If you’ve written a series of novels about a single character, one way to improve sales is to give the first volume away for free.

This may seem counterintuitive, but for self-published writers, it’s a great way to get your book in front of more eyeballs. Simply put, readers are more likely to try your series if the first title in it is free; after all, there’s no monetary investment in it for them. If done as a promotion via CreateSpace or Kindle DP, this can raise your ranking on Amazon.com’s bestsellers list of free books, thus greatly increasing the number of free downloads.

Should readers enjoy your book, they likely will purchase the next book and subsequent titles in your series. Be sure to include information about the books in your series – especially the next one that appears – in your free book and on your Amazon.com sales page for the free book. In the ebook, be sure to include links to those sales pages.