How to give out a free ebook?

Check out Bookfunnel and Instafreebie for giveaways (I've heard better things about the former, though I haven't used either). Or if you have it available for sale at venues other than Amazon, set it to free at those and then request that Amazon price-match.

You can also download the MOBI file during the KDP publication process and send it via email to their Kindle address.

Marissa D said:

Check out Bookfunnel and Instafreebie for giveaways (I've heard better things about the former, though I haven't used either). Or if you have it available for sale at venues other than Amazon, set it to free at those and then request that Amazon price-match.

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These were the options I was going to suggest.

If you go with price-matching, I always send a nicely-worded email to Amazon asking them to please price-match the title worldwide and give them links to the major stores where it's already free (Google, Nook, Kobo, Apple). They usually take care of it in a day or so.

There are still ways to get books permafree, kboards writer's cafe has instructions.

If the only reason for making the book free is to send it to someone else, then just e-mail a copy, as others have said. Note that not everyone wants a Kindle version (I've had reviewers request a PDF, for example) so you may need to prepare a few different formats.

If all you require is either an .epub or .mobi version of the book which is yours to do with as you please and are happy to take on the task of e-mailing them out yourself, there are ways.

A number of the companies/sites who produce finished e-book files (e.g. Smashwords) stipulate that you should not use the copies they allow an author to have as proofs to be used in any other way than to publish through their services. There is an exception - Draft to Digital - who seem quite happy for you to use the formatted versions of your book they provide in any way you see fit. They offer .epub and .mobi conversions from a Word file (.doc or docx). Here's a link to their FAQ https://draft2digital.com/faq/

Beware of giving out unprotected files

Calder said:

If all you require is either an .epub or .mobi version of the book which is yours to do with as you please and are happy to take on the task of e-mailing them out yourself, there are ways.

A number of the companies/sites who produce finished e-book files (e.g. Smashwords) stipulate that you should not use the copies they allow an author to have as proofs to be used in any other way than to publish through their services. There is an exception - Draft to Digital - who seem quite happy for you to use the formatted versions of your book they provide in any way you see fit. They offer .epub and .mobi conversions from a Word file (.doc or docx). Here's a link to their FAQ https://draft2digital.com/faq/

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Beware of this. I had a reviewer who insisted they couldn't have it gifted as a Kindle version and needed a specific version. A month later I found my book on a free download site with a gazillion downloads.

cvolante said:

Beware of this. I had a reviewer who insisted they couldn't have it gifted as a Kindle version and needed a specific version. A month later I found my book on a free download site with a gazillion downloads.

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That can happen to any book, as soon as it's published. Most of those sites don't actually have your book; they're merely phishing for credit cards or other identifying information.

If you have your books on Smashwords you can give away free copies easily through the coupon option. Just do a private coupon and share the link with the people you want to download it for free. Only they will be able to get it free because the coupon won't be public. It's great for reviewers or whoever because they can pick the format they want the book in.

If you are not on Smashwords you can format copies on a program like Calibre and send them to reviewers, etc. for free.

If you want the book to be perma free on Amazon here's what you do:
1: Setup an account on Draft 2 Digital. https://www.draft2digital.com/login/
2: go through the process of uploading your book. Publish it to at least B&N and Kobo.
3: Set the price to $0.
4: Once you have been notified it's published, send an email to KDP support notifying them of the lower price. Make sure to tell them to price match in all markets where your book apprears (canada, australia, etc. USA only is their default). you'll need to include links
5: you're done. It's free everywhere now.
6: Make Sure you have a strong call to action at the end of the free book like "Buy the next in the series now! : link to book"

It's not necessary to publish through Draft2Digital to do that, as far as I know.

You can go directly to each of the platforms and upload it seperately. D2D is a single place that publishes to multiple platforms for you. That way you only have to upload once.

Yes, I know. They also take a percentage.

whistlelock said:

If you want the book to be perma free on Amazon here's what you do:
4: Once you have been notified it's published, send an email to KDP support notifying them of the lower price. Make sure to tell them to price match in all markets where your book apprears (canada, australia, etc. USA only is their default). you'll need to include links

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KDP is under no obligation to price-match to free. They used to be more open to it but, these days, they're just as likely to slap you on the wrist and tell you that you're violating their terms of service.

If you're not in KDP Select (otherwise known as Kindle Unlimited), you're not violating anything. Amazon's policy is they will not be undersold. If it's offered somewhere for less, they will price match.

Derek Muphy stated in one of his youtube videos (and I'm sorry, I can't remember which one), that what you can do is to first have someone follow you on Amazon. Then there's a way to sign up for promos. You can make it as simple as all they have to do is enter their email address to get a free copy.

However, I haven't done this myself yet because so far, all my books are free. (I use Smashwords, and all you have to do is send Amazon a single retailer link to get price matching. I sent them B&N. Don't bother sending Amazon the Smashwords link--they don't care.)

I was going to look into this for my next book, though. I'm planning on charging for that one, and it's a way to get free copies in the hands of my newsletter subscribers who are open to reviewing without futzing with prices for everyone else.

I'm going to have to go down the youtube rabbit hole to find the information again, though, since my second-hand recollection hardly seems sufficient. If you want to do it soon, I'm afraid that this is the only place I can send you to look. Derek Murphy does have sufficient tips to make the trip worthwhile, though, so it shouldn't be a waste of time, I hope.