Giving it away

I’ve got a new book coming out soon (Bridging the Storm), just had a story in an anthology come out (Love Least Expected) and will be re-publishing my free novella with new scenes added, lots of changes and a new cover (Storm on the Horizon) so, needless to say, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about marketing recently.

I found a great series of videos to help me from Nick Stephenson and have generally been reading a lot. What Nick and a good number of people say is that in order to get readers interested in reading your work and buying your books, you need to give something away—frequently. That something could be a book (Nick suggests having two free books to lure in readers), a gift card or a short story (like I’ve sometimes published vignettes in my newsletter—and, in fact, I just finished a new short story yesterday which I’ll publish in my newsletter in the coming months) or even a Kindle (if you can afford that) or other merchandise (I gave away a pair of earrings the other night to someone who came to the Facebook party for the release of LLE).

But my question is: is this really necessary? If we stopped giving stuff away would our readers disappear? Are readers coming to expect this of indie-authors and therefore won’t follow someone or get their newsletter if that author doesn’t give stuff away? Would a reader go so far as to not read an author’s books if they didn’t give things away?

I worry that people sign up for my newsletter just enter a contest (and win something). After the contest is over and they get my newsletter in their inbox, they then unsubscribe. So that means that they didn’t actually care about my books, they just wanted a chance to win, right? That doesn’t sound like a true reader to me.

I completely understand giving away (or selling at a very low price) the first book in a series. That makes sense. Shops have been selling “loss leaders” for ages—it’s gets people into the store, or in this case, makes it easy for a reader to try out a new author. I’m fine with that idea and I’m happy to give away my novella Storm on the Horizon and sell Air: Merlin’s Chalice for 99 cents.

But once they’ve read one of these books and enjoyed it, do I need to give them another just to get them to sign up for my newsletter as Nick suggests? Yes, that would get them to sign up, but if I have to coerce someone to sign up, do they really want to be there? Isn’t it likely that they would just unsubscribe to the newsletter as soon as they get the second free book?

I guess what I’m saying is that I want readers who are interested in my writing to get my newsletter. I don’t want to force myself on anyone or trick anyone into getting something they’re not interested in. And if they’re only interested in it for the free stuff (physical or written), are they truly fans? Will they actually go out and buy my next book, which I’m telling them about in my newsletter?

I know that people can’t exactly go down to the local bookstore and browse the shelves any more to find the newest books. They can do that virtually at their favorite e-retailer, but do they? Or do they simply troll the internet looking for contests to enter and authors who are giving things away and only read those books?

When will this all end? Will it ever? Will we have to just keep giving away more and more stuff in order lure readers to our books?

I’m happy to—for lack of a better term—reward people for reading my work. I’ve got a link in the back of my Storm Series books that goes to a website where I’ve got detailed information on the world I’ve created and I’m planning all sorts of fun things like that for my release of Bridging the Storm (even an audio of me reading the first chapter of the book!). But I still wonder about how much I’ve got to give away in order to get readers.

What do you think? Do you give things away? Are you happy doing so?