5-15-15... 5 Reasons Why I Went *FREE*

Starting today, through the rest of May, my novel HIS FLOWER QUEEN, which is the first book in the Queen Quartette series, will be free at all e-book retailers. In a time when the ebook market is flooded with free books, I had my reservations about placing any of mine for free. Now, don't get me wrong. I don't mind doing an occasional sale or price discount, but FREE?!?

Well, it took some convincing, but when I weighed the pros and cons, I realized it didn't hurt to give this marketing tool a try. And for interested (or hesitant) authors out there, here is why I did it:

1. Cross-promotion. The opportunity to cross-promote with the SHADES OF DESIRE box set, which currently features book 2 of my series, HIS BEDPOST QUEEN, would allow for hopefully drive up pre-order sales for $.99 10-in-1 bundle.

2. Readers conference and events. With the Interracial Romance Author Expo, and several other online events, underway this month, going free was a great opportunity to give IR fans and new-to-me readers a chance to try out my work.

3. Expanding my reach beyond Amazon. In my quest to think long-term (and give Amazon some much needed competition) I have my sights set on growing e-book platforms like iBooks and hopefully expanding my reach and hopefully enticing some new potential readers.

4. A resurgence on a fairly young series. My 4-book series is still pretty new (the latest book having been released in December 2014) and with the free downloads of the first book in the series, I anticipate a growing interest--and hopefully sales--to the other 3 books in the series.

5. More reviews. Since reviews are a necessary evil, I'm hoping this free promo will generate more honest reviews for my book. Reviews, when done right, can help readers decide whether a book is for them or not and can also help build exposure. Like they say, what's one girl's rags is another girl's haute couture.

Hope this has been enlightening. If you're an author considering new promo ideas, give FREE a try. What do you have to lose?

Now go download the book! =P

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