What I have Learned from the Free Promotion of My novel

First of all the promotion is still going. Second of all it is the way of the future and I mean standard. Currently my book is #68 on Amazon in the Top 100 Books. #2 in baseball and #1 in Hispanic Literature. I was initially reluctant to do this but now I know it is the way. The model of giving away your novel to develop readership makes perfect sense. You will get people reading and if your book is good then they will tell other people. The bottom line is books are still sold by word of mouth.

This type of promotion was just impossible before the digitial age. You could not give away tens of thousands of books and not go broke. So the big authors could get their books around with say a couple thousand give aways to bookstores and publicity people but everyone else was stuck with a few hundred. Not true now. Now you can run a giveway for a week which I am doing and have THOUSANDS read your book.

Think the old album Frampton Comes Alive. Before that no one heard of him. After that everyone knew him. The point is that was his giveaway. It crashed onto the scene and everyone heard it. That is what you want to do with your giveway. Crash onto the scene and have everyone read it. Well back to work. Here is a link to get your free kindle download of The Pitcher. http://www.amazon.com/The-Pitcher-ebook/dp/B00DMOO3RM/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1

The Age of Free Downloads and Pastry

I went into a Starbucks and the green smocked happy meal man asked me if I wanted a pastry for free. In fact I could have as many pastries as I wanted. And so I took three and sat down. When I went back for my coffee he explained they had to get rid of all the pastries by the end of the day. New vendor he explained further. Some outfit out of San Fran was going to be coming to all the Starbucks so they were priming the market with freebies.

In publishing free is the new strategy. My own novel The Pitcher is being offered for a week free on Amazon on August 24th. http://www.amazon.com/The-Pitcher-ebook/dp/B00DMOO3RM/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=So if you have a Kindle go get your free copy. The theory is that it is better to give away something in the hopes that more will come and pay. This is the hope. Jay Z gave away a million copies of his latest single. Publishers routinely offer up free books. Starbucks gives away pastries. What is going on?

The age of the internet has become such a market equalizer that nobody knows how to market anymore. You didn't have to give away something if you had a lock on the market. Before kindles you either paid the price of a book or you didn't. And before the digital age you either bought the CD or you didn't. But all that left with the LCD or leveling effect of the internet on the market. The only chance now is to "catch." To grab hold and go viral and then you can make your money.

So on August 24th go to Amazon and download your copy of The Pitcher. I would suggest downloading while in a Starbucks where you can enjoy a pastry. For free. What a country.

Free download of The Pitcher August 24