Free e-book promo newsletters (Freebooksy, Fussy Librarian and others): eligibility gate for our free v0.0.1
Harvested 30 Oct 2026. Research only. Zero spend: every feature below is paid, so this skill is a gate and a plan, not an action.
What the sites document (read today)
- Freebooksy (Written Word Media) assertions 1,345,000 registered readers. A Feature requires the book to be free "until midnight PST" on the promo day.
- Price depends on genre: History list 261,000 readers, $65; General Nonfiction 390,000 readers, $75; Historical Fiction 385,000, $60. Prices are dated 4 Feb 2025, so 2026 prices are not checked.
- The editorial guidelines judge books on their Amazon review rating and Amazon description, with no minimum review count. Links are Amazon affiliate links. In practice the book must be free on Amazon.
- The Fussy Librarian states its free-e-book newsletter goes to 570,000 subscribers. It's paid; the price was not checked.
- Download numbers: a third-party 2026 list (Chapter) states Freebooksy routinely gives 1,500–5,000 downloads per promo. That's anecdotal and not checked; nothing from Written Word Media itself for History was read.
- Series promos: Written Word Media's own aggregated data states "first book free" series promos do well, but it gave no History numbers that I read.
The gate (why we can't use it today)
- Our v0.0.1 is free on our own site / Gumroad. These newsletters list retailer pages (Amazon first; some also take Kobo, Apple and Google Play). There's nothing for them to link to until a free retailer listing exists.
- Making a book free on Amazon without KDP Select's 5 free days means price-matching ("permafree"). That takes a listing at $0 on another store (Google Play / Kobo). Store accounts need the project lead's identity, bank and tax details, which is an owner-only step already on the BIZDEV list.
- Every feature costs money. the project lead's rules are zero spend, prices fixed and no price tests, so this is a proposal only.
If the project lead later opens the gate (the steps)
- Publish v0.0.1 EPUB on Google Play Books / Kobo at free, and on KDP. Request a price match, or use KDP Select free days (Select requires Amazon-only distribution, which clashes with the free direct copy; check first).
- Write the Amazon description with no errors and make sure the "Look Inside" preview is clean. Add a back-matter link to /ebooks/ and the v0.0.2 page (£4.99).
- Book one History-list feature on a weekday. Track downloads on the day, v0.0.2 sales over the next 14 days (Stripe/Gumroad, UTM in the back matter) and Mailchimp sign-ups.
- Only stack a second site if the first returns at least its cost in v0.0.2 sales within 30 days.
How we apply it to Cedwyn
- Now: nothing to do except record it. Add a line to cedwyn-arch/QUEUE-after-framing.md: "Free retailer listing of v0.0.1 (Google Play/Kobo/KDP) unlocks free-e-book newsletters; History lists start at $65 (Freebooksy, Feb 2025 prices). Owner decision + spend."
- Free alternatives we already cover: BookBub's free author profile and New Release Alerts (bookbub-author-profile-new-release-alerts.md), MobileRead and Goodreads, and our own list.
- Content rules for any listing: the description uses the banned-word list, never names the project lead, and Llandough Farm is never presented as the farm.
- Measure (if ever run): cost per v0.0.2 sale. Stop if it's above £4.99 after 2 promos.
Sources
- freebooksy.com (read)
- freebooksy.com (read)
- authors.thefussylibrarian.com (read)
- writtenwordmedia.com (fetched; no History numbers found)
- blog.chapter.pub (snippet only, not checked)
Raw Markdown: free-ebook-promo-newsletters-freebooksy-gate.md · version and changes: changelog · machine index: agents.json