Brooke Vitale

Children’s Book Editorial Services

Publish an eBook to Drive Book Reviews and Book Sales

Publish an eBook to Drive Book Reviews and Book Sales



It seems like it goes contrary to logic, doesn’t it? An eBook for little kids? Aren’t parents always trying to limit screen time? Who would want to read to a kid on a phone or tablet? But the truth is, picture book eBooks really aren’t for kids. They’re for adults! And they are, in many ways, more a marketing tool than anything else.


What good does having an eBook do?

A lot, especially if you use it right. Unlike physical books, which have a cost associated with printing them, eBooks don’t cost you a dime (other than any cut of sales your eBook distributor may take). And that means that you can afford to price them low—or even make them free. (For more tips on pricing your eBook, check out How Much Should You Charge for Your Self-Published Book?)


eBooks are a great way to preview before buying

But why would you want to give away your book for free? Wouldn’t that hurt physical book sales? Actually, no. Quite the opposite is true. With the wealth of picture books flooding the market every day, it can be hard for book buyers to decide what is worth their time and money. For many people, spending $17.99 on a picture book is a big investment. That’s where eBooks come in . . . Free and low-priced eBooks give book buyers a chance to preview a book before spending a lot of money on it. If they like what they see, chances are good they’ll buy a physical copy. And if they don’t like it, they can simply move on, not feeling that they spent their valuable money on something that wasn’t right for them. Looking to download free ebooks for your own reading? Check out my article The Best Free eBook Sites to Download Free eBooks in 2021 to find out.


eBooks are an excellent tool for driving reviews

When it comes to selling your book, getting good reviews is essential to getting good sales. But it’s a catch-22. How do you sell a book with no reviews, and how do you get reviews if you can’t sell books? eBooks! Specifically, free eBooks.

As you get ready to launch your paperback or hardcover book, consider setting it with a free eBook. This not only allows potential buyers to preview the book, but it also allows members of your launch team to download your book for free and then leave a VERIFIED review. If you’ve managed to build up a sizeable launch team, that could mean an awful lot of verified reviews on days one and two of your sale, which should hopefully convert to good physical book sales in the following days.

Keep the idea of free eBook days in your back pocket for other occasions as well. Releasing a new book? Set your old eBooks free for a few days to get readers excited about your body of work. Have a holiday coming up that ties in nicely with your book? Set your eBook free for a few days before the holiday to drive sales leading into the occasion. Book sales dragging and you need a boost? Set your eBook free for a few days to remind people how great your book is!

Just remember, people don’t find free eBooks on their own, so make sure to share the fact that it’s free with your social network. If you are looking for the best sites to market your free eBooks, check out my article Best Book Promotion Services in 2021 | Book Promotion Sites.


Who does use eBooks?

Although eBooks are most often used to generate sales of your physical books (at least for picture books), they do have a real place in the book-reading world as well. The most prominent users of eBooks? Teachers! Holding up a book in the front of the class is tough. The poor kids at the back can’t see what the pictures look like! But with eBooks, the story can be displayed on the class’s smartboard, or can be shared to individual tablets, if the children have them. This makes it easier for everyone to see and easier for the teacher to teach.

But of course, teachers aren’t the only ones who use eBooks. No matter how much a parent wants to keep their kids off devices, there are times when it can’t be avoided. And having some books for the kids to read on the device may well be favorable to playing a mindless game or watching a TV show. So don’t think that all those free eBook downloads are going to waste. Chances are they are being used. And if a kid likes the book enough, chances are even better they’ll be begging to buy the book for those times when they can’t use a device.


A word about Kindle Unlimited and selling eBooks elsewhere

Kindle Unlimited is a service offered by Amazon that allows those enrolled to read as many free eBooks as they want. Authors get paid based on how many pages of their book are read. This is a great service as it puts your book in front of a lot more eyes, but it does have its drawbacks: by enrolling in Kindle Unlimited, you agree not to post a digital copy of your book anywhere else. That means no Barnes & Noble, no Apple, no Smashwords, not even a PDF on your website. For some authors this works out really well, and for others it doesn’t. Do your research before signing up for it to decide if it’s right for you.


What about those PDFs?

If you have an author website where you’re selling your books or some kind of merchandise, why not also sell a PDF of your book? (Assuming you’re not enrolled in Kindle Unlimited.) You might find that people are interested in buying it, and that you can make more money selling that yourself than by giving a cut to eBook distributors.



Maybe an eBook is right for you, and maybe it’s not. Just remember: any tool that helps you market and sell your book is something worth investigating.

And if you do plan to produce an eBook, do your research. Learn about reflowable text, and whether it's right for your eBook in my article When Should I Use Reflowable Text in My eBooks?

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Children's book editor Brooke Vitale

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