For this weekend only, the ebook version of  Bean Counter is once again going to be available for free on Amazon.com.  “What?!” you say.  “Is this some sort of modern Christmas Miracle?”  Perhaps.  But what it is intended to be is a marketing strategy.

I can hear you asking, “But how does that make sense?  How can you make money by giving something away for free?”  The answer is simple.  Volume.

I did a similar promotion back in March, and gave away over 5,000 copies.  The result was increased visibility on Amazon, and a bunch of reviews that accumulated over time as people finally got around to reading their free book.

I’m doing it again, and probably for the last time.  Here’s why.  I have a new book out (Dead Loss – check it out) and I’m hoping that people who read Bean Counter for free might like it enough to try Dead Loss.  I even put a sample chapter at the end of the ebook version of Bean Counter to suck them in.  Diabolical, right?

Also, it wouldn’t hurt if I could build up the total number of reviews.

The reason that this is probably the last time I will offer a free promotion on this title is that I plan to make the book available on other retailers’ websites.  The following details might not interest you, but I feel like explaining:

All of my books are currently enrolled in Amazon KDP Select.  This is a special program that Amazon offers that provides certain perks to writers, like the ability to lower the price of their books to $0 for up to five days per quarter (handy for a promotion like this one) or to do “Countdown Deals” that allow a temporary price discount of the selling price, but maintains the royalty rate.  It also enrolls the book in the Kindle Unlimited reading plan that allows subscribers to read an unlimited number of books each month for a low monthly fee.  The authors get paid about $0.005 per page, which isn’t a bad deal, unless you write really short books.  Anyway, in return for this largesse, Amazon requires exclusivity – you can’t have your ebook available for sale anywhere other than on Amazon.  It’s a trade-off.

I‘ve decided to remove Bean Counter from KDP Select when my enrollment is up this month, and make it available for sale on Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Google Play, and Kobo.  So, if you or your friends have been dying to get your hands on this ebook, but you don’t own a Kindle, don’t run Kindle software on any of your devices, and don’t feel like spending real money on the paperback, then this is your big chance.  Starting around the 15^th, you should be able to get it on the device and software of your choice.

You’re welcome.

Which brings me back to this (probably) last free Bean Counter promotion on Amazon.  I hope it goes well.  I will post the results in a couple of days, for those of you who are insatiably curious.