Indie Epub Authors…Invest in Yourself and Readers via Ebook Gifting!

Comments

1. Lois Lavrisa says:
   March 26, 2012 at 5:24 am

   D.D. Congratulations!! “I ended up Selling over 300 Copies of CARATS & COCONUTS during week one (not counting the 27 I Ebook Gifted)!” Yahoo:)

   • D.D. Scott says:
     March 26, 2012 at 6:45 am

     Thanks Bunches, Lois!

     That was my best Week One to date for a new release!

     It just hit Amazon’s Hot New Releases Bestseller’s List in Humor for a second time and has now sold over 350 copies on Amazon and close to 500 on Nook, just since release day earlier this month.

     Ebook Gifting is a wonderful way to reach readers…I do think it’s the “New Free”!!!
2. Adan Lerma says:
   March 26, 2012 at 6:27 am

   d.d., i’ve thought about doing something similar, but wasn’t sure if “somehow” my gifting, would not count toward my sales (or popularity on amazon) rankings

   so this has been ok for you & your results? it appears to have i guess i’m just asking for more detail

   also, when you asked in your comments for who’d like a free copy, did you set a limit (first 50 etc) ?

   and did you have any problems getting the person’s email to send to (i’m assuming that, like on amazon, you gifted from the listing page) ?

   thanks d.d., i personally have been thinking this is a great idea, on many many levels

   certainly the amount i have spent on press releases and other avenues, if spent gifting selected ebooks, would be much more effective it seems

   thanks d.d., sorry for the long post and so many questions

   adan

   • D.D. Scott says:
     March 26, 2012 at 6:53 am

     Ask away, Adan…that’s what we’re here for at The WG2E and that’s how we can truly pay it forward to each other…

     Let me see if I can help clarify a bit:

     1. Ebook Gifting does count toward your sales and rankings because you are buying the book.

     2. I did let readers know I’d be Ebook Gifting “up to 50 copies” of Carats & Coconuts, and I also set that limit on my RG2E Site “up to 50 copies per day”…even at 99 Cents, that limits me to $50 per day…most days, I spend like I said above, between $20 and $50 right now.

     3. The emails come right to you from each commenter, if you run these Ebook Gifting Events right from a WordPress or Blogger Blog. When someone comments, in other words, you, as the site admin, see their email.

     Does this help you, my friend?

     Ebook Gifting is the best way I’ve found to grow my reader base…other than offering the first book in my series free in my “the first one is on me” approach.

     I luuuvvv that with Ebook Gifting, though, I’m paying it forward to all of you by Gifting your books to my readers and helping them discover you too!!!

     • Adan Lerma says:
       March 26, 2012 at 7:43 am

       i like it!

       thanks so much d.d.

       re “first one on me” – today’s my last day for my first volume of my first series i’ve been developing, since going digital late last year, on amazon’s select program

       tomorrow it goes free and far and wide as i can get it to

       i do feel select has been “very” helpful to me, even though i have a huge backlist going back several decades, but since i’m even “more” unknown it is helping give me exposure while i’ve been creating several series i like

       ya’ll’s examples of what and how and why a particular strategy has worked for ya’ll, has been exceptionally helpful

       as my volume one’s come off select, i also now have 4 or more volumes finished or just about ready, so i don’t simply come on the scene free with vol 1 and not have anything else following yet –

       but to be clear, my learning curve set this scenario up actually, rather than any planning on my part as i’ve learned, i’ve applied, re-evaluated, then re-applied again

       i say on my blog, it’s a process, well that’s for sure!

       thanks again d.d., you’ve been extremely helpful, i appreciate it

       adan

       • D.D. Scott says:
         March 26, 2012 at 9:30 pm

         U betchya, Adan!

         And good luck with your Free Days! Well done too with having your back list ready to go along with those Free Days…that will allow your new readers to come back for more.
3. Ruth Harris says:
   March 26, 2012 at 7:47 am

   DD, Congratulations! As always you are creative & innovative.

   Just to be clear, are you gift via an announcement on RG2E only? Or on other platforms as well?

   I participated in a gifting promo on Nook and gave away IIRC 20-30 books at readers’ requests. Didn’t see any follow-up significant sales bump, tho.

   I agree w you about the KND, POI, ENT promos….books sell like h*ll for a few days but then sales slow down to pre-promo volumes. And, as you point out, these promos are getting more and more expensive & the wait times are getting longer & longer.

   • D.D. Scott says:
     March 26, 2012 at 9:34 pm

     Thanks bunches, Ruth!

     I did my Ebook Gifting via RG2E but I announced it all over my personal Facebook and Twitter too as well as on my other blogs too.

     My follow-up sales bumps have been over the moon terrific compared to when I’ve used KND, PoI and ENT…and I’ve had a ton more reader-interaction via private emails, Facebook, Twitter, etc. from the Ebook Gifting and have yet to receive one note of any kind from anyone who’s discovered me on KND, PoI or ENT.
4. Alicia Street says:
   March 26, 2012 at 8:15 am

   Great stuff as usual, D.D.!

   Aside from being innovative and a superfab business move, your gifting idea is such a generous gesture to readers and to authors (who are also readers), you are creating a growing circle of loyal friends to both RG2E and you.

   And yay! for the CARATS launch!

   • D.D. Scott says:
     March 26, 2012 at 9:35 pm

     It just feels so good and sooo right to me, Alicia, to Pay It Forward like the Ebook Gifting avenue provides.

     I luuuvvv helping my readers discover all of you too!
5. Julie Day says:
   March 26, 2012 at 8:45 am

   Good results. I think RG2E is working so well because you have so many genres to choose from. I might do this once I have a few more ebooks under my belt and have got good sales for them. At the moment, it is early days for me as I have only self-epubbed two books.

   • D.D. Scott says:
     March 26, 2012 at 9:37 pm

     That’s a great point, Julie…the fact we’re showcasing tons of genres on RG2E is a huge part of our success!!!

     I don’t think it’s every too early though to reach out to readers like this…nothin’ says “I want to get to know you and give you the chance to get to know me and my books” like Gifting ‘em!!!
6. Elizabeth Loraine says:
   March 26, 2012 at 8:55 am

   I too give a lot of books away. Not as many ebooks, but signed books and print. Adding ebooks to that is a great idea. You always are so helpful, thanks again.

   • D.D. Scott says:
     March 26, 2012 at 9:38 pm

     U betchya, Elizabeth!!!

     We’ve had a heckuva great time Ebook Gifting your books on RG2E! Our readers luuuvvv them!!!
7. Elizabeth Ann West says:
   March 26, 2012 at 8:59 am

   Good morning! I turned 30 yesterday… and I feel great! Took a week off from all things computer last week, something I think I will make a once per quarter virtual vacation. Missed many great posts here, I’m sure.

   I ran a gifting ebooks promotion for the-cheap.net January 1st and it was a smashing success. We did things a little differently…. authors gifted their books to the readers THEMSELVES. This really resonated with readers, getting a personal message from the author! Many saw increased word-of-mouth marketing from the readers who received the ebooks and an increase in reviews. I gifted 6 copies and received 3 reviews from those readers.

   Now, there is something authors should know. Some platforms, I know Barnes and Noble does this, permits a reader to EXCHANGE the gifted ebook value for a gift card or another book. I haven’t seen rampant abuse of this (readers saying gift me a bunch of books and then getting something different), but it is part of the system and something that could be an issue as gifting promotions catch on and become the promotion du jour…

   Also, you get credit for the sale only when the reader accepts the gift! Now, you are charged when you give the ebook, but until the reader clicks the link in the email, it’s a transaction in limbo. So please, do not start buying email address lists and gifting books randomly. LOL. In Amazon, you can check on your digital orders in your account settings to see if your gifts have been accepted or not.

   • Adan Lerma says:
     March 26, 2012 at 9:27 am

     elizabeth, d.d.,

     what do ya’ll think of the idea of a blog post for a particular title, offering the first x number of commentors a gifted copy, and asking them to leave a review in exchange?

     or is asking for a review not a good idea?

     • Elizabeth Ann West says:
       March 26, 2012 at 9:55 am

       I think if you do it tactfully, there’s NOTHING wrong with asking for a review. Remind readers that their honest thoughts HELP readers coming behind them. Blog posts generally don’t get many comments, personally, I’d give the book to anyone who commented (unless you’re somewhere that gets hundreds of comments per post).

       You can do the whole: “Everyone who leaves a comment today telling me their preferred ebook platform (Kindle, Nook, or other) will receive a gifted copy of my ebook from me! I hope once you read Book XYZ, you share your honest thoughts on the purchasing site or Goodreads to help other readers know if my book is right for them or not….”

       I personally don’t like the whole demanding attitude some authors have. A free ebook isn’t a precious gem. They’re not even a dime a dozen, they’re nothing a dozen. So when I ask for readers to review, I am always polite and appreciative, because their time is valuable and it does take time to write a review.

       • Adan Lerma says:
         March 26, 2012 at 10:27 am

         that makes a lot of sense elizabeth, thank you
   • D.D. Scott says:
     March 26, 2012 at 9:41 pm

     Happy Birthday to you, Elizabeth!!!

     Also great points to be brought up so thanks for that!!!

     I have not had any trouble with readers not accepting gifts, and that’s because they’ve asked for them to begin with on RG2E. In fact, if I’m behind getting ‘em sent, they politely let me know they’re waiting. LOL!
8. Jamie S. says:
   March 26, 2012 at 9:20 am

   I truly believe in all of this and doing it. However, my budget is so limited it’s embarrassing. While I am doing some new things and sales are rising ever so slightly it’s not there yet. I live on a fixed income and after my own expenses there is virtually nothing left over for anything else. Not in self pity here, just a very harsh fact of life for me at the moment.

   • Elizabeth Ann West says:
     March 26, 2012 at 9:50 am

     Jamie, you DO get the royalty back… so let’s say your book is $.99 and you gift 5 copies. It costs you $4.95 and you get back $1.75 in your royalty… so yes, you do lose $3.20.

     Now, if your book is $2.99 and you gift 5 copies, your cost is $14.95, but you get back roughly $2 and some cents per book about $10.46, so your total cost again is about $4.50 ish.

     I wouldn’t gift ebooks everyday, but just doing so once per month, over time, that will really make a big deal.

     I gave away 150 ebooks in January, and I didn’t pay a penny. I signed each ebook in the format the reader needed. That was way too many for me personally to do in a month, but I will be signing ebooks again in the near future.

     • Adan Lerma says:
       March 26, 2012 at 10:29 am

       elizabeth, another question

       what & how is “signing” in regard to an ebook?

       thanks so much, i feel like i’m on a blast-off-learning-rocket this morning

       • Elizabeth Ann West says:
         March 26, 2012 at 3:44 pm

         http://eawestwriting.blogspot.com/2012/01/signing-ebooks-experiment.html

         That explains the steps I used to sign ebooks. The response was OVERWHELMINGLY positive. I used Mail Chip to make a form so they could tell me what format they needed and give me their email address privately. This was because this link was shared on the blog tour I did, and I didn’t want to burden the blog owner of having to send me the emails, plus we tried telling them to put in the comments what format they needed and most forgot, so excited I guess to get a signed ebook.

         So logistically, I’d say a newsletter signup form is the easiest AND gives you a newsletter base too to announce your next book etc. when that time comes to dedicated fans. I will do a signing tour for STONE, my next book, when it comes out too.

         Basically, you hand write a note, scan it into the computer, then crop it down. Alternatively, if you have a tablet and stylus, like graphic artists do, you could just sign a jpg image with gimp or another photo editing software.

         Anyway, from a reader’s perspective, when they open the file in their ereader and thumb or click past the cover page, there is your note and signature, just to them. I made each note out to a reader, so they could tell each one was personalized. 150. Took me a month! And I kept it simple, imagining I was physically in a Barnes and Noble or somewhere signing books.

         Dear Debbie,
         Thank you so much for reading CANCELLED. Never let anyone tell you that you can’t do something. In your hands is the result of my 2011 New Year’s Resolution to write a novel. If you can dream it, you can do it.

         Always Smiling,
         Elizabeth Ann West

         Some notes thanked them for supporting indie authors, reminding them that the power was in the reader’s hands with today’s digital shopping revolution etc. I had 7 or 8 common notes and tweaked them a little. If I could tell something from interacting with them, or their email address, like one had antiquelover, I shared how I own 3 sets of china from estate auctions… etc. It helped me become memorable to those readers, at the time, roughly the same number of books I had sold to date.

         • Adan Lerma says:
           March 26, 2012 at 5:29 pm

           elizabeth, what a wonderfully detailed response, super helpful! thank you

           now i just need to figure out how / when to try something like this

           that’ll be half the fun of it

           thanks again,

           adan
         • D.D. Scott says:
           March 27, 2012 at 7:23 am

           You can also use the Free Service KindleGraph for all your Kindle Readers, Adan!

           I luuuvvv them!!!

           http://www.kindlegraph.com/
   • D.D. Scott says:
     March 27, 2012 at 7:20 am

     I do believe, like Elizabeth mentioned, Jamie, that Ebook Gifting is one of the most cost-effective bangs-for-the-buck that I’ve used thus far…in that (1) you do get the royalties on the Ebooks of your own that you Ebook Gift, plus (2) if you’ve priced your books at 99 Cents, you’re looking at a dollar out-put to begin with and (3) you are truly reaching and impacting your readers in a big way!

     How ’bout trying just one Ebook Gift per week? Or per month? Or whatever you can work into your budget?

     There’s nothing wrong at all about starting small-scale…
9. Adan Lerma says:
   March 26, 2012 at 9:29 am

   d.d.,

   i had another question, when we place an ad with rg2e, do you give out free samples of our advertised book to readers?

   if so, would the reader need to request a copy, or do you let readers know they can ask for one?

   thanks d.d., i appreciate it,

   adan

   • D.D. Scott says:
     March 27, 2012 at 7:25 am

     I don’t mention Free Samples at this point, Adan, because most of the authors we’ve featured so far have the Free Sampling already in place on Amazon, Nook, Smashwords, etc.

     And the readers do seem to know that and use it according to their comments.

     Our RG2E Readers also know they’re more than likely going to get the entire Ebook Gifted to them by RG2E – at my expense – so that’s their “sample”, if you will, of each author’s work.
10. Jeanne Wagner says:
    March 26, 2012 at 10:19 am

    Congrats, D.D., on those stats………you are doing a great job!

    • D.D. Scott says:
      March 27, 2012 at 7:27 am

      Thanks Bunches, Jeanne!

      I’m having a ball treating readers to Ebook Gift Copies!
11. Nana Malone says:
    March 26, 2012 at 10:51 am

    Hi DD and gang!

    You are so right about egifting! I’ll be giving out up to 30 copies of my new release Sexy in Stilettos on release day April 3rd. I’m doing it via my Facebook virtual party. I’ve announced the giveaway on Facebook natch, and on Goodreads. Anyone have some good ideas on where else to announce it. Can’t give away books if no one knows about it.

    Thanks!

    • D.D. Scott says:
      March 27, 2012 at 7:27 am

      Make sure you get it on Twitter too, Nana!!!

      Sounds like a superfab fun “party”!

      U Go, Girl!!!
12. Debra Burroughs says:
    March 26, 2012 at 10:54 am

    When I released Three Days in Seattle in February, I put out a tweet on Twitter several times a day offering a free ebook in exchange for an honest review. When I received about ten replies saying they would do it, I quite tweeting that message. I was able to get some really good reviews to get the ball rolling.

    As for free, I just did a free promotion with some other authors that was wildly successful. I gave away over 60,000 free downloads. In the week following that, I sold about 6,000 copies of Three Days in Seattle and have been in Amazon’s Top 100 Paid for the last 7 days, which is very exciting to me!

    I think gifting is a great idea. It gets your book out there and if it is a .99 book, it only costs you .64 for each one you give away (because you get .35 royalty on the sale). How many books can you give away and only have to spend $25? It is actually a pretty inexpensive way to promote.

    • D.D. Scott says:
      March 27, 2012 at 7:36 am

      Great points, Debra!!!

      Ebook Gifting is a superfab inexpensive but far-reaching way to promote!!!

      And congrats on your Free Par-Tay success!!! That was a dynamite way to join forces with other authors and really up the ante on your visibility.

      Did y’all get any notice from Amazon about your product descriptions? I didn’t think we could promote other authors’ books in those descriptions, but evidently they’ve changed that or just didn’t catch it…’cause wow did it ever work for your event!!!

      U Go, Girl!!!
13. Jill James says:
    March 26, 2012 at 1:44 pm

    When my second book in the series came out in February I ebook gifted the first in the series when I guest blogged. My book is only 99 cents so it was fairly cheap to gift but I think it says I took a little more effort than just emailing a free file to the winners. I think with ebooks we have to think a little outside the box to promo ourselves. Congrats with RG2E.

    • D.D. Scott says:
      March 27, 2012 at 7:39 am

      Great strategy, Jill!!! What a treat for readers…U Go, Girl!!!

      I also luuuvvv what you noted about the perception that it took effort and time to Ebook Gift your winners. I luuuvvv that Amazon, Nook and Smashwords send Gift Card like announcements to your recipients, complete with bows on ‘em and your personal message on each one.

      And thanks for the sweet shout-out re RG2E!
14. Jill Mora says:
    March 26, 2012 at 2:22 pm

    I’m “Over the Moon, LUVIN’ IT!” (as D.D. might say)

    As one of those happy, RG2E, Gift Book receivers, I have to say that many of these books, I would never have known about. I appreciate the blog emails updating me, on what I’m missing.

    Also, after receiving the Freebies, I have purchased other books written by the featured authors.
    You see, there is this little “Guilt Factor” thingy that comes into play, at least with me. That pesky little voice that pops into your head and won’t go away, it keeps saying “Buy something you cheapskate!” “Heavens to Mergatroid, they are paying for these gifts out of their own pocket.”
    “GO to Amazon… and GET Some Books,” the voice says.

    So… I give into to voice, and buy Some Books.

    They way I see it, some of the others readers might hear the voice too, or tell their friends! : )

    Congratulations on the success of the Gift Books, and Than You!

    • Jill Mora says:
      March 26, 2012 at 2:24 pm

      Should have been – Thank You!
    • D.D. Scott says:
      March 27, 2012 at 7:48 am

      U betchya, Jill, and thanks sooo very much for your superfab sweet RG2E shout-out!!!

      That’s exactly the reaction I hoped for…that y’all would discover some wonderful authors new to you via RG2E then go seek out their other books too!

      And doesn’t it feel sooo good to reward the authors you’re luuuvvvin’ by buying their next books too?

      U Go, Girl!!!
15. Sheila Seabrook says:
    March 26, 2012 at 4:38 pm

    DD, you always come up with the most innovative ideas. I totally love how you think, girl!

    • D.D. Scott says:
      March 27, 2012 at 7:52 am

      Thanks Bunches, Sheila!

      Nothin’ beats finding great new ways to treat readers!!!
16. David Slegg says:
    March 26, 2012 at 10:07 pm

    Looks like another great idea is paying off.

    You rock!

    • D.D. Scott says:
      March 27, 2012 at 7:53 am

      Thanks sooo much, David!

      When you focus on treating readers, there’s always a great pay off!!! It’s all about treating readers to great books for great prices!!!