4 Reasons to Make Your eBook Free on Amazon Kindle

About this video

Dale gives four reasons to make an ebook free on Amazon Kindle. First, expand the brand: longevity comes from an author brand, and a free book keeps readers’ attention between releases. Second, encourage sales: like grocery samples, a free book entices buying — but it must be high quality and lead with your best work, or it wastes a potential buyer’s time. Third, build an email list: include a call to action to subscribe to a newsletter inside the free book, ideally offering another free download such as a sample chapter or subscriber exclusive, or at minimum a way to follow new releases, discounts and events. Fourth, free advertising: Amazon is a giant search engine, and a properly marketed and categorized free book can top charts and raise awareness; he gives examples like a free book on setting up a Twitch account or on passive income from a point-of-sale business. He adds that a free ebook also advertises the paid paperback and audiobook versions on the same product page, and a successful free ebook is more likely to surface in searches for those formats. He cautions that the strategy does not work for everyone: be selective, only scale it once proven on a brand, and remember free books do not pay bills.

Key takeaways

• A free ebook expands the author brand and holds readers’ attention until the next release.
• Free works like product sampling to encourage sales — but only if the free book is high quality and leads with your best material.
• Put an email-list call to action inside the free book, sweetened with another free download or exclusive if you have one.
• Amazon is a search engine: a well-categorized free book can top charts and act as free advertising, including for its paid paperback and audiobook editions.
• Be selective — scale the free strategy only after it proves itself on your brand, since free books don’t pay bills.

Episode details: published August 11, 2017 · 4:01 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dale L. Roberts’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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