As authors, we’re always looking for the next great promotional tool and for many that’s become InstaFreebie. This is a site where they offer your book for free and you can collect names and emails (optional with the free plan) or connect them directly with your Mailchimp mailing list (paid plan). Paid plans start at $20 a month and there’s a higher plan for multiple pen names and books at $50 a month. Is it worth it?
I completed in a group promotion with a re-release of one of my older books, but my favorite, and pretty much tossed it out there. I messed up and didn’t realize you couldn’t collect emails with the free plan–that it had to be optional–so ended up giving away about 750 copies without anything in return. Once I added the mailing list option–but utilizing their free trial–I got over 2000 sign ups.
I was impressed. Did I pay for the paid version…not yet. The question will be how many of these individuals will convert into book buying readers. The paid plan is $20/month, So I would need, at a minimum to sell at least 31 of my Tobine episodes directly from my site or 58 from Amazon to make up for this. We’ll see as the next episode releases on Jan 5.
Overall, it was a good experiment and one that I hope to repeat again. There’s also My Author Home Free books, which is another promotional avenue for authors, and it’s one that doesn’t cost a dime.
