joseph kwashie
po box jt 25 jamestown
accra/ghana
tel> +233 21 6561418
thanks

So any reader I get is an add-on and a bad review from the white “romance’ site isn’t really going to penetrate my core readership.

There’s an upside to not being a part of the ‘romance’ genre! I feel as if I’m cheating ;-).

The challenge is getting these ‘romance’ readers to read my work, period. Mr. Right Now isn’t my best effort, but some will see something they like and might become a regular reader, where they never, ever would have before. If they dislike my work, it isn’t like I’m losing a core reader of my genre.

More traditional romance readers would like my free holiday novella, The Choice, better. I think it’s a better effort than Mr. Right Now and still has a slight paranormal (and historical too) touch.

http://monicajackson.com/TheChoice.pdf

I belong to a Yahoo group that has weekly giveaways of ebooks from authors who offer them in exchange for a chance to “promo” the book there. In the last couple of years, I’ve added a number of new-to-me authors because of the freebies I won there!

Of course, as a few others have already mentioned, the flipside is also true. There are a few that went on my never-buy list after a freebie, too. However, it’s unlikely I would have bought the book in the first place. So it didn’t cost them a sale, just the possibility of future ones, if I’d liked it.

I think for option 1, only if the trusted reviewers will talk about it honestly.

Absolutely — if you are an author who can handle reader honesty. The Passion reference you made is a great case in point, because discussion did create a lot of buzz and sales for that book. But Valdez also turned some readers off because she was so persistent in responding to comments about her book on AAR and elsewhere. I think an author who gives away books has to be tolerant of critical reviews and reader feedback, or the strategy can backfire — even, IMO, if the book is a great read.

They’re probably afraid of it backfiring with a negative review.

Well, I got a less than favorable one from this very site, although I don’t think they got the book for free. And, you have that chance no matter if the person pays for it or not. It is part of being an author that I think a few people have a hard time getting used to. The majority of my upcoming ebook releases are with a publisher who handles all reviews, but I tend to give them away for blog days, loop days and sometimes I just get on my own chat group and give away a choice. Heck, I had a cover dissed on Smart Bitches and got soooo many hits from it. Seriously, publicity, good or bad, will bring recognition. But you do need to be careful because there are people who will use it as a tool to get back at authors. That hasn’t happened to me but I have seen it happen to other people. So, as an author, I would read over the site, make sure most of the reviews were fair and balanced, and then decide from there. And it costs you very little. No shipping, and the amount of money you have to put out to offer up the book is minimal.
JMHO

I have the fortune that I review a lot and can choose ebooks that appeal to me – this way I found a number of new authors I never would have tried otherwise. Regular novels from ebook publishers are sometimes so high priced (~7$) that I really regret it when they turn out to be a total flop (Bobby Michaels: Dar and Gregg anyone? a nice gay romance novel until it turned disgusting in the “hygienic” area). So free giveaways are a fantastic way to get to know a new author, and when I like her books I don’t mind spending good money on new releases.

And I agree, giving away books is probably the best promotion an author can do. I give away all the allotted copies for each of my titles and I put free reads up on my site, too. To distribute a free ebook copy of a print book you’d have to have the publisher’s support and permission and I think Baen is unique in their approach.

I think PBW’s free ebook challenge was a great thing for readers and authors alike. I’m still reading my way through the list and I’ve already bought a few books as a result of being introduced to these authors’ work for free.