Kindle book giveaways hurting sales even of unrelated books

I know that our friends here have differing views on giving books away through the KDP Select free book promotions, Smashwords, etc. For me, it has absolutely negatively impacted subsequent sales every time I've done it. Because my sales are very low anyway it does not make a significant difference and it has been hard to quantify any loss, but I still find the phenomenon strange and can't think of the reason.

It makes sense that one or two people who download free books may actually have bought a copy and, therefore, we may lose a small number of sales. I've also commented previously on numerous occasions about the glut of free books having an impact on people's willingness to pay for books in general or to even read what they download as Kindles and other readers are filled to the rafters with books unlikely to ever get opened after being downloaded. That's why I've stayed away from the Kindle giveaways, preferring to do occasional giveaways of books I have to buy to give away through LibraryThing and Goodreads.

Last month, though, something really strange happened. After doing three days of giveaways of a short story as well as my short story collection and poetry collection, I've sold no books at all for the rest of the month. None. Even my intellectual property book which I have never given away through KDP Select and did not give away this month sold no copies since the giveaways for the Kindle (though it did sell five copies in the soft cover edition at twice the price). Moreover, I listed the book on KDP Select so that people could borrow it free of charge rather than pay $7.99 for it and not one copy was borrowed. I am truly puzzled. I'd chalk it up to coincidence but there is no other month since my IP book was published that it did not sell multiple copies for the Kindle, including fairly regular sales in the U.K. This month none in the U.S. and none abroad.

I know giveaways can be very helpful for authors with novels in a related series--give away book 1 and those who are exposed to it and like it are much likelier to buy books 2-10. For authors with unrelated works, I suspect the effect is probably more in line with my experience.

When KDP Select expires this time, I will pull all of the books from it and go back to listing them on Smashwords and/or B&N.

4/5/2013
Victor..
I agree with you !....
Cheers..Joe..

Victor, I'm not sure why different authors have such different experiences with this new self-publishing thing.

After going back and forth several times, I have decided for now to stick with KDP Select because my sales are invariably better when I do. My sales with both Smashwords and B&N, including any free downloads, have always been negligible compared to Kindle. I haven't used the free promo option often, but in the cases where I have, sales went up for a short time after each one.


My sales on my only unrelated book, the reprint of A Myth in Action have been doing consistently well, and even the paperback sales have been higher than I had expected. I have not seen a decline since I reverted back to KDP Select a few weeks ago. In fact, the book has already been borrowed twice. I have no plans to offer it free at this time, though.

The Redstone books are still not selling as well as I would like. I am beginning to think that my daughter is correct (she speaks as a frequent Kindle user) when she says I priced the books too low. Many potential buyers, apparently, assume the lower priced books will not be as good, and will stick to free downloads and spend their money on higher priced books. After she said that, I raised the price of most of my books and stories slightly. I still have two of the short stories listed free. The sales on both the anthology and the novel have risen slightly since I upped the price.

Now, if I can only get refocused on finishing the second novel in the series, I will be able to offer the first in a free promo. Hopefully, I will be back on track with that soon.

I have given up on sales.
Who cares? I don't.
I will give my book to anyone, anywhere, anytime.

Facebook makes me laugh. Everyone is so concerned about their privacy rights.
I am not. I wrote a book and no one wants it. I put only what I want the whole world to know.

Thanks, Joe.

Ann,

One obvious answer for my experience is that people hate my writing and the more they are exposed to it the less likely they are to want it. I don't write this tongue in cheek--it could well be correct (I can visualize smiles among those who do,in fact, have strong disagreements with my views generally and/or my writing style). I could accept that, shrug my shoulders and continue writing whether or not anyone ever reads my words. Not writing (or adopting someone else's voice, style or point of view) is just not an option. My writing has not thus far ticked anyone off enough to write a bad review .The only exception is a two-star review for my intellectual property book from someone who got it as a free review copy and I suspect was unhappy about the time it took for the book-rate package to arrive (it costs me nearly $10 to ship the book first class--something I will only do for a friend). The review makes no criticism--it simply says it is a book the reviewer had always wanted a book like mine and thanks me for sending it. All other reviews of my books are 4 or 5 stars [no, I do not directly or clandestinely review my own books on Amazon, Goodreads, LibraryThing, etc.]. All of my traditionally published law-related textbooks have garnered an average of 80% approval rating from professional reviewers [8 out of ten would seriously consider adopting the books for their classes, 2 out of ten would not]. All told more than 20 reviewers have evaluated my textbooks for my three publishers.

What really puzzled me this time around was that the intellectual property book that was not a subject of the giveaway appears to have suffered (the Kindle version, not the paperback version). Nor have the freebies brought any new reviews--the same is true of prior giveaways despite more than 1,000 downloads all told. So for me, KDP Select does NOT work. Not even for the relatively higher priced book that is in my area of expertise where I have very significant prior publications and has always had some sales every month since it was published. Perhaps it works for better writers than I, for writers who better promote their books generally (which is just about everyone else) or for writers who are better known and have developed a following. It does not work for me.

Alice,

I agree with you. Writing is not a business for me and I expect significant royalties only from my textbooks from traditional publishers. But IO am still puzzled. As you might say, I'm "just curious."

And I love your books. Peas, Pills and Parkinson's is next to my bed and I read a few pages every night when I'm not too exhausted to read. I'm making it last both out of necessity (these are very busy times for me) but it also allows me to enjoy it longer.

If only a relatively small number of people read this particular book and are moved by it, its importance and impact may be greater than the lauded NY Times Best Sellers one devours, yawns, and quickly forgets. I like to say about my day job that I am in the business of changing lives for the better. The same is true of you, in a different way. That should be all of our vocations and avocations: changing lives for the better one life at a time whether we are teachers, writers, sanitation workers, hair dressers or stay at home husbands and wives. Everything else is just noise.

Victor,
Thank you for tolerating my book. It has become a sales tool for DBS surgery.
I call myself, " The Brain Job Salesman."
The doctors refer curious patients to me and I give them the book. So far I have had about 100% success in encouraging the surgery.
I have no idea why your book sales are not soaring. You have amazing powers of self expression. I am proud to own a copy of your textbook.

In June 2011, my first children's book, Mr. Planemaker's Flying Machine, was price matched on amazon.com and amazon.co.uk. By the end of the year the book had reverted to its original price and made consistent sales for a month. Only one or two a day, nothing spectacular.

At the end of 2011, Amazon introduced KDP Select and the sales went over a cliff. Not just for me. Everyone on the Amazon forums complained about the sudden loss of sales. Sales on Amazon are generated through the "customers also bought" list. Once off the list, it's very difficult to get back.

Basically, what happened to you, Victor, happens to thousands of authors, which is why you need a marketing plan. You would have one for any other business, so it doesn't make sense not to have one for selling books.

I can understand Victor's lack of a marketing plan. He is a college professor and that takes a lot of time and preparation.
Writing books and then marketing them is a fulltime occupation.

Victor, one thing I can say for sure, having read some of your work, is that you are a talented creative writer and I seriously cannot see anyone hating it, for any reason. There is much more involved in successful sales than the quality of the work involved. I wish I knew more about what makes for successful sales. As much as I agree with you and Alice, I am not in a financial or professional position to not be concerned with whether or not people are willing to actually pay to read my work.

At the same time, I cannot alter my voice, either. I must write what I am compelled to write and hope that someone cares enough to invest in what I have to say.

I wish I could say that I have not had negative reviews. The truth is, I got several when I first put a couple of free Kindle short stories on Amazon. The weird thing is that they were not generally critical of the quality of the work. They were upset because they saw them as too short and incomplete, even for free. There was, at least at that time, a sense among some Kindle readers, that it was "not fair" to publish excerpts of future full length works as advertisement for the full-length versions. Curiously, the words closely echoed those of a couple of discussions that were taking place right here on this forum at the time. I had managed to "raise some hackles" by saying , in my own way, that I could not conform my work to the formulaic patterns that were expected of people who write in certain genres.

And I still cannot. I am who I am and must say what is in my heart. My voice may not speak to many, and may bother some, but I still feel compelled to fulfill some sort of purpose. If I don't do that, I am not being true to myself.

Shelagh,

You are absolutely correct. I know I need to develop a marketing plan if I intend to increase my sales. As Alice notes, I just don't have the time to devote to the project which is not a priority. I know why my sales are low and am actually pleased with the intellectual property book's sales with no marketing or promotion efforts on my part to speak of. There are local independent stores in my area that would probably carry my books--at least the intellectual property trade book--if I simply went through the time consuming effort of approaching them on an individual basis. I contact libraries through a mass mailing and advertise through Google or other providers paying a per click fee for referrals to my books. I should also create a better, more attractive web page dedicated to my books and sell books directly through the site (I don't sell books directly), pay attention to direct selling through Amazon, eBay and other venues, target groups that may be particularly interested in my books with direct advertising, create (or pay someone to create) book trailers, and so on. I've taught Management, Small Business Management earlier in my career and recently developed and teach a popular course on Law for the Entrepreneur.

In short, I know that the sales of my independently published books will not significantly improve unless and until I do the hard work of developing and executing a marketing plan, and that I have no one to blame but myself for the my low sales. Nevertheless, my point remains about the decrease in sales every time I used the "free promotion" option under Kindle Select. It does not work for me, and is counterproductive to increasing my sales; and I've grown increasingly suspicious that adding to the incredible glut of free books affects more authors in a similar fashion than not. The only clear winner is Amazon who uses the tactic as a means of selling its Kindles.

Ann,

I appreciate your kind words. But there is much to criticize in my work, even by me. I said that 80% of reviewers loved my textbooks, which is true and I have the reviews to back that up. But the 20% who did not like them disliked them intensely for a variety of reasons. We can't be all things to all people and anyone who tries will produce only mediocrity by design.

The only reason I have not gotten any really negative reviews thus far of my self published books is that they have not had a wide enough audience. I can imagine very fair, very negative reviews of each of them (and could write these myself) and they would surely come if I were as successful as you, or Shelagh, or D.K. or any of the better known authors on this forum whose works have had much wider exposure. Issues of quality aside, ask enough people for an opinion and some will always have something negative to say for both good and not so good reasons. It seems to me the negative reviews to which you allude fall into the latter category.

All of us get bad reviews, if not of our books then of our performance, our views, our values, and so on. As a professor for more than a quarter century, I have always had the good fortune to have very good or excellent (often exceptional) reviews everywhere I've taught from my first class to my last. But there have been some exceptions--some of them notable. At Hofstra, for example, faculty are evaluated every semester in every class (including tenured faculty) through comprehensive anonymous student evaluations. Despite very strong scores, despite a 94% approval rating on graduate and current student surveys in my recent tenure process, there are some very negative comments about me on some online sites by a few students who for whatever reason did not like me (At least one of these crosses the line into libelous territory couched in an anonymous "opinion." Others are simply puzzling or amusing.). Overall these are also very solid, but there are always some wingnuts out there out to exact revenge for some perceived wrong, a lower than expected grade, or personal animosity whatever its source. (Of course, some express valid criticism as none of us is perfect.)

As a dean, I had my faculty and staff evaluate me every semester even though there was no formal process for deans' evaluations. Respondents to these anonymous evaluations were between 90 and 100% approval every single semester with much praise and some constructive criticism--even during a very combative and painful time when faculty worked without a contract for two years during my first two years in the position. Nevertheless, there were a couple of my faculty who, as best as I can tell, simply could not stand me. I could do no right. Were I to have killed myself in public they would have probably cheered and criticized my chosen method of self annihilation, my incompetence in carrying it out, my motivation for doing so and my inconsiderate nature in leaving others with the inconvenience of having to dispose of my carcass. ["Dean Lopez should have had the decency to jump off a cliff into the ocean rather than hanging himself in his office, leaving overworked and underpaid custodial staff to have to strain their backs and subject themselves to possible debilitating injuries in having to remove his body from the noose."]

By any objective measure, my performance has always been superior at every academic institution it has been my privilege to serve. But a handful of people would (and occasionally have) disagree with that statement. I would expect similar criticism from those who rate my current crop of books and would be enormously pleased if it mirrors my teaching and administrator evaluations with an occasional excoriating review.

I have always tried to learn from even the harshest criticism when it is rational, and to ignore that which is not. I think that's about all all any of us can do.

Victor,

I love your humor. It is delightful.

First, I have to say to Alice that your book is not just a book to be tolerated, It is an improtant book. I wish I had the money to make it available to all who need to read it and find the courage that you did to go forth.

Victor, I wish that I were smarter and could understand all that you have written. I have ordered your Book of Dreams. I love your gentle spriit and hopeful heart.

Love,

Betty

Betty,

Thank you! I love you.

Betty,

I absolutely agree with your first statement about Alice's book. I am still reading it a little at a time and digesting the humor, the pain and the indomitable spirit of the strong willed little girl (and grown-up girl) that helped her deal with adversity and move on long before her personal fights with her health and the health care system and the health issues of close family members, especially her mom and brother. Any book that can make you smile through the pain and laugh out loud through misty eyes is a good book well worth reading, personal tragedy, triumph and strong-willed girls or no.

As to my own writing, I am very grateful for your kindness and assure you that any inability to understand anything I've written has nothing to do with your cognitive powers and everything to do with my meandering stream of consciousness that more often than not floods its banks with a torrent of unnecessary words--like this sentence. I do hope you won't be too disappointed with my short story collection and wish you had downloaded it for free last month. It roams as widely as my average post from cautionary tales about missing the forest for the trees in our misguided quests for all the wrong things to mild horror/suspense that are meant to entertain and point a finger at some or the true horror/irony/comedy/tragedy of the human condition.

I bought your Tales of Woofer's Woods for the Kindle. It and Ann's Redstone's Valley are on my my list as soon as I can get back to my fun reading. I've been meaning to upgrade my eBook reader to read the Kindle titles which for now I have to read on my computer and that's why it takes me longer to get to them as I can't easily read them in bed as I usually do for at least ten minutes to a half hour most nights just before going to sleep. Unfortunately, this semester has left me almost zero time to read on my computer as all I do other than work there is my sporadic posts here and answering my emails. I need to buy a Kindle reader and will do that this spring. It will make it easier not only to read my Kindle titles in bed and on the road, but also allow me to borrow one book a month from my Kindle Prime account.

I've said the same thing: that all these free books mostly just benefit Jeff Bezos. They hurt the rest of the ecosystem. What is gained, really? Lots of slush, lots of opportunities for predators to take advantage, lots of price depression.

I understand that some have been able to take great advantage of it (like Hugh Howey). I guess that makes it all worth it?

LC wrote:

I've said the same thing: that all these free books mostly just benefit Jeff Bezos. They hurt the rest of the ecosystem. What is gained, really? Lots of slush, lots of opportunities for predators to take advantage, lots of price depression.

I understand that some have been able to take great advantage of it (like Hugh Howey). I guess that makes it all worth it?

It makes it worth it if you have books that readers want to read and you are willing to change your opinion when it's to your advantage:

http://jakonrath.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/exclusivity.html

Dear Victor,

I began to read Eternal Quest, on my I phone after my days work. I was on the porch just relaxing. The story took me out of my day and into your imagination. I had to stop to cook dinner and resume my life for the night. I just wanted you to know that you took me out of the porch and into your story so well. I look forward to the rest of that story.

Love,

Betty

Thank you, Betty.You made my day!

Update: Only one sale since the give-aways and not a single sale or Amazon Prime "borrow" of the unrelated intellectual property book which was not given away. Not a single sale of the paperback version either this month. This has NEVER happened since the book's release. I will not put up the intellectual property book as a free give-away but perhaps people who might otherwise buy it believe otherwise. They will have a long wait. Perhaps I'll raise the price of the Kindle version one to two dollars to ($8.99-9.99) or and see if that generates either sales or borrows in what remains of the 90-day enrollment period before pulling the book again. I've tried to keep the book prices low because I want people to read them but that may be counter-intuitive. While I'm at it, I'll raise the paperback version as well and see what happens over the next month.

Quote :

It makes it worth it if you have books that
readers want to read and you are willing to change your opinion when
it's to your advantage:

http://jakonrath.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/exclusivity.html

Yes, he, Doctorow, and a few others have been able to make it work. Meanwhile, have you seen this piece by Scott Turow?


http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/08/opinion/the-slow-death-of-the-american-author.html?_r=0

Somehow, it seems to echo the "slow death of American supremacy." Another sign that we have to realize that the world has changed. We cannot isolate ourselves from the rest of the world, because, now, the rest of the world is where it's all at. As authors, we need to accept that, and fall in line.

LC wrote:

Quote :

It makes it worth it if you have books that
readers want to read and you are willing to change your opinion when
it's to your advantage:

http://jakonrath.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/exclusivity.html

Yes, he, Doctorow, and a few others have been able to make it work. Meanwhile, have you seen this piece by Scott Turow?


http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/08/opinion/the-slow-death-of-the-american-author.html?_r=0

From a selfish point of view, I've done very well since my first book went free. Do authors have anything but a selfish point of view?