No one seems to know the best price for a novel by a new author. I've read blogs that say 99 cents is the way to go. John Locke recommends this in his book How I Sold 1 Million ebooks in 5 Months! I recently stumbled across another Indie/Self-pub author, Sarra Cannon. Sarra has sold over 110,000 copies of her books. Although she doesn't price her books at 99 cents anymore, it was the strategy she used for building her audience. This makes sense.
However, there are other strategies. I attended a presentation at a Florida Writers Association mini-conference on utilizing Amazon's KDP to publish your books. The presenter recommended upping your price to $5.99. The reason for this is because some readers will not look at a book priced below the five dollar threshold. Apparently there are those who think if a book is priced too inexpensively, it must not have any value. Now, that's a double-edged sword. On the one side, I've written a lengthy novel, and I would spend much more than 99 cents for a novel of the same length in the grocery store. On the other hand, the fact that I can price my novel at 99 cents allows me to build an audience as an unknown writer. The author giving the presentation already has a readership, so it was easier for him to push the price of his books up.
So, what is my pricing experiment? I am leaning towards the 99 cent price to build my readership.
The plan:
However, there are other strategies. I attended a presentation at a Florida Writers Association mini-conference on utilizing Amazon's KDP to publish your books. The presenter recommended upping your price to $5.99. The reason for this is because some readers will not look at a book priced below the five dollar threshold. Apparently there are those who think if a book is priced too inexpensively, it must not have any value. Now, that's a double-edged sword. On the one side, I've written a lengthy novel, and I would spend much more than 99 cents for a novel of the same length in the grocery store. On the other hand, the fact that I can price my novel at 99 cents allows me to build an audience as an unknown writer. The author giving the presentation already has a readership, so it was easier for him to push the price of his books up.
So, what is my pricing experiment? I am leaning towards the 99 cent price to build my readership.
The plan:
- Spend this week editing Flames in the Midst one more time.
- Schedule 3 free days (April 30-May 2) with KDP select.
- Advertise my free days on free sites.
- Find book bloggers to read Flames in the Midst. (By the way, last time I ran free days through Amazon's KDP Select, I didn't know about marketing. I made about $400 after 8,000+ free downloads with no advertising or work on my part.)
- Change the price of Flames in the Midst to 99 cents.
- After one month, evaluate. I will either stay at the 99 cent rate or move up to $1.99 or $2.99 for the next month.
- If sales slow way down, I do have 2 additional free days I can use.
- In August/September, release book 2 in the Jade Hale series, Dreams in the Midst (tentative title).
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