Over the past year, Chirp’s newest promotional tool — Freebie Friday — has grown into one of our most successful products. What began as a way to help authors market their free books is now a popular Chirp offering that continues to be a favorite among our listeners. Here are five things to know about Freebie Friday:
1. Freebie Friday reaches avid audiobookworms.
Freebie Friday is sent to Chirp’s vast audience of dedicated audiobook lovers. Hundreds of thousands of Chirp users receive the email each week, and these users are power listeners: On average, they read three to four books per week, have over 15 books in their Chirp libraries, and spend hours listening each day. They’re exactly the engaged audience you want to reach when advertising your free audiobook!
2. Freebie Friday is more than just free — and it’s more than just Fridays.
Free may be in the name, but each Freebie Friday promotion contains at least two related deals that are promoted alongside the free title, encouraging readers to get hooked on your audiobooks! And these extra deals work: Many listeners purchase additional titles — leading to thousands of dollars in revenue from the promotion.
Alongside the Freebie Friday email, each book is also promoted on the site and through other channels until Monday. In fact, 60% of Freebie Friday purchases come from sources outside of the Freebie Friday send — such as SMS messages and author alert emails — and nearly half of Freebie Friday purchases come after Friday!
3. Freebie Friday expands your marketing reach.
With placements on the site, in the email, and through other Chirp channels, Freebie Friday is a great way to gain exposure to new listeners! And unlike the Chirp Daily Deals email, Freebie Friday is not category-exclusive, meaning that users are seeing and interacting with titles outside of their typical listening genres. Mysteries & Thrillers, Romance, and Science Fiction & Fantasy may be the most popular Freebie Friday categories, but we’ve seen strong engagement across others as well — including General Fiction, Nonfiction, and Teen & Young Adult.
4. Freebie Friday helps grow your audience.
Thanks to all the exposure to other genres — and the low stakes of downloading a book that’s free — customers are more willing to explore and take a chance on new content with Freebie Friday. Four out of five Freebie Friday purchasers are trying a new author! Having a built-in audience of listeners willing to read an unknown author is a great way to increase your author follows, book ratings, and reviews — which can help you land another Freebie Friday deal (or a Featured Deal) in the future.
5. Freebie Friday is ROI-positive.
There’s a $150 listing fee for participating in Freebie Fridays, but free and related deals see thousands of downloads each week. From the wide exposure and sales from related discounts, 95% of authors see a 100% return on investment. This makes Freebie Friday a profitable way for you to reach a new audience, drive sales, and build your platform as an author — all at the same time.
