This post is for children’s book authors out there who have a book they have shelved…Or those that want to give back…Or those that want to help their online reputation management (ORM). For anyone looking for free children’s book promotion giving away a shelved book, or creating a book to give away, is one of the greatest ways to do it.
Why are we interested in your children’s book?
Well there’s a good chance that:
- The reason it was shelved is most probably not because it was a bad book, the current model of publishing and marketing means there are tons of great books which are rejected and never get to see their intended audiences;
- The book may become someone’s favorite book if it is ‘set free’ on the internet;
- The book may inspire someone;
- The book may help someone become a passionate reader;
- The reason it was not picked up by a publisher or the reason it was not received well in the world of books was most likely because it was not marketed correctly, or it just didn’t fit into the box publishers had;
Why should you be interested in “setting the book free” as an author?
My number one reason for you to put your stories online free, is that the book is completely useless if it remains shelved. This is a chance to create something good out of it. It essentially creates something out of nothing. That is, a shelved book is doing nothing, letting it go free on the internet is giving it a purpose, and providing you feedback and exposure. Most of our books run in the 50,000+ readers, some even have had over 500,000 reads, it will feel a whole lot better knowing you are being read!
The next reason that helps you, if that the book may prove a powerful marketing tool for you: “If you liked this free book, here’s some of my others”. This type of exposure is free, allows you to give back, and improves your visibility. Paul Coelho, for example, makes it a point to give away as much as his (ur-ahem slightly greedy) publisher allows. Cory Doctorow has convinced his publisher to allow him to give away everything online in creative commons NC, but derivatives totally allowed, very cool publisher :-). David Revoy (see his books on the home page soon) has managed to create viral content and launch his platform from a totally free creative commons license.
Do you want to feel bad, thinking about a book you poured your heart into, just being rejected by a publisher, or do you want to feel good about setting it free online, getting it out there to help others?
Making your book free online doesn’t prevent you selling it, in fact, we prefer, if you have a hard copy we can link to. And we may even start buying these books soon for a book distribution project to disadvantaged communities.
Making a free book does wonders for exposure and free children’s book promotion is hard to come by. If your paid books are struggling to sell, a free book will help them get noticed. I was rather surprised after doing some online reputation articles for a client, during the research to find that many of our authors’ books show up quite well in rankings. A free book is another online entry that you have the power to control. Topic experts out there can provide a non-fiction summary of their subject for grade schools, just write up the topic in simple terms, and ask us if you need some help formatting. Again this helps give back, and promotes your topic and subject.
To submit a book, simply send me an email with the title “FREE KIDS BOOKS SUBMISSION”, feel free to send the email as a query alone, or see more guidelines at https://freekidsbooks.org/submissions/
Other great free children’s book promotion we offer authors which you may enjoy:
We welcome guest blog posts and post author bio’s for anyone who successfully submits a book.
If your book does not have pictures, you can submit it, for suitable books we will arrange illustrations as part of our free services.
All books that are accepted are provided with free editing services and publishing advice.
Free children’s book promotion is something we value greatly, and want to help our authors be seen!
Every down has an up!
I sincerely hope that someone out there reading this has just felt a whole lot better about the book that didn’t get accepted. That someone is about to make a reader’s day by sharing their book. Every book will have a favourite fan somewhere out there.
And remember:
- Dr Seuss and JK Rowling, and many others were turned down by multiple publishers.
- Mark Twain was self-published, as was Beatrix Potter, we are now seeing self-published authors exceed traditional authors sales and make it into many best sellers lists
- The more books out there, the richer reading environment we create for our future generation.
Happy reading!
