Connecting Readers and Writers discussion

Ebooks are cheap. A lot of authors price their books for 0.99 (even FREE!) to get their name out there, but does that devalue the book? I saw a great banner for a book, but when I saw it was 0.99 I felt differently about it.

Would $0.99 change your mind about a book? Is $2.99 too high or is it like baby bear's porridge?

Juuuuuuust right.

I am more likely to try an author I haven't read before at 0.99 or free(I love free) than 2.99 but am more likely to pay 2.99 than say 8.99 or more. Also if the ebook is more expensive than the printed copy I tend to skip it altogether. Well until I drop off some books at the nearly new since I am overloaded again!!

I will pay up to 4.99 for an ebook I want. After that, I pretty much buy the paperback. I just bought a self pub for 99 cents. I was excited to read this book (and I won't complain if that's all she asked me to pay) but I would have paid more. I think the author's time and effort is worth more. If you write, don't you think so, too?

$2.99-3.99 feels like the right price for an e-book of average length (65-80k words) and decent quality (good story and real EDITING). If higher, why not have the actual paperback? $.99 does seem to give the impression of a lower quality book (whether that's true or not) and turn potential readers away.

As an author, I adopted a fair politic: novels at 2.99, short stories at 0.99. It took me seven months to write my first novel, zillions of hours of editing, proofreading, text replacing sessions, and horrible nights spent learning how to develop the right formatting for each kind of device. Well, I'll never sell an 82.000 words novel for less than 2.99 and it will never be free.
Short stories are different. Some are testing grounds, samples to get readers to get acquainted to my style. Why ask people to spend more than a buck for 6 or 10 pages?
Just my two cents.

The danger of selling too low is that you undervalue your own product. If the author says it's only worth a buck, is it really any good? A bit like how the store brand is always so much cheaper than a national makes people wonder "is the quality not there?"

Of course a true market analyst might tell me that the sales you get from the "hey it's only a buck" will make up the "meh.. how good is it?"

I've thought the same thing. Usually when I see a book for .99 I assume it's indie or self-pub, but when I see a book worth a little more I associate that with a larger publishing company, better editing, ect... For me the price of a book doesn't effect my choice to purchase or not. If I like the blurb I download the "sample" for free, read the first chapter then decide if I want to buy it. If I like it I'll buy it regardless of price.

I have yet to publish my book, but when I do I plan to set it's price at 2.99 then run sales where I put it up for .99. "This week, only .99". I do think that .99 price can attract readers to unknown authors if used correctly. Also when I publish the sequel to the book I'm writing now, I will probably drop the first book's price down to .99 to help get more people into the series.

You might find this article useful The Rise of the 99-cent Kindle e-book: cnet

If you're talking ebook of poor story value, then okay at $0.95. But if you're talking of good story value, then no.

I'd much rather pay $9.00 for an excellent extraordinary story --- one that captivates and inspires me --- than $0.95or $2.95 for one that doesn't. When price takes precedence over superb quality, then what's that say? But, of course, when you can get superb quaity at a cheap price, go for it!

This is a really good question. I've been doing a lot of researching on appropriate pricing and, well... there's a lot of opinions out there. Then when you factor in that e-publishing allows for all sorts of stories (short stories, novelettes, novellas, novels), it complicates the situation even more.

What seems to be the general consensus at this point is that the 99-cent price point has gained a bit of a stigma. I've seen more and more comments from authors advocating higher prices (from 2.99-3.99 for full length novels).

My novella is currently priced at .99 cents. I feel this is a fair value given its 17.5k words and meant to introduce readers to a series. But once I do complete my first novel, I plan on going with the 2.99 price point as that pricing seems to be optimal.

Not too cheap for me since I get my physical books at the library for free! .99 definitely screams "indie" but that's why I got an e-reader in the first place, for access to indie books.

I feel bad to buy at 99c - although I do, I snap them up, but I think, jeez, this is worth more. I know it's worth a price to me from the sample. If it wasn't - from the sample - I wouldn't spend 99c either. If I want the book, I'll spend what I have to. Charge me, guys: I understand how much you've spent on your book. That's my attitude.

I don't see the bad point in the word 'Indie'.
I personally know many published authors that self-pub short stories - even old novels - at 99c. Billie Sue Mosiman has won numerous prizes and has been around by more than 25 years. Now, she's scanning, editing, and formatting her successful novels for the Kindle general public. I know there's a lot of trash out there. I had the misfortune of meeting a self-pub 'writer' putting out short stories anthologies with a basic understanding of his own language (screaming 'EXTREME' every 5 secs doesn't help)and a self-inflated ego as large as the whole of Nevada.
Nonetheless, there are hundred of excellent authors out there, gracing us for less than a 'Starstruck'coffee (that's intentional).
Indie = Trash? .99c = Indie? .99c = Trash?
I don't think so.

To me indie books are like indie movies. Not trash (did I imply that???), but different. You know, Blair Witch vs. Jurassic Park. To make a broad generalization, less polished but more original. I have a friend who only reads "established" authors even on her e-reader and I truly feel it's her loss.

I have several titles available. I have priced them at various levels over time. People have told me that they feel a certain "negative preconception" towards books that are priced at .99c.

I agreed with them, and therefore do not price any of my work at that level.

My solution? My singles (short essays) are priced at $1.00.

Plus, if your work isn't dreck, then it is worth more than .99c.

And that is my 1c contribution to the debate.

PS: If you want to stand out from the crowd of "indie authors". . .

Write BETTER than most, don't force readers to become your editors, and finally, keep writing.

No, Masha, you didn't imply that, of course. I was referring to various blogger who often link 'Indie' with trash, and 99c to self-publish. I see your point (Blair Witch vs Jurassic Park), yes that's a nice analogy.
I must confess I had an amicable argument with my friend Billie Sue about the less than a dollar issue. I felt that her masterworks were undervalued and offering them for free (under KDP promo policy) a sacrilege. However, she rebuked that's the price to pay in the wild frontier of self-pub.
My Best

Is it better to sell one book at a $1000 or a 1000 books at a $1?

I set my books originally at $4.00 and my short stories at $0.99. My short stories sold quite well and my stories slower. After a lot of fiddling with prices and experimentation, I lowered my prices to $0.99 across the board and have steady sales. I should mention that my books are short at 20k, 30k, 50k.

I offer my short stories for free for weekends through KDP, and the sales are slowly picking up through it.

Sometimes it isn't about how much you charge, but getting your foot in the door. I'm happy that I can sell books that people want to read, and the price I sell them is incidental to me.

I'm probably never going to get rich doing this, and just making a little money on the side is fine for me.

Gerald wrote: "If you're talking ebook of poor story value, then okay at $0.95. But if you're talking of good story value, then no.

I'd much rather pay $9.00 for an excellent extraordinary story --- one that c..."

I'm never going to pay $9.00 for an ebook, not even for a new Koontz book and he's my favorite author. If I am going to have to spend upwards of $9.00 I'll just get a paper copy. If the author only has ebooks? Oh well there are plenty of other books out there to read.

I want people to read my books. I give a couple away, I sell the rest at 2.99. If they like the freebies, over a year or so the reviews will build positively, and those other 2.99 books will look more attractive.

Really, to me, it's just about getting as many people to read the stuff as possible. If that takes giving some of it away, that's what it takes. I don't have a PR agency or budget behind me, so I have to use the tools available.

Of course being free devalues the work. I spent months writing my first detective novel, but I knew when I started I was going to give it away. So while it irks me, it'll irk me a lot less if people read it. I can always raise the price 18 months from now if it becomes popular.

As a reader, I see 99c books as the gateway to the authors bigger and better things.

I don't see the price tag as a negative thing. I've bought many 99c books that were worth a lot more, and I try to offer constructive and informative reviews of the books, encouraging others to buy them if I think they're good.

I have also bought others for more than 99c which weren't worth the money paid...

It comes down to the individual. I'm more likely to give an author I don't know a go at 99c than if their books are $5-6 or more.

I do think that some people do have the mental concept that 99c books are worse than the higher priced ones, but hey, it's not always true!

As an ebook buyer I don't see much difference between .99 cents and 2.99. I'll basically take a chance on anything less than three bucks if it looks interesting. I start really weighing purchases over 5 dollars and almost never spend more than 10, even for a big name I know I like. (the one exception is reference manuals, it's worth paying print price to not have to lug around computer reference books.)
That said, from an author's perspective I think it's almost foolish to set the price at 99 cents. The difference between that and 2.99 is not going to be huge in terms of sales and the extra cash adds up quickly. Besides you can set the price higher and then offer periodic deals.

Rachel wrote: "...I think it's almost foolish to set the price at 99 cents. The difference between that and 2.99 is not going to be huge in terms of sales ..."

Interestingly, that's exactly what I discovered wasn't true. I've had a lot more sales through 0.99 prices than 2.99 prices. Maybe people think my work isn't worth 2.99!

Tony wrote: "Rachel wrote: "...I think it's almost foolish to set the price at 99 cents. The difference between that and 2.99 is not going to be huge in terms of sales ..."

Interestingly, that's exactly what..."

It may be that people who don't have a book in mind just go online and browse by price, so all free and 99 cent books show up earlier than 2.99. Also psychologically 99 cents is so close to free people don't feel like they are spending money. After plopping $100+ on an e-reader they may want to only get free and almost free for a while.

I think people are willing to pay $4.00 - $5.00 dollars for an author they've heard of - they know what they're getting from the Stephen Kings and Dan Browns of the world, and don't have any idea about us at the bottom.

Readers are taking a chance with us down here in the mines, and we have to establish trust with them.

Let them know every time they see your name, they're in for a good time, even if that means you don't make a million overnight (and really, is that why you got into writing?).

When that trust happens...then you can charge $4.00, and readers will know that you're worth it.

Tony wrote: "Let them know every time they see your name, they're in for a good time, even if that means you don't make a million overnight (and really, is that why you got into writing?)."

Agreed. I feel that my price of 99 cents is making it easier for someone to take a chance on me. I want my book to be read.

I agree, however, to avoid the ".99c" stigma, just price them at $1.00.

$1.00 is as easy to spend as .99c, separates you from the hordes of titles at that price, etc.

Just my .1c worth.

Just my .1c worth."

LOL.

I remember reading about marketing research where it was concluded that people only looked at the number to the left of the decimal, and not to the right.

Hence, $0.99 was psychologically a lot cheaper than $1.00.

Personally, I don't buy it (no pun intended). I look at all the numbers when I buy something!

There is an interesting thread at kindleboards about this today that stems from a post from a popular UK writer/blogger. In it, he suggests that one of the risks of offering $.99 or free books is that the reader is just getting the book because it's free, which means they may or may not be the reader for whom the book was written, leading in turn to a negative review.

While I'm not overly concerned by a reader's view, I believe there is some truth to the notion of people doing something just because they can (how many to-read books never get read on this site?) One of the problems I see, as a newly self-published author, is that we are in a great rush to have our books out there, being discovered, being read, being reviewed, liked, etc. that we feel this strong impulse to hurry it along, so we do things we normally wouldn't, like give our hard work away for absolutely no profit. I know that I feel that way now, to my personal—and honestly-speaking—great dissatisfaction, as I did not write the book in just one month, so how can I expect it to become successful in that same amount of time. I can't. It'd be nice if I could, but I can't.

I have to believe that if the writing is good, people will find it—I know, I know, before anyone starts. Plenty of great books go unread (and we all think our work is to die for). Even so, it's difficult for me to abandon my work and this book to an audience (and yes, a price) I had never intended. True, there are those who will pick it up by mistake and hate it. There are those who will pick it up by mistake and not hate it. And then there are those who will pick it up and like it because they and I are a lot alike. We enjoy the same stories, we read the same authors, we share many of life's same passions. Those are the ones my marketing needs to reach. That I believe is the real challenge: How to do that in a way that does not stand it apart from the discipline and years of effort that went in to writing it. I don't know the answer, but as a writer I have to believe it comes in words, not in currency signs.

The opposite might be true, though. People who are disappointed in a book for which they paid full price will be harsher in their reviews and complain it's a waste of money.

Plus, with the abundance of free and 99 cent e-books people still need to be selective since their reading time is limited. I personally have never given less than 3 stars to a free/99 cent e-book because I am extremely fussy in picking them. So once I get one I am guaranteed to enjoy it at least a little.

My sales picked up after I changed my price from $0.99 to $2.99. I think there is a level of respect for a book that cost a bit of money that people inherently like.

I think it really depends on the length of the book. If it's a novella then $0.99 is ok. If it's a full length book, I actually expect to pay more. I offer my novella (Quarantine) for $0.99 because it's so darn short and I feel ok about it. I think it's a good way to give readers a "taste" of your style so it can lead them to other (more expensive) books. Or that's the advice I've been given. We'll see if it works.

I am an Indie author (sounds better than self-published) and I plan to put my book that normally sells for $2.99 on sale for .99 from time to time to encourage the people who only read books by names they know to give it a try. I am hoping that someone who wouldn't have normally bought will read it, love it and pass the word along. So far it has worked. Last month I ran my book for .99 cents for a little over a week in honor of Child Abuse Prevention Month. Sales did go up and so did my Amazon rankings. Just this morning I received a review and four star rating on Goodreads from someone who said she decided to give it a try because it was .99.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13...

I took a peek at this reviewer's bookshelf and found that she almost always reads books by traditional publishers.

I must admit it was tempting to leave it at .99, but my husband wouldn't let me; he said I worked too hard to sell so cheap.

I agree with Leigh's husband. We Indies work way too hard to give away our product; "selling" the fruits of our labors -- the children of our souls -- for a mere 99 cents is, in fact, doing just that. I feel that $2.99 (the current price of my novels) is as well an insulting figure for a craftsman, but if it sells more books and gets my name out there, I guess it's worth the sacrifice.

Medusa: A Caitlin McHugh Mystery

Cipher

Anything worth reading is worth paying at least $2.99 for, assuming that it is more than a short story, and even a "really good" short story is worth that much to me.

Ebooks in general, unless they are non-fiction topics with specialized information, should not be priced higher than $9.99, and you best make sure your work shines like a diamond at that level.

I do agree that selling shorts or chapters for $1.00 is a good strategy, but stay away from the freebies . . .

I don't think it matters much what I think a book is "worth"--I think that is the reader's decision. I have sold books from everywhere between free (hundreds of thousands) to $9.99 for a box set. Today I wouldn't pay more than $2.99 for any ebook because I believe the price of all of them is eventually coming down, and I have enough books now that I can afford to be patient.

It's a question that's tormented me as well. The strategy I incorporated for my first self-published novella, "My Indian Queen" (https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...) was to list it at $2.99, which I think is fair for a 33k novella; I then uploaded several of my short stories for free, to give readers a taste of my writing style.

It's disappointing that some people only read books priced at 0.99 or free, while others won't touch them. Really, it's all about the preference of the individual. However, if you're interested, check out what Mark Coker had to say on the topic at: http://blog.smashwords.com/. He even prepared a presentation for it. It's a really interesting study with data encompassing millions of dollars in book sales and more than 50,000 books. The price impact of e-books is also discussed.

Excellent blog by Mark Coker. Thanks for sharing it. I think he really proved the point, .99 cents or free moves books, but 2.99 is about the best combination of selling books and making money. It's interesting that the 1.00 to 1.99 price fares so poorly.

Rachel wrote: "Excellent blog by Mark Coker. Thanks for sharing it. I think he really proved the point, .99 cents or free moves books, but 2.99 is about the best combination of selling books and making money. It'..."

I found it very interesting. I think that it also comes down to the quality of the book and how well the author promotes it. A lot of it is price, yes, but a lot is also effort. If I sell a book for $2.99 and do nothing to promote it, chances are good it won't sell. And imagine that it's poor quality. People will give it negative reviews and then it's all over.

I think 99 cents is too cheap for a good book. $2.99 is still a great bargain for a story that may be with you for the rest of your life. Best wishes, Stephen Livingston.

Rachel wrote: "Excellent blog by Mark Coker. Thanks for sharing it. I think he really proved the point, .99 cents or free moves books, but 2.99 is about the best combination of selling books and making money. It'..."

I'm coming into this discussion a little late and haven't really posted in this group much before so I apologize if I sound like a fly-by poster mouthing off or something.

Thanks for posting about Mark's excellent blog, Kevin, I was getting a bit dismayed reading this thread (I get the threads via email and read once a week but haven't made time to come by and actually TALK to anyone here until now--just got my first book released so I can hopefully talk more. Look out! haha)

I saw Mark's excellent slideshare when he first tweeted the link to the slideshare a few weeks ago. You can get all of his Smashwords Slideshare presentations here, by the way:

http://www.slideshare.net/Smashwords/presentations

I'm a little concerned that Rachel's immediate reaction (and in fact, the sentiment on this thread prior to the posting of this slideshare) was to think the $2.99 price is a good place to be. It was identified as good for a VERY specific kind of book--two kinds actually:

1) non-fiction
2) shorter novels in the 60,000 to 80,000 word range

I happen to write novels in excess of the 100,000 word length (typically more like 140k-160k) and these are regarded as "long novels" for which the "sweet spot" is $5.99 - as documented in the slide share. I was a little surprised it wasn't higher (I would have guessed $7.99 since the traditional publishers keep pushing their drivel about $9.99 to $12.99 prices being remotely appropriate for an ebook).

I agree that $7.99 is a "high" price compared to a 99c book but TBH, I'm not writing 99c books. That is, I think the 99c eBook is the equivalent of the 10c pulp novels of the last century. Amazing, isn't it, that a 80-100 years ago this exact debate was waging when these new fangled things called pulp fiction came out? I think it's wild...but I digress.

If $5.99 is the sweet spot for books of 100,000 or more words, doesn't it seem a little disproportionate for novels that are "under 100,000" by only 20k words (i.e., an 80,000 word novel) are priced at HALF that? It seems like the 20,000 to 40,000 word difference ought not to cost an author such a huge disparity in pricing.

I hadn't seen the slideshare when I released my first book (a VERY long - over 200k words!! -- SciFi novel under a pen name) so I priced it at $7.99 on Smashwords. Actually, I had it higher on Amazon ($8.99) because Amazon pays less and charges us authors delivery costs when people download books via Whispernet (free to customers; the AUTHORS pay the "delivery fees" or didn't anyone here read the fine print on that?) I still make more at Smashwords for a dollar less cover price.

I need to give the book at least a month or 6 weeks to establish before I start messing around with the prices but I just caved to Twitter and Facebook pressure to lower the Amazon price to match the Smashwords price. I'm positive I'll never go lower than $5.99 and might not go below $6.99 - or at least not until after the annual July blowout sale Smashwords holds every July.

I think 99c pulp fiction is fine but it sets an expectation for all eBooks to be cheap cheap cheap. I'm sorry but I invested 8 grueling months of editing, employed 3 people to review and proofread, engaged a professional graphic artist and have spent hundreds of labor hours setting up promotion of my book. It's worth WAY more than 99c.

Now my current project, a non-fiction piece (I'm editing blog posts into coherency to sell as an eBook) I'll sell at $2.99, no problem, but that's the sweet spot for non-fiction....at least according to Mark. He has over 100,000 books from which to glean statistical data so I'll take his slideshare as good data. For now.

Here's to hoping one day Amazon shares actual data of selling patterns with its Authors. Then again, don't hold your breath! LOL

-sry
Sarah, The Webbiegrrl Writer
@webbiegrrl

I price my books at $2.99. Last week, I put the first book in my series on "sale" for 99cents over Mother's Day weekend. It's only temporary, and I will change it back to it's normal price this week. It has had an increase sales over the weekend, putting me snugly back in the better half of the top 100 in my book's category.
The pattern I see with my sales in general is that, one day my first book will have sales, then a few days later, sales on the other books pick up. I tend to think that means that people have enjoyed the first book, and come back for the rest. So, by offering the first book at a 99cent temporary price every once in a while, I think is helpful for my overall sales.

I'm glad to hear from you on this, Sarah, and I'll have to mull over what you say. I'm a bit similar in that mine are 210k and 240k, and I wonder where they fit (when Smashwords, in searches, calls 'epic' size 100k+). I felt bold to put them at $5.

I don't like the cheap-as-chips approach, unless for flyaway writing. As you say, we have costs; mine were research books, to the tune of thousands.

And no, I didn't read the fine print on Whispernet delivery (so how much?).

Peggy, your observation is defintiely well-founded. That behavior is a tactic that's been documented for decades and there's even a term for it. The first book they get cheap or free is called a "loss leader" because you lead with a book on which you expect to take a loss.

My rationale for loss leaders, however, is along the lines of giving it away free rather than devaluing it by pricing it "low." If it's offered free "for a limited time" (or once I have 5 or 6 books out, I'll offer one free all the time) then it's seen as a valuable product you are GIFTING as an introductory offer--introductory to my writing, not to my pricing. Setting a low price sets a psychological barrier to ever having anything worth more than 99c. It's hard to offer one for 99c and then see others at $5.99 or more. Of course, if your "expensive" books are still as low as $2.99 then you're okay. Both price points are "cheap" in the minds of customers. That is, people won't balk at going from 99c to $2.99.

It's just a problem when your loss leader tries to lead into a substantially priced product line. Going from "cheap" to even "average" feels "expensive" to people once you set that bar as low as 99c.

Or so the marketing industry has proven for the last 75 years. Maybe eBooks will change the way people buy for the first time in history (not likely)

-sry
@webbiegrrl

Bryn wrote: "I'm glad to hear from you on this, Sarah, and I'll have to mull over what you say. I'm a bit similar in that mine are 210k and 240k, and I wonder where they fit (when Smashwords, in seaches, calls ..."

Bryn, answering in reverse, my 230k word book is being assessed at 12c delivery costs by KDP.

If your books are fiction, you can definitely get $5 but make it $4.99 for the psychological impact of the -99 ending (plus Apple requires it and you want iTunes distribution don't you?) Both iTunes and Nook books can and should be higher priced. This is one of the reasons why so many authors do partial distributions with Smashwords and part of them on their own, direct. You can still choose to have Meatgrinder generall ALL formats. Opting out of the distribution channel is totally separate from what formats you allow Smashwords to sell for you. When the clientele is richer, charge more. Whatever the market will bear :)


You also have to consider your genre. My long books are SciFi and those fans are more willing to pay $5.99 to $7.99 for an eBook. My 120k-140k books are Romantic Suspense and those readers are used to 80,000 word books - and prefer them cheap. The romance readers are voracious, more so than SF/F fans (who are not slackers but romance readers are seriously voracious!!) so one has to consider volume versus price, also. I don't know what I'll charge for my Romantic Suspense but probably in the $3.99 to $4.99 range. Definitely never lower than $2.99 - I'll give it away free (see my post above referencing "loss leader" logic)

Sometimes you just have to play with the price to find out what your market will bear. I'm broke and counting on selling books to make an extra income. I can't afford to sell them too cheap or I won't be able to afford to keep writing. I work part time to allow myself time to write. The books have to at least support themselves, if not me! :)

-sry
@webbiegrrl

Thanks, Sarah, for these meaty posts. Keep talking to us.

I see your truths about genre. Your genres are amongst the most fortunate, and I hope you sell wildly (I'm curious about your SF but I can't ask for your other ID).

Didn't know any of that about different clienteles for Nook and Apple; I'll think that through, too. You're very savvy in these parts.

Me too: went part-time to write, hope the books may come to support themselves; the thought of them supporting me was a past fantasy...

$5 - Smashwords, who distributes mine, changes the price to suit Apple. But I don't do the 99c, because... I feel that indie gives us an opportunity to get away from old 'market' thought, the bad aspects. I have no wish to try to trick or muck about with my precious (few) purchasers. That's the thought behind that, anyhow.

I write High Fantasy and I just raised the price of my book to 2.99 to test a lot of these theories. I hope it works because the 99 cent price got us on the best seller lists and I don't want to loose that traction. The traction should be easy enough to get back if it doesn't work, but it would be nice if it goes well since the income supports two authors :-)

Good luck Jack. Osric's wand is definitely worth $2.99!

Hi Bryn, my schedule doesn't allow me to stop by here daily on an unlimited basis but I don't know if I'm capable of writing a short post ;-) You'll have to judge if I'm merely prolific or continue to be "meaty" in my replies. You wrote:

$5 - Smashwords, who distributes mine, changes the price to suit Apple. But I don't do the 99c, because... I feel that indie gives us an opportunity to get away from old 'market' thought, the bad aspects. I have no wish to try to trick or muck about with my precious (few) purchasers. That's the thought behind that, anyhow.

The $x.99 isn't a Smashwords "trick" nor is it "old market thought" so much as it is a reality about human psychology. It's scientific fact--being used to the advantage of people who sell things--that people respond to "savings" and "getting a deal." This means, in general, people would prefer to pay $4.99 than they would to cough up one more cent to pay $5.00 (even). I'm not coming up with these ideas; but this "ain't my first rodeo" as they say. That "old market thought" as you're calling it, Bryn, is using scientifically proven human behavior instead of working against it.

Jack wrote: "I write High Fantasy and I just raised the price of my book to 2.99 to test a lot of these theories. I hope it works because the 99 cent price got us on the best seller lists and I don't want to loose that traction. The traction should be easy enough to get back if it doesn't work, but it would be nice if it goes well since the income supports two authors :-)"

I hope it works out for you, Jack, just don't raise your expectations too high based exclusively on a price change--especially not a raising of the price! The price is not the only factor making your book sell--or causing it to fail to sell. There's cover art, description, editorial reviews and of course, reader reviews (if you have; the hardest thing to get is the reader reviews but that's why they are such a powerful sales tool). If you've got an established readership with established reader reviews, then you probably have a working cover design and effective sales copy in your book description. It is definitely possible (not likely but possible) that your cover design and sales copy / blurb were not effective but that your 99c price overrode those because 99c is, to some people, "not a risk."

Raising the price after having established a book's market position isn't a particularly smart move. I mean, established readership already "expected" your book to be a 99c book so getting them to change their mind is a heck of a lot harder than planting a different idea in there from the start. I'm not saying don't raise the price; I'm saying don't expect that to work out in a positive way. High Fantasy is definitely a good genre for higher prices--in fact, if your book's over 100,000 words, your genre market will bear as much as mine in SciFi - up to $5.99 for the sweet spot. If your book's 100k words or less, though, keep it to $2.99 as that's the sweet spot for "shorter" books (and under 100k is considered a shorter book).

Launching the book at $2.99 would have been a totally different story (excuse the pun). That's one of the key Immutable Laws of Marketing (Law 3: Law of the Mind). It ties directly into Law 4: Law of Perception. The reality of a situation isn't anywhere near as important or as relevant as is the customer's perception. That may be unfair or seem like a battle you cannot possibly win, but there is a way to win that battle for the mind. It's called Positioning--and that's the name of THE book by Al Ries and Jack Trout. That is, these guys wrote THE book and that's it. Position: the Battle for the Mind and their books on Marketing Laws and Branding are ALL still at the top of the Amazon Best Seller's lists. If you've never read anything by these guys, read them now.

Or wait for me to finish editing my blog series because I'm making the 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing (for Indie Authors) series into an eBook (which I'll sell for $2.99 *smile*) I'm up to Law 3 and working on the edits today and tomorrow. Hopefully have it done next week. It's coming out much more readable, much less "rambling." Yes, I know I ramble. It's a blog, for gossake. I'm allowed to ramble on a blog. Not so in the eBook form. Then again, the blogs are all free :)

-sry
@webbiegrrl

Jack, by the way, I went to your book page just now (to see your cover and blurb for myself) and tried out the links. None of them work. Your book page here on Goodreads links to 404's which is never a good thing.

Did you enter the book into the restrictive / exclusive Amazon KDP Select program or something? If so, then I know you were required to remove the book from every other site online (legally prohibited from selling through anyone BUT Amazon is the #1 requirement of KDP Select inclusion). If your 3 mos are up (like a sentencing) be sure to get your book listed again. If you're still in the 3-month KDP Select period, nothing you do to the price will matter except making good use of the limited opportunities Amazon gives you to make the book FREE. You should use/continue to use those to build readership but you can't do anything to market your book worldwide when you only sell in one location (Amazon). Wait until your 3-mo Select sentence is up and then redistribute.

I know of a lot of Indies who bought into Amazon's sales pitch about getting all kinds of great exposure and who did manage to give away a lot of free books but unless you also have 5 or 6 other titles on sale FOR PAY, I haven't heard of any Indies making money by giving their books away free through Amazon KDP Select. Once the freebies are used up, you're basically SOL until you're allowed to relist it in bookstores everywhere else. Some of those established audiences don't return either, so be aware you might have to start from scratch. AGAIN.

-sry
@webbiegrrl