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J. R. Roberts

There’s no such thing as a free lunch…

Published 8 months ago • 1 min read

Or is there?
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Last week (on a bit of a whim) I loaded a free promotion for The Monkey State eBook.
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Given it's only listed at 99 pence or cents, I didn't think much of it.
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But a quick end of bank holiday KDP dashboard check...
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And 100+ people had grabbed their free copy.
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This rose to 173 by the end of the day.
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Things slowed down from there and yet the 5-day offer gave a real boost to orders:

It was obviously exciting to see as it propelled the book to the top of the Fantasy Adventure charts in the US but it also made me chuckle that it was by giving it away that did so.
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Who knew a world of bargain hunters were waiting in the wings.
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Another author had recently advised me that I had the eBook too cheap and it was potentially devaluing it.
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Something I was giving some real thought.
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However, the asymmetrical move has more than doubled the total owners (potential readers) of the monkeys which, for me, is a big positive.

Presuming a decent percentage actually read it.

Well, even if they don't, there's nothing really lost.

I've also heard, interestingly, that it's quite hard to shift books when they are free from the start. It's something about seeing the discount. A jolt of FOMO that can be the trigger.
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It did make me think—the book wasn't actually free—even on the relatively short side, 220 pages is a significant time investment.
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One that I don't take lightly.
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One I appreciate immensely when someone messages to say they've reached the end.
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Of Book 1 that is.
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Zooming out, It's a longer game.
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Chess not Connect Four.

If a free gateway into the Eldervaria world is what it takes, I'd certainly consider running one again.
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​What do you think anyway? Would you be happy giving away something for free or heavily discounting in order to test a theory?

As mentioned, I'm on a stag in Sussex this weekend so this is a pre-scheduled mailing to enable me a Sunday recovery in relative (digital) peace.
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Rightly or wrongly I wanted to keep the little Sunday email chain going.
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Hang Comfy,
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​– J. R. Roberts

J. R. Roberts

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