free

10K Author Milestone Celebration Prize Giveaway!

[ For my FREE book about cemetery symbols, click here.]

Exciting Author Milestone

If you support me on Patreon, then you already know this (because I share my biggest news there first.) But *drum roll please* I recently hit a very exciting milestone as an author: I have now sold more than 10,000 books! Whee!

How to celebrate? With a Giveaway!

To celebrate this exciting milestone, I’ve created the Author Milestone Celebration Giveaway! From now through ~~December 4th, 2020~~ December 21, 2020 you can help me celebrate and possibly win a prize, such as:

PRIZES? Here’s the list

Paperback of any of my books (your choice) – three winners (US only)
eBook of your choice – three winners (Worldwide.)
ANY single item from my GraveHour Gifts Shops – three winners (US only.)
Thank You Postcard featuring my Historic Cemetery Photos – five winners (Worldwide.)

*All winners will receive a Historic Cemetery Thank You postcard from me!

PRIZES? See what they look like here:

GraveHour Gifts: For historic cemetery calendars and notebooks visit this link: GraveHour Gifts 1. For historic cemetery mugs, necklaces, and posters, visit this link: GraveHour Gifts 2.

Want to see my books? Hop over to this link: Tui Snider’s Amazon Author page.

How to WIN: 4 Places to Enter!

There are four different places to enter my Author Milestone Celebration Giveaway: Right here on my blog, FaceBook, Twitter, and/or Instagram.

It really just depends on where you like to spend time online. And you can enter the giveaway in all four places if you want.

The more ways you enter, the more entry points you gain to win. Have fun with it! :)

Enter right here on my blog: 1. Sign up for my weekly newsletter (if you haven’t already) and 2. Leave a comment on this post telling me which item in my GraveHour Gift Shops you would most like to win.

Enter on FaceBook: 1. Sign up for my weekly newsletter (if you haven’t already) and 2. Tag me in a FaceBook post that shares this page. Make sure you tag @TuiSnider so I see it!

Enter on Twitter: 1. Sign up for my weekly newsletter (if you haven’t already) and 2. Tweet about this giveaway. Make sure you tag @TuiSnider so I see it!

Here’s an example tweet for you to cut and paste: I just entered the Author Milestone Giveaway to celebrate 10K book sales by @TuiSnider & you can, too! https://tuisnider.com/2020/11/14/10k-book-prize-giveaway/ #GraveHour #texas #cemetery #history #indieauthor #prize #giveaway #contest #StoryDam (Earns you 2 entry points for each tweet!)

Enter on Instagram: 1. Sign up for my weekly newsletter if you haven’t already, and 2. Share my IG giveaway post to your IG stories, and 3. Tag two OR MORE people who you think would enjoy winning prizes in this giveaway. Go to this link on IG to participate, or simply visit my IG accounts: @TuiSnider and/or @GraveHour and find the contest post there.

*Gain Bonus points: Post a photo of ANY of my books on FB, Twitter, or IG (remember to tag me so I’ll see it) and you’ll earn 10 entry points! (And if your book photo is in a cemetery, I’ll give you 15 points.)

Deadline (12/21!) and other details

This giveaway is open until midnight CST on ~~December 4, 2020~~ UPDATE: THE CONTEST HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO RUN THROUGH December 21, 2020! Winners will be announced shortly after, GOOD LUCK! 🍀⠀I will use random.org to choose the winners.

*Please note: This giveaway is NOT endorsed or affiliated with Twitter, FaceBook, or Instagram in any manner. I’m just doing this for fun.

READ MY BOOKS: To see a list of all my published books, check out Tui Snider’s Amazon page.

Learn more about offbeat travel & historic cemeteries at my YouTube Channel

Want a FREE book? Click below:

To be free, or not to be free? That is the book marketing question!

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I’m an Angsty Little Hamlet!

“To be free, or not to be free, that is the book marketing question—
Whether ’tis Nobler for indie authors to suffer
The Slings and Arrows of Amazon’s algorithm,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of freebies,
And by opposing, end them? To download, to sell—
No more; and by sell, to say we end
The Heart-ache, and the thousand Marketing shocks
Authors are heir to? ‘Tis an extroversion,
Devoutly to be wished. To buy, to sell,
To write, perchance to Sell; Aye, there’s the rub,
For in that point of sale, what reviews may come,
When readers shuffle off this merchant’s coil,
Must give us pause.” ~Tui Snider, channeling Hamlet through the perspective of an indie author

Scarborough Renaissance Festival in Waxahachie, Texas, (photo by Tui Snider)

Major Marketing Question: What’s Free Got to do with It?

Pardon my bastardized Shakespeare, but I’m an angsty little Hamlet this month as I launch my latest book, Paranormal Texas.

Why, you ask?

Paranormal Texas is my second book release, and so it was much easier this time around. I learned from my mistakes and did a few things differently. Other tasks remained the same, but I whizzed through them simply because I had done them before.

The research, writing, cover creation, front matter, back matter, and all the million little steps required to turn a big pile of words into the pages of a book – all that makes sense to me now. All those skills can be honed, honed and even turned into a recipe of sorts to follow again and again.

Because of this, I feel fairly competent when it comes to creating a book.

However, when it comes to marketing a book, I turn into an angsty little Hamlet as you can see by the soliloquy above.

Why offer a book for free?

For one thing, since I’m enrolled in Amazon’s KDP program, I can offer my book for free for up to 5 days in each 90 day period that it is available for sale.

But why?

Why offer my book, Paranormal Texas, for free after putting so many hours of writing and research into it? Is this a smart move, even if it’s only for a short while?

That’s a good question, and one I’ve pondered long and hard – usually around 3:00 a.m. when the marketing side of my brain wakes up specifically to annoy me with niggling little details. After a whole lot of insomnia, I very nearly chose to not to offer Paranormal Texas for free at all.

But then I launched the book, and online sales were slow (offline is another story!) So last Sunday, I arranged it so that Paranormal Texas is available for free from Sunday, October 12 through Wednesday, October 15.

Of course, the moment I sealed the deal, online sales picked up.

Hey, I’m not complaining, but what’s that all about?

Murphy’s Law? Maybe it’s because Halloween is around the corner? I don’t know! Whatever the case, as of yesterday both of my books, Unexpected Texas, and Paranormal Texas, were side-by-side in the #3 and #4 spaces on Amazon’s Best Seller’s list for Dallas – Fort Worth Travel.

Yippee!

My reasons for going free

So… back to the original question, why should an author offer their book for free on Amazon? Here are my personal reasons:

1. Later reviews appear as an Amazon verified purchase:
I sell a lot of paperbacks directly to people – way more than I do through the Amazon site. Since I purchase these books straight from CreateSpace, they don’t count towards my Amazon sales ranking. Still, some of these folks have told me they want to leave reviews on Amazon. If they have also downloaded a digital version, their review will show up as an Amazon verified purchase when the time comes – and a verified review always looks better than an unverified one.

2. Attract new readers:
Since the book is free, someone who is on the fence about what my books have to offer might take the plunge and buy one.

3. Spur more sales:
It sounds counterintuitive, but over and over I read about how offering a book for free helps boost subsequent sales.

4. Attract attention to other books:
Now that I have two books for sale, offering my newest one for free may help attract readers to my other book, Unexpected Texas.

Grab a Free copy of Paranormal Texas for yourself

If you’ve read this far, why don’t you go ahead, click this link and download Paranormal Texas for free for yourself!

Please leave a comment, too, if you decide to download the book. Makes me feel good. :)

Also, if you enjoy Paranormal Texas, I hope you will eventually leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads, as well. If you don’t enjoy it? Move along… there’s nothing to see here!

Download Unexpected Texas for Free!

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Unexpected Texas is free today (photo by Tui Snider)

How to Download Unexpected Texas for Free

I put many hours into researching and writing Unexpected Texas, but today and tomorrow (3/9 & 3/10) I’ve made the Kindle version of my quirky travel book, Unexpected Texas, available for FREE. Why? Because I can!

Please Leave a Blog Comment Here

I have one small request: Please leave me a comment on this post if you decide to download Unexpected Texas for free. I would love to hear from you. Besides, today’s my birthday! :)

Amazon Reviews

Also, if you enjoy my book, please take a moment to leave a review for Unexpected Texas on Amazon. Speaking of Amazon Reviews, here are some excerpts from ones that are currently posted for Unexpected Texas:

” I would have never thought that Texas would be a place that I would want to visit (though I have quickly driven through several times) let alone spend time there, but her book makes me want to hop in my car and see these fascinating sites!”

“Whether or not you plan on going to Texas anytime soon, I highly recommend you pick up a copy of Unexpected Texas and entertain yourself with this adventurous and quirky book.”

“Unlike a standard travel guide that’s crammed full of information you’ll never use Unexpected Texas is a concise and focused guide that’s ideal for anyone interested in the odd, the overlooked, and the little bits of history that often don’t make the big picture.

Tui Snider’s writing is casual and friendly, the entries read more like postcards and letters from a friend than dry guide book entries.

The book focuses on the Dallas Fort Worth area but the two big cities don’t dominate, there are far more entries for the smaller towns in the area.

Unexpected Texas is extremely interesting and fun and hopefully just the first Unexpected Texas guide by Tui Snider.”

Download Link for the Free Kindle Version

Here’s the link to Unexpected Texas on Amazon.com. That’s where you can download the Kindle version for absolutely free today and tomorrow. I hope you enjoy my book and that it inspires you to do some exploring – wherever you happen to be!