I promised to give back to readers in April and here comes your second opportunity. Today and tomorrow, April 14 and April 15, you can download the Kindle version of my memoir Growing Up Country: Memories of an Iowa Farm Girl, absolutely free. Yep, FREE.

This is a really good deal for readers and, though it may seem counter intuitive, it could be a really good deal for me, too.

Here’s how it works.

• Free ebook promotions generate widespread attention and many people who don’t know about my book, will see it. Many (I hope) will download it FREE.

• If enough readers download it, my book will rise in the Amazon best seller ranks, whether those who download it read the book or not. Then – after the free promotion is over – people who use those lists to guide purchase decisions may be encouraged to buy the book because so many others already have it.

• Of course, I hope people who download my book will read it it, and then that at least some of them will write reviews and post their reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, Library Thing – all the places readers look for guidance on future purchases.

I have never done a free book promotion, so I won’t have firsthand experience to report until after this weekend. But other authors have done this and achieved varying levels of success.

My boss of many years had a sign on his wall that said, “Once you give it away, it’s gone.” He’s the same boss I blogged about back in January. His signs really stuck with me, but then I read them every day for 10 years (proving the power of a repeated message). Anyway, he didn’t believe in giving away our product.

He may have been right about giving away public relations counsel, but giving away ebooks in promotions like this may be more like providing product free to a non-profit so that paying customers will see what you have and like it enough to pay for it. I hope so, anyway. When the promotion is over, I’ll let you know how it went.

In the meantime, if you have a Kindle, this is your opportunity. Go ahead, download Growing Up Country. It’s FREE! My gift to you. And I’d be most grateful if you shared this news with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, email. The more free downloads, the better.

P.S. Just a reminder to you Goodreads members to sign up to win a free hard copy of my memoir. If you haven’t done so yet, there’s still time. The giveaway runs through April 30.