Tags
Amazon, Books, EBooks, KDP Select, Kindle, marketing, Russell Blake, Self-publishing
I follow Russell Blake because I like his books, but also because he’s somebody I think I can learn from. He’s published more novels than you can shake a stick at… AND has been successful at marketing them.
This blog post by Blake gives his opinion on the worth of KDP promotional giveaways.
Russell Blake » Pavlov’s Scribbling Dogs.
Whatever your opinion of the KDP giveaways, Russell Blake is a man who’s earned his chops, and he’s definitely showing them lately.
T. W. Dittmer 
That was a good blog post by Blake. I’ve wondered if I’ve had the right information about Amazon’s famous algorithms, and he went into a lot of detail. Thanks for the link; I’ll have to read more of his posts.
LikeLike
He can be a pretty blunt, but he knows his stuff.
LikeLike
Today’s post by him was really good. As you know, I’m just now coming off the heartache of #1 on his list. 😉
LikeLike
I thought for sure it was about my writing. ;-P Ah well, we do the best we can and work to improve.
LikeLike
Thanks for sharing that, Tim.
I agree with everything Russell said.
I did the free thing a couple months ago and had disappointing results. I will never give away another work — except for a short story.
Furthermore, I think authors should band together and discourage giving away free titles. It’s devaluing our work and hurting all of our sales, in my opinion.
After all, if I as a reader can get a free book any day of the week, why ever buy one unless it’s a high-priced bestseller?
One other point I rarely see mentioned is this. The few times I’ve downloaded a book for free I’ve been more impatient than a brand-new, frazzled indie author hopped up on speed. That is, if the book moves slow for even a page, or takes one wrong detour, I’m done. It’s not like I paid anything for it.
And the worst part of this is an author gets one shot with me. Blow it, and you’re done. Life’s too short and there’s too much good shit out there for me to give you a second go.
So, I’ve come to believe that freebies are actually VERY dangerous. A reader has little incentive to show you any patience if they’ve paid nothing, and are expecting even less.
And you could end up losing more than just that one sale. You could lose your entire career.
LikeLike
Learning everything I can from people like you, Russell and others. Thanks for the comment.
LikeLike
Good luck on learning it. I think I’m increasingly learning that there isn’t a whole lot to learn.
Write good shit. Own a blog. Write some more good shit. Repeat into infinity and enjoy the ride, because most likely it’s going to be a slow and painful one.
LikeLike