Try This to Get More Readers

So, I recently took a deep dive into Amazon KDP’s 5-day free promotion, and let me tell you - it’s pretty good (unless of course you see giving away freebies is a negative thing - which is a separate topic in itself and I honestly agree with you on that - a topic for later).

This happened before, and it happened again - never fails to impress in small ways.

For one thing, this 5-day promotion can be very effective in getting attention.

I won’t pretend to be selling thousands of copies, I jsut share with you whatever I learn, so as a writer you get to optimize your books and sales using Amazon KDP’s tools such as this.

Anyway, the results I am talking about, currently, runs in a few 100s of copies for me but that doesn’t mean what I am sharing in this week’s email won’t work.

In fact, this can help you to deliver results in hundreds and thousands of ebooks being downloaded if your ebook is already selling well and known to be capturing the readers’ interests.

If you’re enrolled in to KDP Select, you already get this feature where you can make your ebook free for up to 5 days in a 90-day period.

And if used right, it can do wonders for getting your book in front of more readers. I say this because, throughout this email you will see I have addressed both the positive and negative aspects of doing this promotion - so the impact lies in finding the right balance with your right intent, aim, timing, and audience.

Here’s what I’ve learned from my own experiments and mistakes (yes, mistakes - I’ll get to those):

Why even bother with the free promotion?

• Boost Readership: More downloads mean more people knowing about your book and possibly leading to more readers - if you are lucky.

  • If they read and like the book and you have other books, they may buy those. (honestly, lots of times people just get the free books and it stays on their Kindle unread because they have purchased many other free books).

• More Readers, More Reviews
  A free book is like a magnet. It gets readers who may not have otherwise stumbled on your title. And guess what? Some of them actually leave reviews. (Not everyone, but hey, even one review is gold, right?)

• Test the Waters
  If you’re new to publishing (or just testing a new genre), a free promo is like a “soft launch.” You’ll see what resonates and what doesn’t.

Pro tips on using the 5 days

1. Here’s the fun part. You don’t just randomly pick 5 days and hope for the best. Timing is key:

   1. Before the Weekend
      Start your promo on a Thursday or Friday so people download your ebook before their weekend binge-reading sessions.

   2. Tie it to Holidays or Trends
      If your book matches a theme or holiday, use that!
      For example:

      • Let’s say you wrote a cozy romance set in a Tamil village during Pongal or a Family story set in and around Madurai traveling to watch Jallikattu.

      • Timing the promo right before the festival could get your readers searching for relatable stories during the season.

      • One sure shot way is timing the free period before a long weekend - and during December vacation times, kids vacation weeks, Deepavali times, May-June vacations, etc.

   3. Experiment with all 5 Days

      • Use all 5 days at once for a big push back-to-back, OR

      • Split them across weekends to catch different audiences.
        I tried both, and honestly, I liked the back-to-back approach better. But your mileage may vary.

2. Promote Like Crazy: Announce your free promo on social media, email your list, and share in reader groups (sharing in other’s groups must be carefully done without spamming all of a sudden - first deliver value by contributing to conversations with zero expectations, just talk and share your thoughts first). The more eyes on your book, the better.

Don’t Forget:

• Check your KDP dashboard to set up the promotion.

  • Free Book Promotions must be scheduled at least one day before your desired start date.

  • The earliest possible date to begin your Free Book Promotion is the second day of your KDP Select enrollment period.

  • The scheduled start and end dates are usually midnight Pacific time.

  • Plan the dates in advance.

  • Better yet: announce it ahead of time to your audience (if you already have one) about the upcoming free promotion.

  • Unused Free Book Promotion days won’t rollover from one enrollment period to another.

• Be honest about your goals:

  • Do you want reviews? visibility?

    • good BSR within the free day period to boast in front of your family? 😜 Makes it a nice screenshot if nothing else!

Here’s my mistake

Okay, quick confession: the first time I used this promo, I didn’t tell anyone. No social media post. No emails to my audience. Not even a casual mention to friends. (facepalm moment)

Moral of the story: tell everyone. Give them a reason to care!

The sole aim I look for is to get as much organic reviews as possible from this exercise - that’s my personal goal. Could be something else for you.

Keep writing and experimenting,

Arun