Giving Away Books

I find the idea of author's giving away free ebooks in order to generate more sales intriguing, but I wonder if it really works. Supposedly, it shows new readers what wonderful stories this author creates, and they'll buy others to read by the same author. However, considering how many free books I see each day, I have my doubts.

I've been a reader longer than I've been a writer or marketer. As a reader, I appreciate getting books free. In fact, I have over 5,000 books on my Kindles, and 96% of them have been free. There are newsletters that come to my email inbox notifying me of some of these. Many of them are by well-known writers, and I've seen their books go back to $9.99 or more after a couple of days. On average, I consider from ten to twenty free Christian books each day,and this is not counting those whose prices have been reduced.



With this high volume of free books, my guess is that most of them go into a slush pool, hopefully to be read at sometime in the future. However, most of them will probably never be read. I know with all the ebooks I've gotten free, I would't be able to read them all if granted another lifetime.  In fact, I doubt if I would ever get them all read as I continued to receive free offers. They could stretch into eternity. 


I wonder if authors and publishers aren't devaluing their books when they offer them for free. If readers can get all the reading material they need for free, then why buy any.  Although I understand these giveaways are trying to increase interest in their books, maybe those who offer their books for free are decreasing their market in the long run. Perhaps readers quit buying books, since they can get so many for free. I know very well how much goes into writing and publishing a book. Surely all that is worth something. Most ebooks only cost $3.99 or less. That's hours of entertainment and a bargain at that price. 

However, maybe I should give it a try with an open mind. I have never offered a book free. If I put one on sale for 99 cents, that seems low enough to me. I'm thinking about giving a free one a test run, however. If I do, it will probably be the first one in a series to see if it stimulates additional sales. Since all my books always have a definite ending, the reader won't feel cheated in any way. They will still receive a complete book. 

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