I’ve put my books on free promo on Amazon multiple times and have learned a bit about what works and what doesn’t. What I didn’t know in the beginning, and you might not know, is that when an author gives away their books, it actually helps the author.
The more copies given away during a promotion, the better!
How does that work? Well, from what I can tell, the more copies downloaded of an ebook, the higher the book goes on the Amazon book ranking system. Translated, the higher a book is on the ranking, the more visible it is to potential buyers. The more potential buyers who see it and download it, the higher it goes and the longer it stays in that position.
When an author has a book in the upper part of Amazon’s book ranking, the more likely it is that book buyers will check out the author’s other books and either buy them or put them on their list for the future. That is what authors are hoping for.
But that’s not all. The more people who download the book, the more chance there is for the author to gain fans and get the word out that they write entertaining books. The buyers may also write good reviews, which could garner the author more sales. The downside is that sometimes people will try a book that they might not ordinarily try–because it’s free and everybody likes a bargain–and they may not like it, which means they may write a bad review. It’s worth it to take that risk, though, because authors and books need readers.
Readers are everything to an authors.
So, if you haven’t tried any of my books yet, go ahead and download a free copy of Liars’ Games. And while you’re on Amazon, check out the other authors’ free books and 99 cent books. They all need your love!
11 Comments
September 3, 2015 at 4:24 pm
Very interesting post Susan, I had no idea. Thanks so much.
September 3, 2015 at 4:25 pm
Thanks, Jane! I’m glad you liked it.
September 3, 2015 at 4:29 pm
I did, such a minefield Susan.
September 4, 2015 at 2:17 pm
Although you are correct in what you have seen, I want to add that Amazon maintains two rankings – one for free books and one for paid. Once your free promotion is over, your book resumes its calculated place in the paid rankings, which is often far lower than the free rankings.
One way of beating that problem is to sell your book for 99c over a period. This way your paid (and more permanent) ranking will go up which means that, once you change the price of your book to its normal price, you are more likely to stay higher up in the paid rankings and earn more sales.
September 4, 2015 at 3:20 pm
Thanks, Gericke. You’re right.
September 4, 2015 at 11:41 pm
this is very informative the ranking system gets confusing at times, thanks for clearing things up.
September 4, 2015 at 11:46 pm
This information was very helpful
September 5, 2015 at 10:43 am
Reblogged this on Anita & Jaye Dawes.
September 5, 2015 at 11:43 am
Reblogged this on evelynralph and commented:
Interesting. Hopefully all this info will be helpful to many of us authors who wish to raise their profile.
Evelyn.
September 5, 2015 at 11:45 am
I have reblogged as I think aspiring writers, those with WIPs and those, like myself who have a couple of boojs on Amazon but are hoping to add to their portfolio in the future. Thank you.
Evelyn