Why give away your books when you can sell them instead? Here are ten reasons why you might want to give away your books as a strategy for making more sales of everything you have to offer.

1. Entice People to Action.

If you want a potential customer to act, you can give them a free book as an enticement. Many websites offer free reports or books to encourage people to sign up for their newsletters or podcasts. A key reason: Books are still valued by consumers.

2. Make an Upsell.

If you are using your book to sell a higher-priced course, webinar, or summit, then giving away the book is a good strategy for convincing people to buy your upsell.

3. Offer a Sample.

Give away a shorter book to give readers a taste of your larger, more expensive book.

Note: A similar strategy is to sell a shorter book on Amazon for a very low price to give people a taste for your more expensive books, your longer books, or any additional books in a series.

4. Give as a Prize.

Give your book away to charities as a prize. Books as prizes are a great way to promote your business or service or higher priced products.

5. Offer Speaking Take-Aways.

If you are speaking at a conference, a summit, or another group event, giving away a book is an easy way to have attendees take you (or your ideas) home with them.

A free book builds credibility and provides audience members with your contact details so they can follow-up on any of your services or products they want to buy.

6. Create a Moon Book Club.

Offer your books as monthly mailings to key contacts for coaching, consulting, speaking, and other high-paying engagements. In this situation, you mail out copies of print books to your key contact list as a tool for establishing your credibility with these key people.

7. Offer 99 Cent Specials.

Books under a dollar are considered just like free books for most readers. So, offering low-cost books for sale are a way of setting a value for the book but essentially keeping the book as “free.”

Bestselling author Robert Allen recently offered his #1 Bestseller: How You Can Become a Bestselling Author in Only 30 Minutes a Day as an ebook for only 99¢ via Amazon. He used it to introduce his high-priced service to help writers become bestselling authors.

8. Introduce Readers to a Series.

One of the best ways to introduce readers to your series of novels is to give away the first book in the series. If they like that book, they will buy into the entire series.

9. Publish a manifesto.

Write and share a manifesto that proclaims your new vision for society, the environment, the world, the universe, or your key topic. Manifestos are generally given away to build the widest possible readership for your new vision.

10. Share Your Book.

You can give away your book to anyone and everyone simply because you want people to benefit from what you’ve written.

If you give away books, never give away junk. Never give away AI creations as your own work. Whatever you give away must represent your work, your writing, your ideas, your creativity, your thought processes, and the higher priced services and products you offer.

If your giveaways truly represent what you offer, you’ll be able to upsell recipients to anything else that you want to create. And at a higher and higher price. Great content inspires great fans.

Order Book Marketing 263 here: https://amzn.to/3TM6CDs on Amazon.

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Judith Briles, The Book Shepherd, and book marketing expert John Kremer deliver a fast hour of 10 plus strategies to deliver book marketing success in 2025 on the AuthorU-Your Guide to Book Publishing podcast. Your takeaways include:

Overall strategies to leap forward.

Why every author should have a newsletter.

Tips for creating your own Summit and why you should.

How to start your marketing offline.

Why magazines are still hot and how to target/pitch to them.

Why you should reach for a national TV show.

Why being a podcast guest is a must do and two sources to use.

And, of course, much more.

Tune in for lots of ideas and how-to tactics via the AuthorU-Your Guide to Book Publishing podcast.

Book Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

How can you tell if you’re a professional writer?

Professional writers do three things:

1. They don’t write anything until they’ve sold it.

2. They sell their work more than once.

3. They write every day without fail.

That’s it. That’s how you become a professional author.

Are you professional? Or are you an amateur?

Now you know how to tell which you are.

Be honest.

Book Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

I'm sharing a note from somebody that I'm newly following on Substack, Yana G.Y.

I've been doing episodes about stories lately. And the key thing about stories is you've got to be real. You've got to be human.

The title of this episode is The World Needs More Humans.

The subtitle is Are You Ready to Write Relatable, Raw, Vulnerable?

And here's the note that Yana G.Y. shared, I believe, earlier today.

The world doesn’t need more noise.

It needs more humans.

Raw. Relatable. Vulnerable.

Keep writing. — Yana G.Y.

That's from Yana G.Y.. I encourage you to subscribe her Substack newsletter.

And that’s how your stories should be written—with passion, with vulnerability, with a human touch. Raw. Relatable. Vulnerable.

Are you ready to write like this?

Book Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. And get the next 10 books in the Write a Book in 10 Days or Less series free!

Do you have a nonfiction book out now or one coming out soon?

If so, you’ve probably wondered, "How can I sell as many books as possible in the limited time I have?"

After working with more than 15,000 non-fiction authors and helping launch such bestsellers as Rich Dad Poor Dad and Chicken Soup for the Soul, my friend Steve Harrison has learned what works (and doesn’t) when it comes to selling books.

Sell More Books Crash Course

He’ll reveal strategies and tactics successful authors use in a special event on Zoom, next Thursday, May 1st, called the Sell More Books Crash Course.

It will run from 12 noon – 8 PM Eastern (9 AM – 5 PM Pacific) and you may attend for free.

To reserve your spot, at no cost to you, just click the link below:

https://m164.isrefer.com/go/sellmorecrashcourse/A10005/

Here’s a sneak peek at what you’ll get:

A personalized 2-to-3-page game plan designed to give you greater confidence and clarity so you can focus on the things that matter.

The most critical decision to make in order to sell a lot more books.

Five ways to sell more books on Amazon most authors know nothing about.

Case studies of authors who’ve sold thousands – even millions – of books via bulks sales of 100… 1,000… even 10,000 copies or more in a single order.

How to enjoy telling people about your book without being sales-y.

The one-page document that gets your family and friends to help promote your book.

How to launch your book to bestseller status.

The strategy one author used to get over 20,000 reviews for his book on Amazon.

What it takes to get on national TV.

How an author who felt intimidated by social media grew a large following.

Sign up here: https://m164.isrefer.com/go/sellmorecrashcourse/A10005/

I’m proud to be one of Steve’s compensated affiliates because I know this event could make a big difference to your book sales!

The average author releases a book with high hopes, but only ends up selling fewer than 250 copies.

Don't let it happen to you! Join Steve on Zoom next Thursday:

https://m164.isrefer.com/go/sellmorecrashcourse/A10005/

The following is excerpted from a newsletter Guy Kawasaki, the Apple and Canva evangelist, sent out about a week ago. I love his advice. I’d recommend you follow it when appropriate.

Facts tell, but stories sell. If you want to change someone’s mind, skip the data dump and share a story that resonates emotionally. When I was evangelizing the Macintosh, I didn’t just talk about specs—I told stories about how the Mac empowered creatives to design, write, and innovate in ways they never could before.

Stories bypass skepticism. They’re not something people argue with, they’re something people feel. Whether you’re pitching a product or convincing your boss to greenlight your idea, craft a narrative that makes your audience see themselves in the story.

By the way, I wrote a revised and updated edition of my book Wise Guy—it’s new name: Wiser Guy. Don’t miss a new collection of honest, humorous, and heartfelt stories! You can preorder it here: https://amzn.to/3GmUbdL.

Appeal to Emotion, Not Just Logic

People make decisions emotionally and justify them logically. If you’re trying to win an argument, tap into what your audience cares about most. When I pitched the Mac, I didn’t just say, “It’s user-friendly.” I said, “It’s the computer for the rest of us.” That phrase hit people in the gut—it made them feel included, empowered, and part of a revolution.

Think about what your audience values. Is it security? Freedom? Belonging? Frame your argument in a way that aligns with their emotional priorities.

Handle Skeptics Like a Pro

Skeptics are inevitable, but they’re not your enemy—they’re your opportunity. The key is to listen, not argue. When someone doubted the Mac, I didn’t try to bulldoze them with counterpoints. Instead, I asked questions to understand their concerns and then reframed my argument to address those doubts.

For example, if someone said, “The Mac is too expensive,” I’d respond, “It’s an investment in your creativity and productivity. What’s the cost of not having the best tools?” By reframing the conversation, I turned objections into opportunities.

Make It About Them, Not You

Here’s the secret sauce: people don’t care about your argument—they care about how it affects them. When you’re evangelizing an idea, focus on the benefits to your audience, not the features of your product or point of view.

For instance, when I pitched Canva, I didn’t say, “It’s a graphic design tool.” I said, “It’s the easiest way to make your ideas look amazing.” See the difference? One is about the tool, the other is about the user.

I'm correcting something that happened yesterday on Easter. Some people had trouble downloading the book, How to Write a Bestseller in 30 Days or Less: 111 books you can write fast — with examples.

So I switched the book from being a Word document to a PDF document. That should make it a lot easier for you to download. This is the link to download the document now as a PDF: http://bookauthorauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/The-Book-Authority-Guide-on-Writing-a-Bestseller.pdf.

I hope the PDF document will help you get access to it much more quickly.

The link is also available on my podcast website (right here: (bookmarketing.substack.com) so you can click on the link there to download the PDF (see the link above).

How to Write a Bestseller in 30 Days or Less will be available for one week after the International Day of the Book, also known as World Book and Copyright Day. It's on April 23rd, the anniversary of William Shakespeare and Don Miguel Cervantes' deaths. It's a day when many people around the world celebrate books.

One week later would be the 30th of April, just so you know. So the book will be available for free download until then.

You are welcome to share the link for the free download so you can share the book with anybody you want, as long as you share it in one piece. Don't cut part of the book out and share it with people. Share the entire book with them.

On May 1st, the book will go on sale on Amazon and Gumroad.

Yesterday, I also told you about another free offer: The Book Authority Guide to Why You Should Write a Book. Here the link to download that book freely as well: https://bookauthorauthority.com/the-book-authority-guide-on-why-write-a-book.

It's actually better to share documents as a PDF anyway rather than as a Word document.

I really would like you to get a free copy of both books. So I hope that you will download them and I'm hoping that you will benefit from both of them.

They're really great books and they're really the beginning of an entire series that I'm going to be announcing over the next few weeks that you will be able to buy.

Book Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.