3 Common Misconceptions About Giving Away Your Book for Free
Giving away your book for free is a powerful business strategy: one that can help you build authority, position you as an expert, and, most importantly, provide a new channel for generating high-quality leads.
Despite these advantages, a few key misconceptions might make you hesitant.
If your book is a key ingredient of your wider business strategy, understanding the truth behind these misconceptions is crucial.
In this blog post, we’ll be busting the most common misconceptions about giving your book away for free – and how using ScoreApp can set up your free book lead magnet to generate, nurture, and convert serious buyers on repeat.
Misconception 1: Giving away my book devalues my expertise
We understand why giving away your book for free can feel counterintuitive.
You’ve poured a huge amount of time and energy into writing, publishing, and marketing your book – so surely giving it away devalues your experience?
In reality, the opposite happens!
Reality: A free book doesn’t diminish your expertise; it showcases it.
It’s estimated that over four million books are published per year – and self-published books make up more than half of this figure.
Instead of thinking about it as giving your book away for free, think about using it as a free lead magnet for your business.
Writing a book in the first place immediately positions you as an expert in the eyes of your readers. Giving it away is a brilliant way to distinguish yourself from the crowd and create a powerful lead magnet.
By providing invaluable insights upfront, you demonstrate your knowledge, build trust, and position yourself as a go-to expert in your field.
How could your readers resist giving you their contact information in return for such a high-quality resource?!
Easily give your book away for free with ScoreApp
ScoreApp can help your book work much harder for you.
A ScoreApp quiz or assessment is one of the most effective ways to get more eyeballs on your book AND showcase your expertise!
Set up an engaging and interactive landing page for your book giveaway in minutes using our drag-and-drop templates – fully branded with your business colors, logos, and fonts.
Our interactive Scorecards provide an extra incentive for people to hand over their contact information, and they create a bespoke experience for everyone who reads your book.
Each Scorecard is personalized based on quiz answers and instantly sent via email to provide every reader with even more insights about themselves and their situation.
You can then use this data to refine how you market your book and create new content that highlights your expertise.
Here are some of our favorite templates to help you get started:
But wait – that’s not all!
We provide all the tools you need to promote your book, too, so you can keep building your authority and attracting more readers.
These tools include:
- Blog post templates
- Email marketing content prompts
- Social media swipe files
- Promotional graphic templates
Misconception 2: Free books don’t generate business
Another concern you may have is that giving away your book for free will create a large unqualified audience for your business…who are unlikely to ever become leads.
Reality: When used effectively, free books can be a strategic tool that drives real business growth.
When readers see value in your book, they are more likely to engage with your brand and want to learn how your products or services can help them further.
Even the act of them reading your book is a really strong indicator of interest. It takes a lot of time!
A free book is the ultimate ambassador for your business – a ready-made promotional product to generate a lot of buzz about what you do.
Offering your book for free lowers the barrier to entry, making it easier for potential clients to engage with your business.
A well-positioned call to action (CTA) within your book can help convert your readers into high-paying clients.
This CTA should lead your readers to further high-value content, such as:
- A link to book a free consultation call
- Additional resources on your website
- An invitation to join a private community
Get personalised insights about readers with ScoreApp
ScoreApp makes it simple to generate leads from your free book.
For example, you could set up a waitlist quiz to build a sense of exclusivity around your book. A waitlist helps you gauge interest in your book, build a loyal following, and collect real-time feedback to optimize your marketing efforts.
Not only that, but waitlists are a much more cost-effective method of building interest in your book than other digital marketing channels, such as Google or social media ads.
Don’t simply collect a name and email address for your waitlist. With a quiz, you can ask strategic questions to collect valuable data on your readers’ pain points and the solutions they are looking for.
You can then use the data you collect to drip-feed information about your book and ramp up anticipation as the launch day creeps closer – and optimize your other marketing efforts, too.
Once your book goes live, your waitlist will be full of more than just readers. They will be leads who are ready to buy your products or services.
Not sure how to get started?
Don’t worry! We have some ready-to-use templates you can easily personalize to your book, brand, and business:
Misconception 3: Freebie books attract people who aren’t serious buyers
Finally, a common misconception is that offering a free book – or any kind of free lead magnet, really – will result in building an audience full of ‘freebie hunters’ who aren’t serious prospects.
Reality: This one is partly true. Some people will always seek free content. However, many serious prospects will use a free book to evaluate your expertise before making a final purchasing decision.
Offering a high-quality book for free develops trust with the right people, and gives you a plethora of opportunities to continue building a relationship long after they’ve read the final page.
Think about it. You can sell your book on Amazon, but how do you follow up with high-potential leads after they’ve purchased?
You can’t. This means you could be missing out on valuable opportunities to encourage your readers to take the next step and purchase your premium products or services, such as:
- A place on a coaching program
- A bespoke consultation
- A premium product
The easiest way to follow up with serious buyers is with targeted email marketing journeys.
Use ScoreApp for a better follow-up strategy with readers
You can use your ScoreApp assessment answers to automatically score your leads and split them into relevant customer segments so you can focus your efforts on your most adoring book fans.
From there, you can send personalized sales enablement content that compliments your book to encourage them to take the next step, such as:
- Video mini-courses
- Customer case studies
- Exclusive offers
ScoreApp integrates with all major CRM and email marketing tools, such as Keap, Mailchimp Hubspot, and ActiveCampaign. Our quiz marketing software can be connected with an additional 3000 marketing tools via Zapier.
How ScoreApp helps you make the most of your book giveaway
- Capture qualified leads – Collect contact details from readers when they download your book or join your pre-launch waitlist, building a list of warm prospects you can continue to build relationships with.
- Position your expertise – Use ScoreApp to create tailored assessments, results Scorecards, and follow-up content that reinforces your authority and aligns with the content of your book.
- Personalize your outreach – ScoreApp automatically segments your audience based on their engagement with your book and behavioral data, so you can tailor your messaging to send the right offers to the right people at the right time.
- Track performance – Our robust data analytics let you track quiz engagement levels down to the most granular detail, so you can monitor which parts of your book and follow-ups are most effective in engaging your readers and helping you reach your business objectives.
- Generate long-term value – Your book can act as an evergreen lead magnet, bringing new customers to your business on autopilot. Plus, you can use the insights gathered from ScoreApp to refine your book marketing tactics and optimize future lead generation strategies.
Turn your book into a lead generation machine with ScoreApp
When executed effectively, your free book can become your business’s finest lead magnet – an invaluable resource that helps you gather targeted insights on high-quality prospects who are ready to buy.
ScoreApp is the ultimate platform for creating high-performing sales funnels for not just your book. We help you revolutionize lead generation for your business as a whole.
By leveraging ScoreApp as the vehicle for your strategic book giveaway, you can build credibility, nurture strong relationships, and convert engaged readers into high-value clients – all while reinforcing your place as a key authority in your industry.
Our AI quiz software can help you get your free book quiz up and running in just a few minutes. With an ever-growing range of ready-to-use templates and an extensive resource library, we’re here to help you turn book lovers into paying customers.
Oh, and did we mention you can try it for FREE?
Transform your book into your best lead magnet when you try ScoreApp today.
