eBook Pricing: Should Your First-in-Series Book Be Free?

When permafree works, when 99¢ might be smarter, and how to know whether your series is ready

If you've been publishing indie fiction for more than five minutes, you've probably heard this ebook pricing advice:

Make the first book in your series free.

And you've probably heard the exact opposite:

Never give away a whole book. Readers don't value free books.

So...which is it?

Like most publishing advice, the answer is: It depends on what you're asking that book to do.

A free first-in-series book isn't really a pricing strategy.

It's a reader-acquisition strategy.

And once you understand that distinction, deciding whether Book 1 should be FREE, 99¢, or full price gets a whole lot easier.

First, stop asking what Book 1 is worth

You spent months—or years—writing it.

You paid for editing. Cover design. Formatting.

You put an absurd number of hours into making that book exist.

Of course it's worth more than zero dollars.

That's not actually the question.

The better question is:

What is the most profitable job this particular book can perform for my publishing business right now?

Sometimes its job is to earn $4.99 every time someone buys it.

But sometimes its most valuable job is to bring a new reader through the door.

If that reader loves Book 1 and goes on to buy Books 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, giving away the first book may be far more profitable than selling it.

That's the theory behind permafree: making the first ebook in a series permanently free so that it becomes an entry point to the paid books behind it.

And yes, it can still work.

But there are some important caveats.

FREE works best when there's somewhere for the reader to go

Imagine you've published two books:

Book 1—FREE

Book 2—$4.99

You're giving up all the revenue from Book 1 for one opportunity to make a sale.

Now imagine:

Book 1—FREE

Book 2—$4.99

Book 3—$4.99

Book 4—$4.99

Book 5—$4.99

Book 6—$5.99

That's a very different proposition.

The free book has become the entrance to an entire product line! This is why series length matters.

There isn't a magical number at which FREE suddenly becomes profitable, but as a practical rule of thumb:

• One or two books available: I'd usually keep Book 1 paid.

• Three books: FREE or 99¢ may be worth testing.

• Four or more books: FREE becomes much more interesting.

• A long or completed series: Book 1 can potentially become a powerful reader-acquisition tool.

BookBub has published case studies showing exactly this effect. In one, paranormal romance author L.E. Wilson experimented with lower prices on Book 1, but saw much stronger follow-on sales after making it permanently free—and noted that the strategy became substantially more effective once she had four books available.

That doesn't mean four is a magic number.

But it does illustrate the underlying principle:

The more value you have behind your entry-point book, the more revenue a newly acquired reader can potentially generate.

The number that matters isn't downloads

Let's say you make Book 1 free and 10,000 people download it. Woohoo!

Except...

How many read it?

And how many went on to read Book 2?

Because downloads don't pay your mortgage. Readers do.

When I published book 2 in my very first series, I set book 1 to free then excitedly watched the downloads go up and up and up. But even as I added more books to the series, I didn't see the downloads tick-up, and I didn't see the read-through I desired. I also got 1-star reviews on Book 1 like, "I have no memory of downloading this book. Delete", and "I hate it when authors put books on your kindle that you'd never read. It's such bad publicity." Sigh. If I can help even one author avoid such heartache, it might make it all worth it.

That's why the metric you really need to understand is read-through.

At its simplest, you're asking:

Of the readers who start this series, how many continue?

If 1,000 readers acquire/read Book 1 and 250 of them buy or read Book 2, you've got roughly 25% Book-1-to-Book-2 conversion, depending on how you're tracking your readership.

Then some percentage of those readers continue to Book 3.

And Book 4.

And Book 5.

That downstream behavior is where a free first-in-series strategy makes—or loses—money.

Free doesn't fix a weak funnel

This may be the most important part of this entire article.

Don't make Book 1 free because Book 1 isn't selling.

Not yet, anyway.

First figure out why it isn't selling.

• If the cover looks dated...

• If the description doesn't hook the reader...

• If the categories and keywords are wrong...

• If the opening pages aren't compelling...

• If the book attracts the wrong readers...

Or if people enjoy Book 1 but don't feel any urgency to read Book 2...

FREE doesn't solve the underlying problem.

It simply sends more people into the same broken funnel.

Think of it this way:

Don't turn on the fire hose until you've fixed the leaks.

Before making Book 1 free, make sure:

• the cover still fits the current genre market;

• the description sells the right reading experience;

• your metadata helps the right readers find it;

• the book itself delivers on its promise;

• Book 2 is easy to find;

• and your back matter tells an enthusiastic reader exactly what to read next.

That last one matters enormously.

When someone reaches THE END thinking, I need more, don't make them go hunting.

• Give them the cover.

• Give them the title.

• Give them a clear call to action.

• And please, for the love of Harry Potter, Give them the link.

The easiest Book 2 sale you'll ever make is to the reader who just loved Book 1.

So why not just charge 99¢?

You absolutely can.

In fact, 99¢ can be a great compromise.

A 99¢ Book 1 still creates a very low barrier to trying an unfamiliar author, while requiring the reader to make an actual purchase.

FREE removes that barrier almost entirely.

But which is better?

And that depends on your goal.

Choose FREE when...

• Your primary goal is reach and reader acquisition.

• You have multiple paid books behind the free title.

• Your series has healthy read-through.

• Your Book 1 packaging is strong and current.

• You're prepared to actively promote the free book rather than simply changing the price and waiting for magic.

• And you're willing to judge success by whole-series revenue, not Book 1 revenue.

Consider 99¢ when...

• You want a low-friction entry point but aren't ready to give Book 1 away permanently.

• You have a shorter series.

• You want to test discounted Book 1 before testing FREE.

• Or you simply prefer to require some purchasing commitment from the reader.

Keep Book 1 at full price when...

• The series is new or short.

• Book 1 is already selling well at full price.

• You're generating profitable sales through your existing marketing.

• Your readers aren't especially price-sensitive.

• Or giving up Book 1 revenue doesn't produce enough additional read-through to compensate for it.

There's no publishing medal for having a permafree book.

The correct price is the price that best accomplishes the job you've assigned that book.

And sometimes the answer is: NOT YET

This is the option I don't think authors hear often enough.

You don't have to decide that Book 1 will be free forever.

Test it.

If your series currently has three books, you might try a temporary FREE promotion. Or 99¢.

Watch what happens.

• Did Book 2 sales rise?

• Did Books 3 and 4 rise?

• Did newsletter signups increase?

• Did your total series revenue improve?

• Did you acquire readers who continued into your other books?

That's useful information.

Publishing decisions don't have to be declarations of eternal allegiance. They can be experiments.

A simple way to decide on first-in-series ebook pricing

If you're staring at an older series wondering what to do with Book 1, ask yourself these five questions:

1. Do I have at least three—and preferably more—paid books for an enthusiastic reader to buy next? If not, I'd probably wait.

2. Is Book 1 packaged competitively for today's market? Look at the cover, description, categories, keywords, sample, and price. If not, fix those first.

3. Does Book 1 lead naturally and clearly into Book 2? If not, strengthen your back matter and series positioning.

4. Do readers actually continue through my series? Look at your read-through. If read-through is weak, investigate that before spending money pouring more readers into Book 1.

5. What is my goal?

• If it's maximum revenue on every individual sale, full price may win.

• If it's lower-friction discovery, try 99¢.

• If it's getting as many qualified new readers as possible into a long backlist, FREE deserves serious consideration.

Think beyond the price of one book

This is the mindset shift I wish more writers made with their backlists.

We spend so much time thinking about books as individual products, asking ourselves, What should this book cost?

But once you have a series—or several series—you have something bigger.

You have a body of work.

And every book in that body of work can perform a different job.

• One earns revenue.

• One brings in new readers.

• One grows your mailing list.

• One revives interest before a new release.

• One leads readers from an older series into a newer one.

So if you have an older Book 1 sitting quietly in your backlist, don't automatically make it free.

But don't automatically protect its $4.99 price tag, either.

Instead, ask: What job could this book do for me now?

Because sometimes the most profitable thing an old book can do isn't make one more sale.

It's introduce you to your next thousand readers.