# Has anyone ever thought about publishing their book for free?



## Daesu (Feb 12, 2012)

I have been thinking about this lately, and the thought of putting out a book for free, not only sounds cool, but it sounds like a good way to get people interested in your book. At first thought I’m sure a lot of you will cringe at the idea of giving your book away that you worked countless hours on. However,  if you truly believe in the quality of your writing, and have had trouble getting published, giving your book away for free can only help you in the future as long as you keep writing. There have been bands/musicians who have given away music for free, and now they have huge followings, id assume that the same thing would work for writing. Obviously not everyone would want to read an eBook, so you could always publish a hard copy version for people who would want to buy that and put it as low as you possibly could so you wouldn’t lose money. I guess as a big supporter of sharing media, I find the idea of giving something away to be great, and for those that want to actually make money, it could possibly give you that opportunity if you give your first book (s) away for free, then maybe start actually selling them in the future.  So yeah, has anyone ever done this, or thought about doing it?


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## Baron (Feb 12, 2012)

Check out this thread:

http://www.writingforums.com/litera...e-kindle-novels-worth-author.html#post1503359


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## Elena Andrews (Feb 14, 2012)

I thought about it from the POV of well if I'm a new author and people take a no risk chance to read it and like it I'll have even more people read my next one. But my husband told me this type of thinking happens a lot in comics with fans doing self publishing and making (sometimes) joking statements like they'd write Spider-Man for free and editors don't like hearing that. You have to have faith in your work and my time working on the book regardless of whether I'm new or established is worth something. I'm not charging an arm and a leg for the book but it is worth something. Perhaps when I have a few under my belt I can go and giveaway the earlier books like publishers do at conventions. It is a tough decision though. Good luck


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## shadowwalker (Feb 14, 2012)

I don't think I'd ever go that route, for two main reasons. One, I put too much work into my writing to give it away. Two, it seems like everybody is using this marketing scheme, so how does it make one stand out? Oh, there's a free book! Yeah, among ten thousand other free books. Good marketing/promotion makes your book scream for attention, not disappear in the crowd.


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## Gamer_2k4 (Mar 20, 2012)

I only ever plan to write one book.  What good is free promotion if I'm never going to produce anything else?


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## Fallow (Mar 20, 2012)

Yes, I have.  I don't write for a living- it's a hobby on the side, so I don't need the money from it.  More than anything, I'd like to be read by a lot of people, so I plan to publish either free or very cheap on an eReader, if and when I ever write anything worth publishing.  Honestly, cash isn't a motivation for me to write at all.  This isn't to say that I don't understand people who want to be paid for writing- if you write, you deserve to be compensated for your work, especially if it's your job.  People need to eat, after all.  I just personally think I would get more satisfaction out of knowing that people were reading what I was writing than the extra money would give me.


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## Potty (Mar 20, 2012)

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

My boss once asked me to cover a shift at work voluntary... I laughed in his face too.


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## Cefor (Mar 20, 2012)

Lol, Potty... but, you have to admit, that if you have the first of, say, six novels of a series set to free, or 99p... whoever reads the first one and thinks, "Damn, gotta read moar!" They'll then spend the 2.99 and up prices of the next five books. That's £14.95 more than you might have gotten if the first book was also 2.99 and someone didn't want to pay that price for an author who could be awful - they don't know you from Adam


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## Potty (Mar 20, 2012)

I can see that in the not too distant future, writers/authors will either be mocked as the market is flooded by un-edited/poorly written books. Or that everyone will expect to be able to get their books free. I should have started writing before this E-book revolution, I'm never going to get paid


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## Cefor (Mar 20, 2012)

Potty said:


> I can see that in the not too distant future, writers/authors will either be mocked as the market is flooded by un-edited/poorly written books. Or that everyone will expect to be able to get their books free. I should have started writing before this E-book revolution, I'm never going to get paid



Don't do e-books then, not until you're so popular they only generate more interest, not less.

Use Print on Demand services, if you want to self-publish. Or, work your arse off to get into a publishing house of respect


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## patskywriter (Mar 20, 2012)

I don't think you can benefit from offering a book for free unless you have more than one book out. If you create some "buzz" with your free ebook, will your readers recognize your name a year or so later when you publish your second book?


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## Cefor (Mar 20, 2012)

patskywriter said:


> I don't think you can benefit from offering a book for free unless you have more than one book out. If you create some "buzz" with your free ebook, will your readers recognize your name a year or so later when you publish your second book?



That's why you need a catalogue of maybe three titles before you try this. I'd say three minimum, otherwise the returns won't be great enough for what you lose. Five or more it's obviously going to be a better idea.


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## patskywriter (Mar 20, 2012)

Cefor said:


> That's why you need a catalogue of maybe three titles before you try this. I'd say three minimum, otherwise the returns won't be great enough for what you lose. Five or more it's obviously going to be a better idea.



That makes a lot of sense. I suppose that it would also be best for all of the books to be in the same genre. Otherwise, some of your readers might be disappointed. …?


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## Potty (Mar 20, 2012)

patskywriter said:


> some of your readers might be disappointed. …?



Not as disappointed as I would be giving away free stuff.


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## Cefor (Mar 20, 2012)

patskywriter said:


> That makes a lot of sense. I suppose that it would also be best for all of the books to be in the same genre. Otherwise, some of your readers might be disappointed. …?



I'd argue same series. Same genre if that's not possible, yeah.



			
				Potty said:
			
		

> Not as disappointed as I would be giving away free stuff.




So, set the price to a quid and see virtually the same effect. Either way, you'll still need a whole bunch of stuff to sell, first.


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## Fallow (Mar 21, 2012)

Are there really so many free books that it's harder to get noticed selling for free than charging for a book?  I haven't noticed most, if there are.


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## movieman (Mar 27, 2012)

Fallow said:


> Are there really so many free books that it's harder to get noticed selling for free than charging for a book?



I have approximately 1,850 free e-books on my Kindle. Once I get through the hundred paid and free e-books in my 'to-read' collection I might take a look at some of the rest.

If you do self-publish e-books for free you can probably assume that 1% of downloaders will read it and 10% of those might finish it. Another 10% of those who read it will probably leave a bad review because they don't normally read zombie romance novels but just downloaded it because it was free.

That's not to imply that a brief free period is a bad idea, but people are far more likely to read a book they paid for than a book they downloaded for free.

Oh, on Amazon it will also completely hose the 'also bought' links because people who have no interest in the genre will download it because it's free. I remember one kids' book which went free and ended up with 'also boughts' pointing to all kinds of weird erotic novels, which probably didn't help much.


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## GSBAINS (Mar 29, 2012)

A interesting point in this dialogue would be how hard you have worked on the novel in question, when it has taken you a long period of time to write and then to proofread and then perhaps professional proofreading, it would be madness to give it away for free. A low starting price, yes


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## Fallow (Mar 29, 2012)

Yes, I see what you mean.  Free publishing is out for me.  A low price, though.  Something pretty much anyone can afford on a moment's notice.  Published on an Ereader, there isn't really any overhead to cover.


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## GSBAINS (Mar 29, 2012)

My first novel is almost ready, once i have finished it will be sent for professional proofreading - only at that point will i begin to look into various publishing ideas  Lets hope i can find the right one


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