Why Freemium is an Excellent Opportunity for Authors

Today’s guest post is from Joanna Penn, author and blogger at The Creative Penn: Writing, self-publishing, print-on-demand, internet sales and promotion . . .for your book.

You can get anything on the internet for free these days, so how are people meant to make any money? The concept of “freemium” is to have free information available to people that gives them excellent value, then offer premium products and services on top of that. This model is being used by many internet businesses, and authors are perfectly positioned to adopt the practice in order to make more sales online.
 
You need to give away information for free because:

• It is the way the internet works now. If you don’t have something for free, people will go and get it elsewhere as it is expected.


• It gives people an opportunity to experience your work so they can decide whether they want more of you. It gives you the opportunity to demonstrate your expertise or writing ability to them.


• If people feel they get great value from your free information, they will be more interested in your paid content. If they feel like they are building a relationship with you, they are more likely to buy from you.

• You can build your online platform this way by building an email list of subscribers to your free information.

So what is free and what is premium? Here are some ideas for free and premium products that are becoming more common in the book industry:

• Your blog posts and articles are free, but your print books are premium

• Your podcasts are free but you have a set of premium interviews with sought after authors that are a paid product

• You give away your short stories and 3 chapters of your book for free, but your full text book is premium

• You have a website with free articles, but a membership site with key or timely information that is paid for

• You give away your first novel as an ebook, but the subsequent novels are premium

• You have a free e-workbook and a full price, full length course on the same subject as a premium product 

Why do authors have the advantage with the freemium model? Authors have a great advantage with this model because we can write! Many free products are written material of some kind – special reports, blueprints, roadmaps or audio interviews with people who have written books. Also, premium products are often written material – books, ebooks, courses and spin off related products from that. 

Many people may struggle to write information, blogs and articles that can be given away but writers can be prolific! If you have the ability and discipline to sit down every day and create a new piece of free content to draw people to your premium product, the freemium model will work for you. 

For more information on how to use Web 2.0 to write, publish, sell and promote your books, get your FREE Author 2.0 Blueprint here. 

Learn more about promoting fiction in Joanna Penn's training program, How to Promote Your Novel: 21 Ways to Sell More Books Online.

Comments

[Michael Winskie]

The little I've read here sounds great! As a new author, this was a breath of fresh air! Thanks!

[Alex Damien]

Thanks for this good information. I guess we all have to adapt to the fact that yeah, free is now the way the world works. I don't think it's a bad idea at all, just a bit complicated to work on. Still, it's a win/win for everyone, so let's all get on the bandwagon!

[Kimberly Davis]

This is a good description of how to mix free and paid formats. Thanks!

[Joe Breunig]

Great article; there's one point which has been overlooked. In addition to one's own blog, one needs to contribute and show activity towards the encouragement of others' writing on other websites.

Joe Breunig
Author, Reaching Towards His Unbounded Glory
http://www.squidoo.com/book-isbn-1419650513/