# 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)
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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)
1. 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).
2. 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).
3. 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.
4. 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)