Free books follow-up
Following my free books blog post earlier this month, a few writers mentioned to me that they were hesitant to give away books for free.
I get that, I really do.
Like, yesterday I gave away free ebook copies of FROSTBORN: THE GRAY KNIGHT, FROSTBORN: THE FIRST QUEST, CHILD OF THE GHOSTS, GHOST IN THE RING, CLOAK GAMES: THIEF TRAP, SILENT ORDER: IRON HAND, THE TOWER OF ENDLESS WORLDS, and SEVENFOLD SWORD: CHAMPION yesterday across the various ebook stores. Combined, that ads up to just about 613,000 words, which is like six months’ work for me if I don’t slack off too much.
So, I can give away six months’ worth of work in a single day. That kind of boggles the mind if you think about it too hard.
But, of course, the point of giving away the free books is that people buy the sequels. As of this morning, for the month of February 2022 I’ve actually sold 3.41 times as many ebooks as I’ve given away for free.
So, I think that shows free books work in indie publishing, especially if you write really long series like I do. Granted, I can see why people flinch from it, because while it’s a simple approach, it’s not an easy one – FROSTBORN took four years to write, and I started writing the first Caina books in 2007 – but it does work in the long run.
Thanks for reading, everyone! It’s always nice to see how many people started with one of the free books and are still hanging around years later. 🙂
-JM
A young impressionable teen is playing a video game. Enter Johnathan Moeller, stage left.
“Got something for you.”
“Um, I dunno.”
“A fantasy book. You’ll love it.”
“Well…”
“Free! Here, take it.”
“Okay.”
Announcer: “And another victim is hooked, doomed to buy those entertaining books for all eternity.” Play sinister music and villain laugh as Johnathan Moeller exits.
LOL. The first hit is always free. 🙂
It was a free copy of Child of the Ghosts that introduced me to your books. I have since bought everything you have released so it certainly worked for me.