Myth: "Best Selling Author" of Free Books - How Is That Possible?

As I've done more and more research into the world of self publishing, I am running across numerous authors who claim to be "best selling" authors.  But on further investigation, I find out that their book is free.  They are charging $0.00 for their work.

How in anyone's reality does that qualify as a "best selling" anything?

I can stand on the corner and give away candy all day and you best believe by the end of the day, I will not have one piece of candy left.

Did I actually "sell" anything or did I just give stuff away?

I was a bartender and I've spent years in direct retail sales. I've sold t-shirts and I've sold second hand stuff at online auction sites and flea markets.  I have a pretty good idea of what selling is versus giving away freebies.  I know at the end of the day whether I've put actual money in my pocket or not.

Personally, I don't particularly consider these freebie authors as great salespeople for giving away thousands of copies of a free e-book.  However, if I give out a free sample of my work and that ultimately converts into an actual sale, an actual monetary transaction that makes a profit in exchange for goods and services, then the freebie attributed to the sale.

But the fact remains, a freebie is a freebie.

Handing out a million copies of a free book doesn't make me a best selling author. That might make me a fabulous communicator.  It makes me a top notch distributor of free digitally printed material. But basically, it makes me a pamphleteer, nothing more.

Teenagers used to write newsletters on topics like comic books and rock and roll, photocopy them and send them out to all their friends or anybody who asked for one. How is putting out a free e-book any different?

Beyond a massive ego stroke, I think a lot of new authors are kidding themselves. Are any of the readers really buying into this hype?  I wonder.

I'm a "best selling author" if my other material, that I charge for, actually sells in high numbers.  I expect nothing less out of myself and my work once it's published.  I will chart the results of that work, just as I charted the results of anything else I've sold.

A free book can be an effective marketing piece.  A free book is an excellent introduction to a writer and their ideas.  But if it doesn't convert into some actual barter or currency, it's not a sale.

That you can bank on.

Here's to your real prosperity in self-publishing!