I just sent Mark Coker an email with an idea I had last night. What do you think of it? Hi Mark, I have an idea that would benefit authors and Smashwords and I hope I can convey it to you in an email (explaining it would be easier). I recently decided to start a Birthday Club for those who sign up for my newsletter. What I had in mind was to include a coupon code for a free download of one of my books from Smashwords. But then I thought, it would be even better if I could include some sort of coupon code where the recipient could download any book they wanted as long as it didnt exceed the price associated with the coupon code. For example. lets say that authors are able to purchase a coupon code generated by Smashwords for 0.99 per download. The code would be located on their dashboard the same way coupon codes are to make their own books free. The author would have the ability to set the code for a certain number of uses per month and would be able to change this at the first of every month. For example, lets say the coupon code for 0.99 downloads is HT34G. I purchase the code from SW. It is then put on my dashboard. On the first of every month, I can set how many times this code can be used. For the month of April, I have 7 subscribers to my newsletter who have birthdays. I have the code printed on the postcards I send out. I send out the cards and set the number of times the code can be used for 7 downloads on my dashboard.. Once the code has been used 7 times in the month of April, it cannot be used again until I reset the number the first of May. You could have different codes for different amounts to be purchased by authors. Each time a code is used to download a book from Smashwords, the amount is taken from the authors Paypal account the same way as if we were gifting a book. The codes are the digital equivalent of a Smashwords gift card. This would be a great way for authors to thank their fans. It is inexpensive for us and would get new readers to purchase from Smashwords. Personally, I love Smashwords because books can be downloaded in so many formats, we have the ability to use coupons to make our books free, and readers and authors have so much more freedom and options. If I were to purchase gift cards from Amazon to send to my readers, the lowest amount I could purchase them in would be $5 or possibly $10 each. There are no codes I could print on my postcards so I would have to send the GCs along with the postcard or email the reader a GC, both which take more time and money. YOU have the ability to make this work because you already generate coupon codes for authors to make their books free. It could be done very easily by generating a specific code for different amounts, say 0.99, $2.00, and $3.00. That is three codes. Authors would then be able to purchase whichever code they want, or all three. Each author could be assigned a number or a number/letter combination to go at the end of the codes they purchase so when they give the code out to readers, Smashwords knows which account to take the money out of when the code are used to download a book. Another example: my specific author code for my SW acct. is 1-A. The coupon code I purchase is the one generated for 0.99 downloads and the code for it is HT34G. Therefore, the code I would print on my postcards would be HT34G 1-A. When the readers I send the code to use it to download a book, SW knows to take the money from my Paypal account because it has my author code at the end (1-A). Anyway, it is just a suggestion, but I think it would help authors and Smashwords. It brings SW more customers – some who may have never heard of SW before – and it allows authors an inexpensive way to thank their readers. Im sorry to have taken up so much of your time. I really wish there was a way to make this happen. I hope you have a great day. :)
Posted on: Fri, 11 Apr 2014 12:49:06 +0000
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