ebooks and freebooks

Having spent the last couple of days learning all about how to market and promote a new ebook, I have come to a disturbing realisation. I have joined groups on facebook and forums and websites, some for authors and others for readers. I joined them to learn at this point, rather than to spam everyone in sight, telling them all about me and my wonderful book. I have read posts, I have read blogs, and I have followed conversations, mostly just to observe and learn.

So, what have I learned? I've learned A LOT actually.

The most astonishing thing I found out was this: If you want to sell your ebook, you have to sell it for FREE.

Am I way off base here? I suppose I could be. But on every single site, blog, forum etc I have visited, hundreds of authors there are giving their books away for free. A good marketing strategy, I agree, if you have more than one or two books to sell. Most of the sites and groups won't even allow authors to post their links etc, UNLESS the book is either 'on offer' or permanently free.

One of the groups I visited had over 200 authors, all giving away their books. It was like a mad panic, each one vying to have their link at the top of the post/thread, only to be swamped by everyone else, within seconds. Crazy.

So what happens to authors like me? An author with a debut novel? Do we have to rush out another book, just so we can give the first book away, and hope the reader likes it enough to buy the second one?  Should we have faith in our abilities, and carry on as we are, or do we give our book away for free?

My book has only been on sale for a couple of days. I am going to leave it as it is for at least a month before I even look at my dashboard to see if I have sold any. I hope I have, but time will tell.

For me, personally, I am going to have faith in my novel. I believe it is good enough to not warrant having to give it away. When I have finished my next project, I still won't give them away. Why should I? If my writing is good enough, it will draw attention to itself eventually. If not, then I will know that no amount of 'freebies' will make it any better.

When did the word 'ebook' turn into 'freebook'?