Think about the most boring pursuit you can imagine, maybe rock collecting or bird watching (not to offend any rock/bird aficionados). Then imagine being forced to view the collector's roomful of rocks for hours at a time and comment on each one. Many authors believe that since they're so invested in their work, Patty Pringle from Tuscaloosa will be just as intrigued and engaged.
Someone posted on Reddit an idea to serialize the first eight or nine chapters of his book for free, hoping this would lead to actual sales. He's thinking like an author, not a reader. Readers are mercenaries, and why not? They don't know you, don't care about you, aren't invested in helping you succeed. They have their own lives.
Sure, a few people might read these few chapters (since they're free), but those few chapters had better be so engrossing that readers are salivating to learn what happens next. Most likely they'll read a chapter, maybe two, and think, hmmm, not bad. And then they'll forget about it. Authors exist in a bubble, and if they're the social type, they interact with other authors, all who promulgate that same magical thinking.
I will reiterate: Readers don't care. In actuality, most books are meh. There might be a handful of books I've read that kept me up late at night, obsessed with what was to come. And I was once a serial reader ~ finish one, immediately start the next.
I'm also, as a reader, jaded, which is why I'm anti-free books. What is so valuable that the owner gives it away for free? Given the choice between reading a book by an author I've enjoyed in the past and opening up a free book by some unknown, which one do you think I'll choose?
Book promotion sites and author gurus, for that matter, push this magical thinking. It makes them money! I get constant emails from one of the biggie promo sites urging me to run a free book giveaway. I'm no smarter than any other indie author ~ I've tried it. More than once. The standard lines are, you'll get reviews! and readers will buy other books in your catalog! Most free book grabbers won't even read the book. They're "collectors", the same as people who hoard rocks.
Again, readers don't care about you.
What's the winning formula? There isn't one. You can try every gimmick that pops into your brain or that some self-interested party plants inside it. You still can't make readers care.
No matter the dollops of creativity you heap upon your books, they're still a commodity. Whether that's just or not isn't the point. Yours might be the best book that no one will ever read. Don't take it personally. And don't spend money you can't afford to waste trying to make them care. Your book is just another title on a promo newsletter that subscribers scroll through at whip-speed.
I'll never make a living as a motivational speaker, but sometimes we all need to hear a little bit of truth.
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