Question:

I am overstocked in nonfiction books and am willing to give the books away to reach the right audience and have the books do the good they are intended to do.

What would be your ideas on how to do this?

John’s Answer:

There are many, many ways to give away ebooks and fewer ways to do it with printed books.

Here are 9 ways to give away books and still build your market:

1. Partner with Targeted Websites. Find websites devoted to your subject (or targeted to your audience) and offer to give away 10, 20, 30, or more copies to their visitors. All the visitors have to do is click through to a page on your website to provide you with their email address, name, street address, city, state, and zip code so you can ship them their free books.

You could, if you are technically proficient, provide the website with a form they can embed on their website to take that information. People are more willing to fill out forms on websites they already know rather than clicking through to a strange website.

You could charge a shipping fee to keep your costs in check. If you do charge a fee, the response will be cut probably in half. Or you could ask for donations.

2. Do the Same with Targeted Blogs. Bloggers would love the opportunity to give books away free to their readers. Real giveaways are a great way to attract more on-going visitors to your blog.

3. Donate Books to Non-Profit Groups. There are many national non-profit groups that would appreciated free book copies: schools, prisons, overseas charities, libraries, reading charities, etc. Check out http://www.bookmarket.com/19.htm for Books for Asia, Books for Africa, The Library Prison Project, and other charities that welcome books.

4. Sell Remainders. There are dozens of companies that will buy books from you for cents on the dollar. They take those books, then, and sell them to bookstores who discount them heavily. You can find a list of remainder dealers at http://www.bookmarket.com/19.htm.

5. Donate to Local Charities.  Check to see if your local PBS or NPR station is running a fundraising campaign (they to it 2 to 4 times a year). You’d get great publicity during their on-air campaigns if your book becomes a premium for them to give away with donations. Generally they have to pay something for those premiums, so your offer would be very welcome.

You might find a good response from United Way, high school fundraising groups, church fundraising groups, Boy Scouts, 4-H groups, etc. You would need to allow them to sell the books at a low price as part of their annual or semi-annual fundraising efforts.

6. Donate to Waiting Rooms. Donate copies to your local doctor office, dentist, lawyer, accountant, auto repair shops, therapists, chiropractors, hospitals, etc. – wherever people have to sit and wait. These offices will welcome such gifts.

To increase the giveaway value, insert some reply cards or sticker your phone number on the cover to encourage readers to ask for their own free copy from you. You could have them pick the copies up from your office, or ship copies to them.

7. Donate to Library Sales. Local libraries hold book sales 2 to 4 times a year where they sell worn copies, books they don’t want to stock, duplicate copies, etc. They would undoubtedly welcome unworn copies to sell during these sales.

8. Stand on a Corner and Giveaway Your Books. I’ve found authors who have been successful selling books on street corners, roadside stands, subways, buses, noontime downtown crowds, roadside stops, etc. It can be fun to give away books to people directly. Watch them smile. Get feedback on your book.

9. Give a Stack of Books to Your Local Bookseller. Give a stack of books to your local bookstore to sell cheap – or even give away to their best customers. This builds great goodwill with your local bookstores at the same time as you’re solving your overstock problem.

The neat thing about all these giveaway opportunities is that you are building word-of-mouth for your books (and your company) at the same time. That can result in many sales down the road.

If you want to learn how to SELL those books, check out my new BestSeller Launch Formula at http://www.bestsellerlaunchformula.com.

John Kremer is the author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books as well as webmaster at http://www.bookmarket.com and http://www.tenmillioneyeballs.com.

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• Book Remainders: Buying Books Going Out of Print From Your Publisher