Kindle Readers and Authors discussion

Hi

Possibly the most difficult question for indie Kindle authors.

I'm trying to answer this here with a one month experiment.

Take No More



has been selling steadily at $2.99 in the first four months of its release. For one month, in June only, the price has been dropped to 99c.

Will this make a difference in sales and get the book into the hands of more readers?

(The UK price has also been changed from £1.71 to 86p)

The idea of this thread is to document and discuss this.


Best wishes


Seb

Seb, we want numbers :o)

Lexi

Thanks.

The numbers aren't that great, but I'm ever hopeful that readers will rally round!

After the first four days of June sales are:

US - 16

UK - 32

Germany - 1

UK sales in those first 4 days of June are about 2 times the pre price drop rate.

US sales increased only somewhat - I'm connecting this with the amazon 'Summer Sunshine Deals' promotion that's discounting big pub books. That ends on June 15th, so it will be interesting to see if US sales then pick up.

Best wishes


Seb

My impression is that the UK is very price sensitive, unless the book is by a known and trusted author. Which is understandable, I guess.

As indies, our first task is to build a readership. Hard, but not impossible - Amanda Hocking did it.

Seb - if it's any use, I was selling about 1 book a week in US and about 2 a week in UK when my price was 99c / 75p. I put it up to $1.99 / $1.41 and sales stopped. Now I've put it down again and they're still dead in the water.



Having said that I suspect my blurb is rubbish so will rewrite that and I have a whole load of reviews due so will see if any of that helps.

Depressing though - I was quite pleased with my 2 a week till then....

JAC

Lexi

I think you're right. The effect of the price drop seems stronger in the UK.

I'm beginning to think that the ideal is $2.99 in the US and 86p in the UK. The only was that could be achieved, hoever, would be to accept 35% in both countries (because of amazon 'rules')!

Best wishes


Seb

J A

Good to hear from you.

One of the great advantages of Kindle publishing is that you can experiment with the product description and the cover design as many times as you like until you get it right. And that's not possible with print books! So, my advice is to keep experimenting to see what works.

Best wishes


Seb

Just to post the numbers for Take No More for the first 7 days of June of the 99c experiment:

US - 23, UK - 57, Germany - 2

Best wishes


Seb

Yup, there's a ways for me to go yet, Seb!

You've sold in Germany too? Have you done anything to publicise there or is that just allied to general presence do you think?

JAC

JAC

Thanks. The market for books in English here is not large, I believe. So sales are always going to be small. Not much marketing. The odd posting on FB and amazon discussions, that's all.

Best wishes


Seb

Just to update on my one month 'experiment' with Take No More at 99c / 86p.

Ten days in, it's quite interesting. UK sales are about two and a half times what they were at the higher price. TNM has entered the Top 1000 paid for books listing (# 532 is the highest reached so far) and it's appeared in the lower reaches of the Top 100 for Mystery and for Suspense.

Not the same response so far in the US with sales only slightly up. (The Summer Sunshine Deals promotion by amazon with the Big 6 publishers may have something to do with that - looking forward to June 15th when that finishes).

Thanks to everyone who has bought the book!

Best wishes


Seb

15th June. Halfway through the one month period with Take No More at the reduced price of 99c US, 86p UK, the numbers are:

US - 35, UK - 132, DE - 2

For the first half of the month, UK sales are almost exactly 3 times what they were over the same period at the higher price (£1.71)

But US sales are exactly the same as they were over the same period at the higher price ($2.99).

There appears to be no advantage in offering the lower price in the US.

(I'm going to publish a detailed account of this at the end of the month since I think this may have importance for indie writers seeking to develop their pricing strategy).

Best wishes


Seb

23rd June. Nearing the last week at the 99c / 86p price.
I'm going to write this up as a more detailed piece on my blog once the month ends.

Best wishes


Seb

Seb, I've seen almost exactly the same thing. A week ago I reduced The Cambridge List from $2.99 to $1.13 (I tried to make it 99c, but amazon upped it). In the UK the new price is 70p. The result has been a trebling of UK sales, though much less impact on US sales.

Looks like cheap and cheerful is the way forward in the UK! I'm sticking with it.

Robert wrote: "Seb, I've seen almost exactly the same thing. A week ago I reduced The Cambridge List from $2.99 to $1.13 (I tried to make it 99c, but amazon upped it). In the UK the new price is 7..."

I believe I saw something in the Kindle pricing that refers to a VAT, a value added tax they apparently must charge in the UK.

Seb wrote: "Hi

Possibly the most difficult question for indie Kindle authors.

I'm trying to answer this here with a one month experiment.

Take No More



ha..."

I'm on a second round of price experimentation an still fail to see any differences in sales levels U.S., UK or DE markets.

Larry wrote: "Robert wrote: "Seb, I've seen almost exactly the same thing. A week ago I reduced The Cambridge List from $2.99 to $1.13 (I tried to make it 99c, but amazon upped it). In the UK the..."

Yes, VAT is charged on most products here in the UK. Actually the situation with ebooks is a little strange: they're subject to VAT, yet print books are VAT-free. I've no idea why, though.

Robert / Larry

Yes, it's looking that way. Low price is OK in the UK but does not seem to be of value in the US. I'm wondering if this is because in the US readers believe that the book has been discounted because it can't be sold any other way and as a result is poor (perhaps, a guess, since many tree books have been heavily discounted when they don't sell?).

Leaves a difficult choice for next month. Take the 70% royalty and price at $2.99 / £1.99 and risk low UK sales, or take 30% royalty and price at $2.99 / £0.99.

That's one I'm going to have to think over..... : )

Hi

I've published my review of the effect on Take No More of reducing the price to 99c during June.

The article is here:

How to price your book - $2.99 or 99c?

Some interesting outcomes. I'd be interested to hear views.

Best wishes



Seb

It will be interesting to see the results in July, after your experiment. It could be that the UK market increased because your previous customers started recommending your book to their friends. It could be that the US customers bought so much on the sale that they had enough to read for the summer. Nonetheless this is an interesting experiement! Maybe some markets are more interested in bargains, while others (myself included) wonder if there's something wrong when an item is priced so low.

Vered

Thanks.

Your predictions are coming eerily true for sales of Take No More in July.

I'm going to post an update at the end of the month that I hope will add to the story.

I tried my book at 2.99 and didn't sell many. Then I dropped it to .99 and sold a few more but still not great. Then I gave it away for free and sold over two hundred. If they enjoyed the book, I'm hoping they'll return for the rest of the series, and I won't give those away.

K.C., doubt it will work. The "free on the Internet" mentality is becoming pervasive. Just ask Borders, a major bookseller that's on the verge of shutting down all operations. In Publishers Weekly's latest newsletter a Borders employee talks about all the people who used to take books from the shelves and read them while sipping a cup of coffee. Borders forgot a key principle of retailing: Never forget what you're selling. Instead of books they were selling coffee while people read the books for free and even decided to buy them online. Borders also made that easy by having WiFi so coffee drinkers could find a book, power up their laptops and order the book online at a discounted price! A big DUH to the Borders exec who came up with that concept.

K.C.

Yes, that's what a number of authors are trying. Be interesting to her if you can transfer the attention to the rest of your series.

I conducted a "Summer Special Sale" of my mystery: Murder in the Pinelands. I dropped the price from $3.99 to $0.99 for the weeks heading into the Independence Day holiday. Although I heavily promoted it as a limited time discounted price, sales actually DROPPED at $0.99. Despite a four-star review. Rather a shock to my system as the "popular" wisdom is more books should sell at the bargain price. Guess I go back to trusting my gut and its decades of experience in the book biz.

Larry

Very interesting.

I'm getting ready for an end of July update on my experience with Take No More now that the price has gone back up. Some unexpected effects!

Best wishes


Seb

Seb wrote: "Larry

Very interesting.

I'm getting ready for an end of July update on my experience with Take No More now that the price has gone back up. Some unexpected effects!

Best wishes
..."

Look forward to learning what you discovered. I'm also trying a variation of information on one of my books to see if it affects sales. Will report any notable results. :-)

Hi

Here's the link to that July update:

http://noveltakenomore.blogspot.com/2...

And there's a rather interesting reply there from a publisher.....

Best wishes


Seb

Hi

August has been a tough month, I hear.

I've posted a one week survey of my promotional activity that covers the first week in August. Surprised myself.

You can check it out here:

http://noveltakenomore.blogspot.com/2...

Best wishes


Seb

99 cents is usually my introductory price for new books. Then I bump up to $2.99. That seems to be as high as people are willing to pay for my work at this point. Then, I drop it to 99 cents at certain times during the month and throughout the year for promotional purposes.

Hi

Just to report that I've settled on $2.99 (£1.99 in the UK) as the price point now for over a year. Seems to have worked quite well, though you have to allow for quiet periods when mainstream publishers discount top names to near zero prices, as is the case right now in the UK with many on offer at £0.20 (about $0.30)

Best wishes


Seb