Freebies … and Technical Difficulties
It turns out, people love freebies. How do I know? First, I’m a person, and I love them. Second, when I had the idea for The Decameron Special two weeks ago, I had no idea what kind of response I would get. But now I know. And, I can confirm, people love freebies.
The Decameron Special: During this period of global lockdown, all of my books are free on all platforms. The give-away is my response to this unprecedented period in all of our lives. We all have something to contribute to the greater good. I figured – as just a start – to offer free entertainment to anyone who wants it. I mean, we all can’t watch Netflix all the time, can we?
(Speaking of Netflix, I’m eating up Korean dramas. I’m currently enjoying the heck out of Mr. Sunshine.)
Freebies: What’s Their Appeal At This Time?
This week I was telling a friend about the massive amount of books people are currently downloading for free from my site and other platforms. She wondered, “But your books cost so little anyway. Why the current response?”
Good question. It’s true. A lot of my books are priced at $0.99. And no book is more than $2.99. In addition, I have always had a free download or two available at my site.
The difference now is, I think people are responding to kindness. We need it. My inbox has been flooded with Thank Yous. The most consistent response I receive is: “God bless you.”
A number of people have mentioned their disbelief or wariness or fear I would would later charge them. Rosalind R wrote: “At first, I did not believe in your generosity. Being a voracious reader I was skeptical. I have downloaded 6 books over the past 3 days and I am enjoying myself during this lockdown period.”
This was exactly my idea!
Enjoying yourself during this lockdown period.
I know this time is stressful for a lot of people, particularly those who are sick themselves and their families, our overworked nurses and doctors, all the delivery people and grocery stores employees, along with those who have lost their jobs. They – along with everyone else who is self-isolating – shouldn’t have to pay for entertainment.
Point of information: From what I can tell from the downloads at my site, Love After All is #1. So I chose its cover for the title image for this blog.
Freebies: Alas, There Have Been A Few Technical Difficulties
Guess what?
The technical world comes with technical difficulties, and some have cropped up with my give-away. For instance, a couple of readers have informed me they are unable to read the download from my site on their phone. My tech team has also spotted certain problem trends. They are working to fix them. And they are now creating a FAQs page for trouble-shooting.
I’ll let you know when the page is live.
In the meantime, do what you need to do to stay safe. And find a way to entertain yourself and others.
This post was written by Julie Tetel Andresen
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