For nearly two years I have stuck to my guns and insisted I would make my books available via as many platforms as possible rather than let any one online source have total control. I am just naturally the sort of person who rejects monopolies and the notion of letting a company control my choices. As such, I have been a devoted fan of Smashwords, using them to make my books available directly and through their various channel partners such as iBooks and Nook and all that jazz.
Someone pointed out I couldn’t really get the full self-published/indie experience, however, without at least giving Kindle Select a try. I decided this was a valid point and so for the last few weeks – and the next few weeks – Deal with the Devil has only been available via Kindle.
This weekend I realized I’d yet to make use of any of my five promotional days: days on which the book is free from the Kindle store. I tried to set up one day to coincide with the book release party for a fellow author in Wrapped in Red, as some of my books were going to be given away as part of that author’s release party’s door prizes. I managed to screw it up, though, and so my promotion started today with zero fanfare and very little hawking of it by me.
As I type this, Deal with the Devil is #1 in free gay & lesbian horror and #5 in superhero fiction in the Kindle store. I have, with almost zero effort, given away more copies of this one novel in this one day than I have sold copies of my first two novels combined. (I have given away more copies of each of my other novels, overall, but not sold.)
So, there you have it: free works and Kindle Select may have something going for it after all. My skepticism has been duly checked.
Deal with the Devil remains free through Tuesday, 18 February, 2014.