Free Book Friday Aug. 30: Survey Says?

By Leon Stevens on August 30, 2024

Once a year I send out a survey to my newsletter subscribers. Everyone loves doing surveys, right?

Turns out, not so much, as I get limited engagement, leading to a small sample size. How do Increase participation? You guessed it, free books.

This time, I will be offering book one of my trilogy, The View from Here, as incentive to complete the survey. I dislike giving my books away, but many authors use a free book one of a series to drive sales to the rest of the books. I have used this several times with some readthroughs of the series, but not as many as I expected.

Why not just do a free promotion on Amazon? I did that earlier this year with lackluster results. Sure, I moved 77 free copies, but with few sales of book two. Offering a free book to my subscribers might get them off the fence to purchase the rest of the trilogy. Time will tell.

Now, I know what you're thinking (actually, I do not), but I think you are thinking: "Nobody wants to do a boring old survey, even for a free book, Leon."

Me? Make a boring survey? Of course I make it entertaining. Look at the reviews I received for my last survey*:

"The Lines by Leon Survey - it was over faster than one of his short stories!"
- Professor Scrapbooker, The People's Collage
"I clicked on the link and it took me directly there. Wow! The future is here."
- Undisclosed Hollywood B-lister
"I didn't have time..."
- Rolly Casio-Seiko
"I made up a whole bunch of stuff to skew the results. Mwah ha ha!"
- A. Troublemaker
"Brilliant. It was so much fun I did it twice." [You can't do that] "Oh. Just once then."
- Over-zealous subscriber
"I laughed. I cried. Mostly cried (because I had just watched a sad movie)."
- Giveme A. Minutte

I'll be sending it out to my subscribers next week, but it is active now. Want to test the survey? Want to get a free book? Want to be part of the "Meh"?

Takes the Lines by Leon Survey!

-Leon

^{*Not real reviews.}

The story behind Free Book Friday:

I've met many authors and readers during my time marketing, cross-promoting, and blogging. I think writers have a responsibility to inform readers about all the indie authors out there in the very crowded world of book publishing. You can't do it alone, and why would you when you have a supportive group available?

Readers don't just read one author - they stick with their favorite genres. Therein lies the power in cross-promotion. If one of my readers buys a book from an author I promote, then chances are there will be a reciprocal effect, or so is the hope. Do I want to boost sales? Of course I do. Do I want to boost other's sales? Why not. It's called karma.

Some free book offers require a newsletter sign-up, which is a small non-monetary price to pay to try out a new indie author.

Reads From StoryOrigin

StoryOrigin allows authors to advertise their books to each other's audience. I hope you have been able to discover a new favorite!

Free Books/KU (Ending this month)

Sales/Purchase Links

Ends Sept 13th

Aug 14 - Sept 13

Review Copies (These are free!)

Review copies: Like reviewing books? Try my two poetry collections: Lines by Leon and A Wonder of Words

Newsletter:

Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.

My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/