When a Book Should be Full Price

When it should be discounted. When it should be free.

Free and discounted books are not always the answer. If you’ve written more than a few books then this is my governing thought on the matter—but keep in mind that context changes everything. I break my own rules, and these rules don’t have any power over you until you decide to adopt them as your own. At which point, you’re free to break them, too.

The standard should be full priced books. How much is reasonable for a novel in eBook or paperback? Decide that a price accordingly. Demonstrate that this is what your work is worth. For my own work, I settled on $4.99 for novels and $2.99 for novellas in the eBook format.

Include a link to a discounted book in the welcome email for your newsletter. Discounted. Not free. It should be at least 0.99, and preferably you’re linking to your direct sales bookstore where all of your books—and only your books—are listed.

The first book in a series should be discounted and not free.

Make a book free when the point of the promotion is not that people actually read the book. We all what all of our work read. I don’t mean that. However, a reader-magnet is often about getting new subscribers for your newsletter. The subscriber can become a reader and fan of the newsletter whether she ever reads the free book or not. Her reading the book is not the point of the promotion.

These are my general guidelines because many people collect free books and never get around to reading them. That’s why, if the point of the promotion is for someone to read the book and become a fan of your writing, consider making the book discounted, not free.

The scenario described above assumes no shortage of book you’ve written. Even if you’re trying to follow this guidelines exactly, you’ll need to adapt to fit the actual number of books you have to offer.

And context can change everything.

If you want more subscribers for your newsletter, a reader magnet is a great offer. Right now, you can join our home-brewed effort and risk no more than $5. Join the waitlist at Whop.com/bookmotion. It will ask for your payment information, but you won’t be charged when you join the list. You won’t be charged when we take you off the waiting list, either. You won’t pay for that first month in which we’re bringing everyone on board. At the end of that month, you’ll be charged $5 which will be good for two months—and we’ll start advertising our promotion page.

$5 for a two-month subscription. The risk remains low. You can leave at any time.

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— Thaddeus Thomas