The Wild Rose Press Free Reads

[Margaret Tanner]

Good morning everyone,
Hope this is the right place to be posting, I am still new to all this.
I just wanted to let everyone know that my short story Kindred Spirits, is a Free at The Wild Rose Press. If anyone would like to read it the link is
http://tinyurl.com/30h2su

This also leads me to ask. Do you think "Free Reads" boost sales?
Regards
Margaret Tanner

[Margaret Tanner]

Hi Lyn,
Good luck with your "Free Reads" entry. I was quite thrilled to have "Kindred Spirits" accepted. Kindred Spirits is basically set against an incident that happened in World War 2. i.e. the sinking of the Australian war ship HMAS Sydney, which sunk with the loss of all hands, over 600 men disappeared without a trace. James, the sailor, in my story was from the "Sydney" and he has been searching for his soulmate, Sarah, for over 60 years.
Hopefully if readers like this story they will want to read my novel from TWRP Holly and the Millionaire, which has had 5 star reviews.
Kind regards
Margaret Tanner .

[William Butler]

Hi Margaret,

The idea of providing samples of work for exposure has been around for a rather long time. In this era of ebooks and eshorts, the concept has taken on new meaning. Authors, now, have the ability to circulate samplings of their work to a broader audience than at any time in the past. However, like with free music and movie downloads, the question comes about, "Does it help or hinder sales?"

There was a rather extensive article, a few months ago, citing the experience of a tech manual publisher. The primary format for their product was electronic PDF files. While purchasers could order a bound copy, it remained that the bulk of their sales were ebooks. As such, it was not a matter of would free ebooks enhances sales of the bound edition, but rather would people rather pay for an ebook or have the same ebook for free? Their conclusion was that providing the free product seriously cut into their profit margins (ya think?).

Search though I have, I'm been unable to locate the original article (I will continue and post a link if found).

The flaw (from my perspective) in the conclusions, were that much depends on the market. In this day and age, the vast majority of novel-length fiction is still in the print format. While ebooks are gaining ground, it will be some time before we see ebooks sales approach the numbers of paper books. Even though making purchases online (online book sales have outnumbered brick-and-mortar purchases, for a few years, now), most readers of fiction, still have a preference for "real" books. As such, while free ebooks can be viewed as a good marketing tool, they have yet to reach a point where they are a substitue for paper.

All that to say this... from my perspective, offering free samples of a title can only help expand a new author's reader base. When and if we reach a point where ebooks become the norm, that may change. However, at this point in time, it would be hard to convince me that free samples of a title, especially in ebook or online format, will hurt sales.

At least that's my take...

Be well,
William

[Margaret Tanner]

Hi William,
Thank you so much for taking the time to write such an enlightening article. It really is hard to know what works and doesn't work, isn't it?. I guess one has to be guided by the publisher. To be honest I have no idea whether it improved my sales or not. Obviously publishers must think it does, or they wouldn't put the time and effort into Free Reads.
Kind regards
Margaret

[William Butler]

Margaret,

You are most welcome. For an example of a PDF ebook, you can click over to the forum post, "Free for 24 Hours" until midnight tonight.

Be well,
William

[Margaret Tanner]

Thanks William,
I will go check it out.

Regards
Margaret