebooks?

But of course, you have to enroll in KDP Select and grant Amazon total exclusivity over your ebook, which many self-publishing authors resist.

If you are not in KDP Select and you open publish, there is no restriction on how you can use free ebooks.

Smashwords and Draft2Digital allow you to set your selling price to $0.00. Unlike Amazon, they do not restrict the period you can offer your ebook for free.

You can make an ebook permanently free. This is particularly useful for series starter ebooks.

Remember, you should view this in perspective.

Yes, some readers will crawl over broken glass for anything free.

But with millions of people owning Kindle ereaders and many more using free Kindle reading apps, a few hundred ebooks given away is not very many.

However, note that when you make an ebook free through Smashwords or Draft2Digital, your ebook listed for sale on Amazon will not be eligible to be offered free on Kindle.

The only way to offer free ebooks on Kindle is by enrolling in KDP Select. But you need to grant exclusivity for your ebook to Amazon.

Are there influencers for self-published authors?

Yes, but not as directly as for mainstream publishers.

By offering free ebooks on Kindle or through Smashwords or Draft2Digital, you are hoping to get your ebook into the hands of book bloggers and book reviewers.

Also, you might attract readers who may post a review of your book on either their blogs or, if you are lucky, on Amazon directly.

Gaining new readers is all well and good but isn’t finding influencers better?

If you think about this, next time you plan to offer your ebooks for free, wouldn’t it be better to notify some of these influencers in advance?

By leveraging social media, you can do this.

Try to connect with as many book bloggers, book reviewers, avid readers, and small press publishers on social media as possible.

But be careful to find bloggers and reviewers with an interest in your genre.

If you publish science fiction, don’t expect romance book bloggers to have any interest in your book.

Try to build a list of those you can notify well before you have a free ebook offer.

Ask nicely, and don’t forget to include a link to your free ebook, so it’s easy to find.

Does free ebook promotion work?

What free promotion does is help in building name recognition.

“Oh him? Yes, I just read one of his books.”

It doesn’t matter how the reader got the book; word of mouth is gold.

Think also about how you acquire books to read. It’s not just books that you buy that you read.

Perhaps a book borrowed from someone or a library. A book you found at work. A book you found in your attic or a second-hand bookstore.

Maybe you downloaded an ebook from Project Gutenberg or Open Library, or you use the offer of a free ebook each month with Amazon Prime.

Or perhaps, a free book from the Kindle Store. When and why do you download free books?

Do you react to a daily email offering a list of free ebooks?

I can only relate my experience over the years of using both KDP Select and open publishing to offer free ebooks.

Yes, free ebooks can help boost visibility, and name recognition, attract new readers, and of course, help gain a few reviews and real sales.

Series starters offered for free are by far the most productive and profitable and can often be left permanently free.

But don’t expect miracles.

Conclusion

As with all things, however, moderation is the key.

In the end, you want real sales.

So don’t get carried away with offering free ebooks for extended periods. Have a clear idea or plan about what you want to achieve.

Free Kindle books on Amazon should only be one small part of your overall book marketing plans.

It is also worth considering that fewer people buy a Kindle device now because of the popularity of smartphone or tablet reading.

On top of that, more and more ebook readers are using Kindle Unlimited. They have little reason to find a freebie attractive.

The same goes for Prime members, who get a free ebook every month with their membership.

It’s becoming a tough market now. So always diversify your book promotion activities as much as possible and continue looking for new opportunities.

Good luck with your next KDP free Kindle ebook promotion. Hopefully, you get the desired bounce to sell a million copies.

Related Reading: What is the difference between KDP and KDP Select?