These days I seem to be inundated with lists offering me
free books. Often I don’t have time to
look at these, but sometimes I do and occasionally might come across a new book
or author that interests me. And I’m
very grateful. My free downloads are
sparing, however, and I never download a book until I’ve read the description
and taken a peek inside to make sure the writing style appeals. Life’s too short to waste it reading
uninteresting or badly written books, and let’s face it, there are plenty of
those out there.
I know the blood, sweat and tears that go into producing a
marketable novel and for an author to then  |
| Perma-free 'The Apple Tree' |
As an author, I’ve also made my books free and in fact over
the years have given away thousands of copies – I even have one book set
permanently free. What happens to those
downloads is a mystery, because I rarely receive much feedback in the form of reviews
as a result of these freebies. Like all
authors, I give away my stories in the hope of reaching new readers and
bringing them a little bit of pleasure.
The only way I know if a reader has actually read my book is if she or
he makes contact or leaves a review. And
like all authors, I know the value of reviews.
Good and bad.
It seems to me there is a growing breed of people who spend
their time downloading freebies just for the sake of it. Whenever I make a book free, downloads go
through the roof. What happens to the
book then is a mystery.
Except, of course, for those people who love to complain
because you’ve inflicted a free gift on them that isn’t to their liking. Last year I participated in producing a compilation of
excerpts with fourteen other authors.
Apart from giving samples of our Cinderella-themed stories, we also
included recipes, party games and such.
Although we couldn’t have made it any clearer that this was a sampler,
the complaints poured in from readers who felt cheated because the freebie contained only
excerpts and not complete stories.
Clearly there are people out there who expect everything for free – in this
case fifteen complete novels in one set.
So why do we authors continue to punish ourselves by giving
away our hard work? Have we brought this
sorry state of affairs upon ourselves?
Have we made ‘freebie’ a dirty word?
3 comments:
Ha! Interesting question. It seems to me that anyone who finds or receives notifications about free books must be someone who at least occasionally reads books, and that anyone who actually downloads free books must find some value in having them; otherwise it would be like picking up discarded furniture from the city dump just because it's free. I suspect some of these people are hoarders, loading up their virtual shelves with so many freebies that they never get around to reading or even opening very many of them. Asking these people for reviews may be a dubious endeavor, though. The first time I posted a "free" promo, I did get a review from one man who'd downloaded the book. He gave it two stars, saying he probably shouldn't have got the book because he dislikes the genre!
I do love your thinking, Mary. Your experiences have a sad, but solid familiar ring. Perhaps it's the fault of the authors? Are we all so keen to find new readers that we ram freebies down their throats in the hope they will be grateful enough to write a few words of thanks? An interesting conundrum. Thanks so much for your pertinent comments, which have given me lots of food for thought. And for visiting my blog. I hope you'll return.
Ha! Yes, I think we all do want any new readers we can get, just on the off chance one of them will tell six million friends about us. If we can afford it, we pay ridiculous sums for ads, and the book itself is its best advertisement. Trouble is, nobody sees the free and unread e-book except the person on whose e-reader it's buried. If I could give away copies of my hard copy books I'd leave one at every bus stop and coffee shop table I could find!
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