You have to do strange things to sell ebooks. One of them, apparently, is give scads of the danged things away. It's counterintuitive, I know. Imagine someone going up to Henry Ford and saying, "It'll tell you how to sell bunches and bunches of Model Ts, Mr. F. Don't charge any money for 'em!" Ford would've had him hauled off and shot for being some kind of crazy pinko agitator. Then he would've had the guy shot again for calling him "Mr. F."
Me, I'm more open-minded. Plenty of people say giveaways can help you sell books, so I'll give it a try. Which is why Cadaver in Chief: A Special Report from the Dawn of the Zombie Apocalypse is free on Amazon for the next three days. Go here before Wednesday at midnight and you can download the ebook for 0 dollars and 00 cents!
And you
know what else can sell books? Begging. So let my try that, too. Even if
something called Cadaver in Chief doesn't sound like your cup of tea and the
idea of a journalist investigating the President because he might be a zombie
doesn't strike you as funny (you nut!), please think about getting the book.
Every download will help it move higher up the Amazon charts. If that happens,
more people will see it and download it, which will allow more people to see it
and download it, which will allow more people to see it and download it, etc.
etc. If the book climbs high enough, people will actually keep downloading it
even when it's not free anymore. Or so the theory goes. And if enough people
actually buy the book, then that means self-publishing is a viable option for
me, and I won't have to keep wondering if I should write that new Holmes on the
Range book or not (hint hint).
By the way, if you already bought Cadaver in Chief, you don't have to feel that the gravy train's passing you by. Shoot an e-mail to steve at stevehockensmith dot com, and I'll whip up some kind of e-thank you for you. Maybe it won't help me sell more books, but sometimes a freebie's just the right thing to do....
Oh, and if you're still on the fence -- REVIEWS!
"Cadaver in Chief allows for a welcome time-out from the mind-numbing relentlessness of serious political discourse by examining it with tongue planted firmly in undead cheek. Hockensmith's trademark wry humor is abundant, with both liberals and conservatives spending equal time at the end of his political skewer...Things get jumping right from the start, and a nice mix of humor, action, and a little bit of mystery keeps things rolling along at a great clip." --Book Reviews by Elizabeth A. White
"...a funny, thrilling, satirical, not-too-gross work of slightly-disturbed genius." --In Search of the Classic Mystery
Sweet! I'll pass this on to friends and family. And if you really want to thank me for buying the book BEFORE it was free, you can just write me into the next Amlingmeyer story as a love interest for Big Red. ;)
Posted by: Amy Dobek | September 10, 2012 at 08:38 AM
PS - You do not have a number of social media links at the bottom of your post, but you do not have a facebook share link. You might think about adding that!
Posted by: Amy Dobek | September 10, 2012 at 08:55 AM
I haven't started reading the actual book yet, but the copyright pages in the front matter made me laugh out loud. That's a first!
Posted by: twitter.com/trow125 | September 10, 2012 at 08:53 PM
"Only one mystery remains to be solved, Miss Dobek," I said. "Why I haven't kissed you yet!" And I swept her into my arms as Old Red grumbled "Feh" and stomped out of the room....
Off to a good start, Amy?
Good idea about adding a Facebook share link. I just wish I knew how the heck to do it!
I aim for a laugh on every page, Sue, and I don't see why I should leave the copyright page out of that. Now if only I could figure out a way to make the ISBN funny....
Posted by: Steve | September 11, 2012 at 09:28 AM
I have been waiting a bit for my latest Red's fix.
This microbook was well worth the wait!
"Steve Hockensmith's MICRO-NOVEL "The Big Red Romance" is a word turner! I could simply not stop reading till I had finished. Hockensmith is an alchemist turning words into gold before your very eyes"
Comic Store Guy, Shawn Hilton
Posted by: Bedlamite | September 12, 2012 at 07:13 AM
Amazon has started experimenting with serialized fiction, publishing books a few chapters at a time, so why not try it a few *sentences* at a time? So now it's time to continue "The Big Red Romance."
Miss Dobek slapped me so hard it almost set my head to spinning on my neck like a top.
"The real mystery is how you could think a woman like me would want to be manhandled by a big brute like you," the lady said. "Oh, Gustav! Guuuuuu-stav! Come back, my darling!"
And she ran out the door after my brother.
Posted by: Steve | September 13, 2012 at 08:38 AM
Hi Steve, loved the book, followed a fb link from Brett battles...and have now paid actual money for dear Mr Holmes...doubtless more to come. Free-ebooks work...
I liked the web-aware and contemporary references in cadaver...and zombie humour never gets old :) I teach winemaking and use the 'but what will you do after the zombie apocalypse?' line frequently when taking about engineering options...
Posted by: KenSanderson | September 15, 2012 at 02:06 AM
Hey, Ken -- thanks for popping by! It's great to hear that you dug the book and moved on to sample the Holmes on the Range series. You're right: There's proof that free can draw in new readers.
You wouldn't happen to live in Northern California, would you? That's where I am, and it'd be good to know where to go after the zombie apocalypse begins. I want to hole up somewhere they still have wine!
Posted by: Steve | September 15, 2012 at 09:05 AM
Nope, but if you can make it to New Zealand before the craving for brains strikes you, we'll be happy to pass you a beer and a twelve gauge :)
Posted by: KenSanderson | September 16, 2012 at 01:18 AM