Pricing your e-book can be tricky. Authors get conflicting advice. “Don’t sell yourself short” as opposed to “don’t price yourself out of the market”, and so on. Authors (especially indie authors) generally spend many long hours not only writing the book, but revising, editing, and proofing. It takes devotion. After that comes marketing and promotion, which takes a serious investment of time. That effort is worth something. Yet we’ve all heard the success stories of authors like Amanda Hocking and JA Konrath and the 99 cent phenomenon.
So I decided to give it a try. I lowered the price on my first novel, The Profiteer, from $2.99 down to 99 cents. And I was surprised at what happened. I expected my first book to outpace my second because of the bargain price. However, that is not the case. The bottom line is, sales went down rather than up on The Profiteer. But why?
Around the same time, I released my second romance novel, Sweeter for the Pain, and I don’t know if that had any impact on the sales of my first book. I will concede there might be some connection. However, I find it puzzling that my second book outsells my first one by a ratio of approximately eight to one, even though it costs more.
Both books are approximately the same length and fit into the same genre. They are alike in that regard. It’s possible that the storyline of the second book (scarred, reluctant man/compassionate, determined woman) has a wider appeal than that of the first book (small town fears/big business encroachment). Or perhaps, in my enthusiasm over the new release, I slacked on my promotion of the first book. But I don’t think so. Could it be, and I almost hate to mention this, that 99 cent books carry a stigma? Do readers see the 99 cent price and think, it must not be a very good book if it’s that cheap?
I hope not. Because I’ve read a lot of really good 99 cent books, books I felt lucky to find.
After much thought, I’ve decided to raise the price of The Profiteer back to $2.99 at the end of this month. Even when I lowered it to 99 cents, I intended it to be temporary, a summer special. But I’m not waiting until the end of summer to make the change. If sales go down, it tells me that lowering the price was the wrong move. At least for me, for that particular book.
Authors and readers, what do you think? Do you judge a book’s quality by its price? Authors, do you sell more copies when your price is lower, or when it’s higher? Readers, are you willing to take a chance on a 99 cent book or does the low price make you cautious? I’m interested to know what you have to say!
Here are some links on the subject, if you wish to know more:
http://www.cnet.com/news/the-rise-of-the-99-cent-kindle-e-book/
http://indiereader.com/2011/12/the-99-cent-debate-how-do-we-value-our-writing/
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2012/07/99-cents.html
So I decided to give it a try. I lowered the price on my first novel, The Profiteer, from $2.99 down to 99 cents. And I was surprised at what happened. I expected my first book to outpace my second because of the bargain price. However, that is not the case. The bottom line is, sales went down rather than up on The Profiteer. But why?
Around the same time, I released my second romance novel, Sweeter for the Pain, and I don’t know if that had any impact on the sales of my first book. I will concede there might be some connection. However, I find it puzzling that my second book outsells my first one by a ratio of approximately eight to one, even though it costs more.
Both books are approximately the same length and fit into the same genre. They are alike in that regard. It’s possible that the storyline of the second book (scarred, reluctant man/compassionate, determined woman) has a wider appeal than that of the first book (small town fears/big business encroachment). Or perhaps, in my enthusiasm over the new release, I slacked on my promotion of the first book. But I don’t think so. Could it be, and I almost hate to mention this, that 99 cent books carry a stigma? Do readers see the 99 cent price and think, it must not be a very good book if it’s that cheap?
I hope not. Because I’ve read a lot of really good 99 cent books, books I felt lucky to find.
After much thought, I’ve decided to raise the price of The Profiteer back to $2.99 at the end of this month. Even when I lowered it to 99 cents, I intended it to be temporary, a summer special. But I’m not waiting until the end of summer to make the change. If sales go down, it tells me that lowering the price was the wrong move. At least for me, for that particular book.
Authors and readers, what do you think? Do you judge a book’s quality by its price? Authors, do you sell more copies when your price is lower, or when it’s higher? Readers, are you willing to take a chance on a 99 cent book or does the low price make you cautious? I’m interested to know what you have to say!
Here are some links on the subject, if you wish to know more:
http://www.cnet.com/news/the-rise-of-the-99-cent-kindle-e-book/
http://indiereader.com/2011/12/the-99-cent-debate-how-do-we-value-our-writing/
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2012/07/99-cents.html