Give Your Best Book Away

Authors and sometimes publishers are good about promoting books by offering them for free. In fact, I have over 5,000 inspirational books I've gotten without cost in my 6,000-book kindle library - so many that I would never need another book. Yet, they just keep coming.

Too often, however, authors give away their low-selling, least popular books. If they run the promotion to gain new readers, this is the wrong way to go about it. They should be offering their best books to show readers what an accomplished author they are. Otherwise, a reader is likely to judge all their books based on the most poorly written one.

As an author, my books have occasionally been on sale at reduced prices, but I've yet to offer one for free. Sometimes, I wonder if we aren't shooting ourselves in the foot by making so many available without cost and inhibiting sales, rather than increasing them. However, as a reader, I take advantage of free offers. The smart authors will promote their best books by offering them free, knowing this is the way to gain fans.

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