Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

Has anyone tried the "you set the price" pricing option on Smashwords?

I just released a new edition of my book and dropped the price to $2.99 on Amazon, and on Smashwords I set the suggested price at $2.99 but also opted to let people pay whatever they want.

This pricing option reminds me of what Radiohead did with their "In Rainbows" album. Apparently they actually sold a lot of albums even though they gave everyone the option of downloading it for free. Then again, Radiohead is extremely well known and established, and I am not...

Anyway, I'm really curious to see if anything comes of this. I'd also love to hear feedback from anyone who has tried this.

The number one problem any indie author has, is getting their work publicised.

Experimenting with the pricing model is, unfortunately, like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.

I've seen the 'set your price' option on Smashwords. I'm not a writer, just a reviewer, but if a book captures my interest enough for me to want to read and review, I will usually pay the price recommended.

However, having said this, some Authors set their price ridiculously high. I saw a short on there today, 75 pages, that the Author wanted $5.99 for. As much as I would like to read this, I refuse to pay the price of a full length trade paperback.

If you are going to use this option Authors, please don't over-inflate the price as readers will then lean towards the $0.00 cost.

Good point, Cate. My book was originally priced at $4.99, but I just lowered it to $2.99. Paradise Squandered is about 60,000 words, and I feel like even $4.99 is a reasonable price, but as I am not a well-known author, I figure that $2.99 will probably seem like less of a gamble to most readers.

I am going to check out your book when I get to my laptop.

Smashwords' premium outlets do not allow for "set your own price," so consider that in your marketing plan. :-)

Thanks, Sharon :)

I'm sure this will sound like heresy here, but my kindle version is .99 cents. I sold quite a few at 3.99, but I wanted it cheaper to see what effect that would have on sales. Sure enough, sales went up (no big shock there) but I have a sort of weird experiment I'm doing now.

The rough draft of my book is available online, for free. You can read it for free, if you don't mind reading it online, rough, and week to week.

My thinking is that nobody knows who the heck I am. Doing this has given me a reasonably large readership that I wouldn't have had otherwise. My blog's actually a happening place, so when the book finally came out, people bought it even though in many cases, they'd already read it. I included some new content, but still.

It's an experiment in progress. I kind of consider this first book (it's a series) as a lost leader. I'll let you know how it goes, but so far, it's actually not working out too badly.

As Michael up there says, getting your stuff publicized is the number one challenge and he's right. If they can't afford a buck so they can lay in bed and read it on their kindle instead of hunched over a laptop, they ain't gonna buy my book anyway.

I haven't tried the "set your own price" thing. I wasn't aware that was an option. Is that something you can do with Amazon, or is that strictly Smashwords?

The thing to take into consideration for setting your own price isn't what you deem fair it's what you think the customer will go for. The more reasonable price the more likely the appeal.

Regina, that's a really interesting thing you tried, putting your rough draft online for anyone to read for free.

And I also agree with Michael, that getting your stuff publicized is the number one challenge. I know it's been pretty challenging for me so far. But it's been a rewarding endeavor, too.

And as far as the "set your own price" thing goes, as far as I know, that's only an option on Smashwords. I know for sure Amazon does not allow it. And none of the retailers Smashwords ships to (the premium catalog) allow this option either. They all sell your work based on the "suggested price" that you set through Smashwords. Or, if you don't set a suggested price, they list your book at $4.95.

And Justin, I agree with you that it doesn't matter what price an author thinks their book should sell for. But don't you think a customer will go for having the option to pay whatever they deem fair? I'm hoping this is the case :)

Very interesting topic. I confess when I just published my recent short story, I had no idea of what would be a fair price for it. So I set it to 4 USD.

Then got some tips from other authors, recommending me to go down on the price, and the lower I could set on Amazon was 2.99

As I just published it, I don't know how the work will be accepted, and I don't know people would be willing to pay for it, as I am a debutant fiction author. (Have written an art book previously, though).

But as said here, if one is interested enough, they'd probably pay the price the author/retailer shows...

I'm working on a plan to serialize the first book in my client's series as well. I'm eager to hear how this goes for you!