Take a chance on Legends of Windemere

Charles Yallowitz is here to tell us about a cool new marketing technique he’s trying out. He’s reached a point in his Windemere series that I think this is a great move.

 

Take a chance on Legends of Windemere, and the first one’s on Charles.

Thank you to C.S. Boyack for letting me promote my secret project. I recently made the choice to make Legends of Windemere: Beginning of a Hero permanently free. This is the first book of my series, which I published in February 2013 for 99 cents. This is what started it all for me and now I’m giving it away for nothing. So, what brought me to a choice I never thought I’d make?

To be completely honest, a friend kicked me in the butt a few times. This isn’t the first time I considered the idea, but I always stopped myself. As an author, I worry that going free will come off as desperate and do more harm than good. Free has a strange history with the indie scene since you have authors who churn out freebies left and right. The stigma is that such an act equates to terrible quality and these books should be avoided. Needless to say, this gave me pause until a friend pointed out my situation.

 

Being a series author, I can use the permanently free book to my advantage. Early on this might not have worked out too well, but now I have 9 Windemere volumes out. Soon to be 10 if you want to get technical. This is where I can turn the first book into a ‘loss leader’. I’d heard of this during one of my retail jobs, but it had a different meaning. The term was used for whatever had the highest rate of getting shoplifted. Apparently, that definition isn’t common. In fact, it might only be used by that one manager and I’ve been wrong all along.

 

For those that don’t know, a ‘loss leader’ is the item that you give away for either free or cheap to get people interested in associated items. In this case, it’s the first book a series that will hopefully get readers into the rest. Beginning of a Hero has always been cheap, so I don’t lose much in terms of royalties. This can also open up the marketing venues that cater specifically to free books.

 

Needless to say, a lot of option weighing and heavy thinking was done before I came to this course of action. Two things came to mind during this period. The first is that I had to get over my ego and pride to give the concept a true consideration. Somewhere along the line, I decided that going perma-free was beneath me instead of it simply being a bad fit for me. So when my situation changed, I didn’t change along with it and take another look at the pros and cons of this path.

 

The second thing that came to my mind was that change. I’ve been doing this for just over 3 years, which seems to be a long time in indie author time. I remember when KDP gave you money by the borrow and then the 10% rule. There were tons of marketing sites and new ones popping up every month. Getting into the subcategories wasn’t common knowledge. All of this changed and I stayed the course, which felt right until I realized it made me part of the scenery as well. I took a risk becoming an indie author, especially since I went full time. Then I stopped taking risks and played it safe. Now I’m trying to step out of that comfort zone and see if it pays off. Fingers crossed that it does.

 

Links

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Grab Legends of Windemere: Beginning of a Hero for Free!

 

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What are you waiting for? This is a great opportunity to test drive the Legends of Windemere with no risk. It’s a bold move, and I’m sure Charles would appreciate all the Facebook shares, Tweets, and other support you can lend him. That won’t cost you anything either.