Series Marketing Guide
Giving away your first book feels counterintuitive. The read-through math makes it irresistible.
3–5×
More downloads vs. $0.99 book 1
25–35%
Healthy book 1-to-2 read-through
Wide only
Requires non-KU distribution
From the mechanics of going free to the funnel that turns downloads into series buyers.
Permafree means setting the price of your book to $0.00 permanently — not a temporary sale, not a Kindle Countdown. It's a marketing strategy, not a pricing mistake. The goal is to remove the barrier to entry so new readers can try your series at zero risk.
The critical constraint: permafree is a wide-only strategy. Kindle Unlimited requires exclusivity — if your book is in KU, you cannot make it free on other platforms, and you cannot price-match to free on Amazon. To go permafree, you must be fully wide: published on Apple, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Google, and other retailers simultaneously.
On Amazon, you don't set a free price directly. You price to $0.00 on every other platform, then report the lower price to Amazon and request a price match. Amazon isn't obligated to match, but they usually do — often within days. Once matched, your book shows as permanently free on Amazon without being in KU.
Permafree only makes financial sense if enough readers continue buying the rest of your series. The math is straightforward: if book 2 costs $4.99 and 15% of readers who download your free book 1 buy book 2, you earn $0.75 per free download. Add books 3, 4, and 5, and that read-through per download compounds quickly.
Industry benchmarks: a solid read-through from book 1 to book 2 is 25–35% for a well-connected series. Anything above 40% is strong. Below 15% suggests a disconnect between the free book's tone and the rest of the series.
Do the math before you go permafree. If your series has only two books and a 20% read-through, the revenue per free download may not justify the lost $0.99–$2.99 you'd earn from casual buyers. Permafree rewards long series with strong internal hooks between books.
Amazon doesn't offer a $0.00 price option in KDP's standard pricing tools. Here's the process: first, publish your book wide (remove from KU if necessary and wait out the 90-day exclusivity window). Then set the price to $0.00 on Smashwords/Draft2Digital, Apple Books, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble. Wait for those platforms to update — usually 24–72 hours.
Once your book shows as free on those platforms, go to your Amazon product page and scroll to the "Tell us about a lower price" link. Submit the competing platform's free URL. Amazon's pricing team reviews these; most requests are matched within 1–5 business days. Some authors also contact KDP support directly to speed this up.
Monitor the price. Amazon can raise it back to a paid price without warning, especially after promotions or algorithm updates. Check your permafree book's price weekly, particularly in the first few months.
A common mistake: authors go permafree and expect the free price to market itself. It doesn't. Free books still compete with thousands of other free books, and without promotion, downloads stay flat.
The best permafree promotional channels: Freebooksy and BookSends run dedicated free book newsletters with large audiences. ENT (eReader News Today) has a free section. BookBub's free book list is the most powerful — and competitive to get into. Submit to all of them, not just one.
Social proof matters here too. A permafree book with 50 reviews will get far more downloads than one with 5. Front-load your ARC campaign before going permafree, aiming for at least 25–30 reviews on the free book. Readers won't download even a free book if it looks untested. Your permafree book is the front door to your series — make it look like it belongs there.
Going permafree isn't a tactic in isolation — it's the top of a funnel. The funnel only works if every stage is optimized. Book 1 ends with a strong hook that makes not reading book 2 feel like leaving mid-sentence. Book 2 opens at full price but delivers on the promise of book 1 immediately. The back matter of book 1 includes a clear, direct link to book 2.
Beyond the series: your permafree book should also contain your reader magnet offer prominently. Every reader who downloads your free book is a potential email subscriber. Convert them before they finish reading. A "get a free bonus story" call to action in the first 20% of the book (where KU readers often stop) catches readers before they leave.
Track your funnel. If downloads are high but book 2 sales are low, the problem is the book 1-to-2 connection or the book 2 description. If downloads are low, the problem is your promotional strategy or cover for book 1.
Permafree is not the right move for every author or every book. If your series has fewer than three books complete, the read-through revenue may not justify the download marketing cost. If your genre skews toward impulse buyers rather than series readers (standalone thrillers, literary fiction), the funnel assumptions break down.
If you're in KU, permafree is simply not available to you — and for many romance, fantasy, and thriller authors, KU's page-read revenue outperforms wide read-through on a shorter series. Run the numbers for your specific situation before pulling out of KU.
Alternatives to permafree: a deeply discounted book 1 ($0.99 Bookbub deal) achieves similar discovery without permanently sacrificing revenue. A free prequel novella (a separate title, not book 1) can serve as a discovery engine while keeping book 1 priced normally. Test these before committing to permanent free.
iWrity helps series authors map their read-through funnels and write books readers can't stop.
Start FreeAmazon doesn't let you directly set a $0.00 price in KDP. The workaround: publish your book wide (Apple, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords/Draft2Digital) at $0.00, wait for those stores to update, then use Amazon's 'Tell us about a lower price' form on your book's product page to report the free price. Amazon usually price-matches within 1–5 business days. Some authors also contact KDP support directly with links to the free listings to speed the process. Note that your book must be out of Kindle Unlimited — KU exclusivity blocks wide distribution entirely.
No. Kindle Unlimited requires 90-day exclusivity with Amazon, which prevents you from publishing on other platforms. Since Amazon won't let you set a direct $0.00 price, and the price-match method requires a competing free listing elsewhere, permafree is only available to wide authors. If you want to go permafree, you must exit KU and wait out your current 90-day term before distributing elsewhere. Weigh this carefully — for many genres, KU page-read revenue is significant, and wide read-through takes longer to build.
Indefinitely — in theory. Amazon can revert a price-matched free book back to paid at any time, particularly during algorithm updates, promotional events, or if the competing free listings are removed. Check your permafree book's price at least weekly. If it reverts to paid, resubmit the price-match request. Some authors have had books stay free for years without issue; others deal with occasional reversions. Having multiple platforms showing the $0.00 price strengthens your price-match position.
A healthy read-through from permafree book 1 to paid book 2 is 20–35%. Strong series in popular genres with well-connected books achieve 35–45%. Below 15% suggests something is breaking the funnel: the ending of book 1 may not compel continuation, book 2's description may not match book 1's tone, or the price of book 2 may be too high relative to the genre. Free book quality matters too — a permafree book with few reviews or a weak cover will attract casual readers less likely to continue regardless of content quality.
Yes — especially before going permafree. Reviews are social proof, and social proof drives downloads even for free books. Readers don't download untested books even at $0.00. Aim for 25+ reviews on your permafree book before major promotions. ARC readers are ideal: they read quickly and post reviews in concentrated windows. Brief your ARC team that this is going permafree and will be the series entry point — ask them to post on Amazon and Goodreads to cover both discovery channels. A permafree book with 50 reviews outperforms one with 5 by orders of magnitude in download volume.
