Why I Decided to Give My Book Away for Free

My latest book, The Best is Yet to Come, was released by WestBow Press in November, and I couldn’t be happier. While this is my fifth title, it’s the most personal one for me. We’re not supposed to tell the children which one we like the most, because we love them all equally, right?

Well… Let’s just say that this one has more of me invested in it than any of my other titles.

While this story comes across as an autobiography, the lessons that I learned while overcoming the death of my fiancé are woven into the fabric both of our story and the book. Digging Deeper sections allow the reader to internalize the lessons themselves, so that they too can process whatever loss or grief they are carrying.

Writing the book was cathartic for me, and hopefully helpful for my reading audience. From what readers have been telling me so far, they can’t put it down once they start.

I know similar things have been said about the related talk that I give, “Finding the Gift in Grief.” People are riveted by the story, and drawn into the lessons.

I know that my intent has always been that everyone touched by this message leave with this thought echoing in their heart and mind… The Best is Yet to Come!

So… Why give the book away? It’s simple really… Giving it away is not a forever kind of thing. I’m only doing it for a short period of time.

However, my publisher, WestBow Press, is the self-publishing arm of Thomas Nelson, a world-leading Christian publisher. When the Director of Publishing Services at Thomas Nelson wrote to welcome me to the family, he had this to say:

We consider WestBow Press to be our “farm club” (to use a baseball analogy), and we look at several factors when considering which titles to call up to the Nelson imprint. We monitor sales of all WestBow Press titles and combine that data with other information, including Amazon rank and reviews, Twitter and Facebook reputation (Klout score), and author platform and commitment (speaking, marketing, etc.). Once a title seems to warrant consideration, the primary determinative factors are the quality of the book and the level of projected sales.

So what does that mean for me? The simple starting point is this. The book is available for purchase from the publisher, from this site and from Amazon, as well as from your local bookseller. But let’s face it…

Until I can afford to offset print the book, the majority of the print-on-demand sales will take place on Amazon. And some of the driving forces for success on Amazon is your category ranking and the number and quality of reviews.

So, if I draw a map of where I am now (a new listing with minimal activity thus far) to where I want to be (picked up as one of Thomas Nelson’s 2014 titles), I need to plan my route to get to my desired destination.

Increasing my visibility in the Amazon search rankings, boosting my category rankings, and increasing the number and quality of my reviews are key parts of a multi-faceted marketing campaign.

In doing my research, a new site called StoryCartel appeared on my radar. Co-founded by Jeff Goins, whom I interviewed on my Aleweb blog last year, it’s an ideal site for finding people eager to leave honest reviews of good books.

Once I have a solid number of quality reviews, I’ll be scheduling a book launch to drive sales and increase my category rankings.

Add to that the other activities I’m involved in, like book signings and author talks, as well as my continued engagement in social media circles, and I’m hoping to realize a dream here. The dream of helping as many people as possible find hope and healing after a significant loss, just as I have.

How can you help? Please download your free copy of The Best is Yet to Come from StoryCartel during this limited time offer, and leave an honest review on Amazon and elsewhere when you’re done.