Michael R. Hicks's Blog, page 17

Guest Blog: Pricing Books, By Steve Umstead

Today’s blog post is from fellow author and friend Steve Umstead, creator of the Evan Gabriel series. The topic? The conundrums an author goes through in pricing his or her books. I think this one’s very illuminating, both for readers who wonder why the heck the prices for books vary so much, and for authors who are grappling with this pesky problem.

Let’s read what Steve has to say:

Author Steve Umstead

One of the best things about being a self-published author is determining my own price for my books.

One of the worst things about being a self-published author is determining my own price for my books.

Same statement, one word changed, with a massive difference in meaning. And both statements are absolutely true. Pricing is one of the best weapons in the marketing arsenal we have against the big name authors and publishers, yet pricing is still such a crapshoot, it’s been causing angst in the community for as long as I can remember. Why?

No. One. Knows. The. Sweet. Spot.

Simple as that. Here are some theories I’ve seen bandied about (always wanted to use that term…) along with my thoughts on each:

THEORY: Price as low as you can; because you’re new and no one knows you, you have to go low to draw the interest of readers.

ME: I hate this one. I strongly believe there is a price vs quality consideration that buyers take into account when making a purchase, and that holds true for cars, houses, coffee, and ebooks. If the price is too low, the buyer (reader) may expect poor quality, and may avoid the purchase (likewise – if they’ve bought at $.99 and read a piece of crap, they stay away from that price point in the future). And buyers who invest more in a product will invest more time/effort in using (reading) it. The perception of higher price is higher quality (yes, the Kia can get you to work just like that Lexus, but the perceived — and possibly real — quality difference is there). To me, low price implies cheap, low quality, bargain bin products, a category I don’t want my books in, whether readers “know who I am” or not. A reader who really wants to read a book will pay for it; I don’t see $.99 as the magic answer to beat the Stephen Kings and James Pattersons of the world when readers make their choice.

THEORY: Give your book away for free to gain readers and receive reviews.

ME: Ooh, don’t get me started on KDP Select. I wasn’t in favor of it from day one, and in the past few months the “benefits” of that program have essentially collapsed. No more huge sales bump when coming off free. But back to free in general: My strong opinion is authors with only one book should avoid free like the plague. Why? The vast majority of the giveaways (don’t you dare call them sales…) are picked up by freebie scoopers (my term), and the vast majority of them are never read. If I sell (for a cost!) 1,000 books and receive 20 reviews, that’s fantastic. Give away 1,000 copies? A book may garner one review, if it’s lucky. So why do it? I have no idea… I cringe when I see an author’s sole work being given away for free. Use free as another weapon in the arsenal, as a lead-in to other works. Not works down the road, works now – if you have one book out and the next is a year away, those freebie scoopers won’t remember you…

THEORY: A book should cost more than a cup of coffee, since it lasts longer and can provide more enjoyment.

ME: Okay, I’m with Dean Wesley Smith on this… to a point. A book should be worth more than a disposable commodity, even a gourmet one. But that’s not necessarily how the market sees it, as the market hasn’t yet been trained to see it that way. Everyone knows a large latte at Starbucks will cost them close to five bucks. But everyone also knows there are thousands upon thousands of books, even full length novels, that cost less than a third of that. Did Starbucks have a hard time from day one convincing coffee drinkers to shell out $5 instead of the $2 at Dunkin Donuts down the street? Probably. But eventually they did, and eventually (hopefully) as the market dictates higher prices, ebook readers will expect it.

THEORY: A book should be priced based on the effort and time put into it, almost like an hourly wage.

ME: Meh – this does have some validity, as everyone wants to be paid for their work, but one of the basic tenets of free market economics is this: A product is worth what the market will bear – not a penny more or penny less. One can say a book should be worth $10 because of the time spent writing it, but if the market says books that length/genre/rating/etc are worth $3, that $10 won’t fly. Hopefully we’re seeing the market turning in a positive direction, but it’s not as simple as charging what we think it’s worth based on production costs. Perhaps Picasso spent 40 hours on creating a masterpiece that ends up being worth $80 million – is his rate $2 million per hour? No, and neither should an author say “I spent 160 hours in writing this, and I should charge $10 for each one, so I can make…[crazy math here]. Don’t forget, an ebook will be on the ‘shelves’ in perpetuity for that one-time production of it.

THEORY: Price your book at $2.99 at the most, since that’s as low as you can go and still receive the higher 70% royalty.

ME: Not bad, not bad… but my personal opinion is that readers have gotten savvy to what’s out there, and the $.99 and $2.99 price points have become the de facto pricing for self-published authors. And let’s face it, the self-published industry still somewhat has a stigma about it of poor quality. So pricing a book at one of those two points tells a potential reader the author is self-published. Stand out from the crowd.

THEORY: Pricing is rising, and the book distributors are weighing higher priced books heavier than lower.

ME: Now we’re on to something. Edward Robertson (www.edwardwrobertson.com) did a very good analysis of Amazon’s ranking system in relation to book pricing over several months, and his conclusion is that the low priced and free books aren’t weighted nearly as much as higher priced (sorry, KDP Select – another nail in the coffin). This makes a great deal of sense. Amazon is a business, and a very smart one at that. I’d put their algorithms up against Google’s any day of the week. They want to make money, so they want higher priced (and more popular) books to show up more often in searches. Perhaps they’ve seen the light that cheap/free isn’t making any long term money or reader loyalty.

So what does this all boil down to? I have the magic answer, the great secret, the end-all, be-all, right here:

I. HAVE. NO. IDEA.

The market is a fickle thing, and changes direction on a dime or whim. But maybe the real key is this:

One of the best things about being a self-published author is determining my own price for my books.

Change your price. Raise it. Lower it. Make it end in .33. Make it based on the day of the week. Combine two books into one volume and offer a discount. Have a weekend sale. Throw the spaghetti against the wall and see what sticks. It’s the best tool we have in the arsenal.

Thanks, Steve!

I’m in agreement with most of what Steve has to say. After going through the pricing exercise a number of times myself, I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s not necessarily any one “right” price for a book. It might vary, given the circumstances, and Steve’s admonition to authors to experiment with the price is, in my opinion, the smart thing to do.

As for freebies, KDP Select was great at the beginning. I’ll happily admit that I took full advantage of it when it first came out, and it largely saved me from having to go back to my day job last winter (2011) after my books sales took a steep nosedive last fall (if you’ll pardon the pun). Unfortunately, as Steve pointed out, the benefits of having a book in KDP Select have waned. Some folks are still having good luck with the program, which requires the electronic version of a book be published exclusively on Amazon for 90 days at a time, but after my sales began picking up on Barnes & Noble and KDP Selects returns dwindled to zip, I bailed out of it.

But I have found a great use for freebies: hooking readers into a series. Hey, why not? It’s great for readers, because they get one or two entire books for free as a trial run, and if they like it they’re much more likely to go on and buy the other books. I’ve sold a lot more books that way than selling all the books for a given price, even with the first book at $0.99 (which also gets into what Steve noted about perceived quality based on price). And you can offer books for free in various ways without being constrained by exclusive programs like Amazon’s KDP Select.

So, authors and readers, any comments on Steve’s notions? Let’s cook up some spaghetti and toss at him to see if it’ll stick!

My Take On Ridley Scott’s PROMETHEUS

One of my favorite movie series is Ridley Scott’s Alien franchise. The original movie, Alien, was one of the only two movies that ever really gave me the willies. The other was the original version of The Blob, which gave me nightmares for days when I saw it as a kid. Alien did the same for me later on, when I was in high school. And I loved the other Alien movies, with the exception of the third one.

In Prometheus, Scott has created a masterpiece in terms of stunning visual effects. Beyond that, I have to confess I had mixed feelings. The story line was interesting, and I didn’t have much trouble following it (some folks have complained about the plot, and it is a bit uneven). The acting was good, although some of the characterizations were…questionable. One that stood out in a good way was the character David, who was probably the most intriguing of the bunch. The only one that I really didn’t care for was the elderly man who clearly was just a younger man in makeup. I found those scenes rather jarring, when set against the visual opulence of the rest of the film. Why not just find an older actor who really looks the part?

There were two other things that I really didn’t care for. One was that the core question of the story (no spoilers, but I’m sure you’ll figure it out when you see it) wasn’t answered, although that leaves the door open for a sequel, which is fine by me. The other is that there were too many different, um, variations, shall we say, on the alien theme. It’s sort of hard to describe without spoiling it, but Scott might have been better off following the maxim from The Highlander, “There can be only one!”

Despite those little qualms, I quite enjoyed the movie, and would definitely recommend that you go see it if you enjoy science fiction or general doomsday mayhem. I’d just recommend that you recalibrate your expectations slightly, as this isn’t quite on par with the first two Alien movies (which I consider the best of the lot).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIJeQNyZ6VE

Read Nook Books on the Free Nook App

Just like with Amazon and their free Kindle app, Barnes and Noble has a free Nook reader app for their Nook books.

So, if you’d like to buy Nook books but don’t have the Nook device, you can! All you need is your PC, Mac, iPhone or iPod, iPad, or Android (or, if you’re a true gadget nut, all of the above), and you’re set! Click here to check it out.

Psst! If you haven’t already, why not grab a free book or two to go along with that free app? Lookee here:

“Excellent military #SciFi” – : FIRST CONTACT, #free at goo.gl/1NNcW #Kindle #Nook #SciFi #RT

— Michael R. Hicks (@KreelanWarrior) June 19, 2012

You Don’t Need A Kindle – Get A Free Kindle App

All of my books are available for the Amazon Kindle, but one thing that sometimes holds folks back is that they don’t own one.

My friend, if you have a smart phone or computer, you can get all the books you want from the Kindle store (which usually means you can get some great deals) by using a free Kindle reader app!

Amazon has free Kindle reader apps for a wide variety of gadgets, including iPhones and iPads (which is what I use these days), PCs and Macs, Android, Blackberry, and tablets.

So, if you want to check out some of the bazillion books that are available for Kindle but don’t want to buy the actual Kindle device, check out these apps and see if they’ll do the trick for you.

P.S. Of course, you want to get some free books right away, don’t you? Why not check out two of my bestsellers (free)?

The Movie BATTLESHIP – Go Navy!

When I write a review, I just like to tell people if I think they should see something or not, and why. And I loved Battleship!

If you enjoy movies like Transformers, you’ll like Battleship. It’s a massive exploding can of whoop-a$$ that sets realism aside (note that this is NOT 2001: A Space Odyssey, Sphere, etc., so if you’re looking for “realistic” science fiction, you need to recalibrate your expectations) for special-effects and non-stop action once the bad guys show up.

It’s also a nice homage to veterans past and present that has some very touching scenes, and is probably the best recruiting tool the U.S. Navy has ever had. I’m from a two generation Navy family, although I went Army myself. But heck: GO NAVY! And there’s just something about warships – and the men and women who crew them – that’s amazingly awesome.

So, two thumbs up from me, and this will be a definite add to our Blu-Ray collection!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpoabtbEJOI

The Good Kind Of Payback

Today we’ve got a guest post from author Jason Halstead to give you some perspectives on his writing endeavors. Enjoy!

I’ve been a writer for more years than I want to recall. My first book, Voidhawk, was published in 2009. I had a few more published following that, but I never saw much in the way of success. I blamed my publisher because I didn’t know any better. I still blame them a little bit, but now I know that a large part of my lack of success was because I didn’t know what the heck I’d gotten myself into!

Enter 2011. I was thoroughly fed up with both of the publishing companies I went through and determined to try it on my own. I retained full rights to my books so I launched my own self-publishing career. I started off slow, but that was because I still remained quite ignorant. I was motivated and ambitious though, and that allowed me to stumble across a tweet from a guy by the name of kreelanwarrior – aka Mike Hicks.

He was finishing up his day job at the time and on the verge of going full time as a writer. This was thanks to loads of success throughout the first half of 2011 and a forecast for continued success with his books. He and I talked a bit via Twitter and then some rather lengthy emails. I even picked up his book on self-publishing success, which really helped me get a foundation for what I needed to do.

Sure, I tried a few other books in that venue as well (similar stories from John Locke and Michael Mattias). To be honest, Mr. Locke’s was the least useful – but there were still a few pearls of treasure to be gathered from it. Of them all Mike and I continue to communicate on an almost daily basis via Twitter, but even still I was surprised to receive a tweet from him asking if I’d like to do a guest post on his blog. Surprised, but also very pleased. I considered it another notch in my writing headboard – or perhaps another run climbed on the long ladder to making writing my day job.

So of course I was only too happy to oblige. He suggested using it as a promo op. I’d be a fool to pass up on that, but I wanted to start it off by sharing this limited exposure I’ve had to Mr. Hicks and that it marks him as a man of good character. I’ve tried to pass the goodness on to other writers that ask me questions.

As for me, I’m a long ways from my goal but I’m making steady progress. I’ve published 18 books so far, with number 19 due out in a few weeks, and in 2012 I’m finally breaking the 100 books sold per day mark with regularity. I won’t say I owe it all to Mike, but I will say he definitely helped me get there a lot quicker than I would have done otherwise!

Now for the shameless self-promotion part: Mike and I both write science fiction and fantasy. I occasionally dabble in other areas and hope to continue to expand, but my best selling series right now might appeal to fans of the In Her Name books. It’ s a futuristic space based series called Vitalis. Book one is titled New Beginnings and follows the lives of a crew running a transport ship that are set upon by salvage reclamation experts (aka pirates). Things go horribly wrong and the ship is damaged beyond repair. Their only recourse is to enter cold sleep to survive the long passage to the next star system light years away outside of human colonized space. In the new solar system things really get interesting…

Rather than go into spoilers, let me just say that each book in the series (there are five published, as of April 2nd) expands on the original storyline. New characters, concepts, and life forms are introduced. Every time I write a book for it I get more excited about what’s going to come next. In fact I have no idea when I’ll stop writing this series, it’s so much fun and there is so much potential with it! My Vitalis books are novella length books, designed to allow for a quick thrill that can be handled in a couple of hours, but they’re also priced accordingly.

But don’t stop there, if you prefer a more modern sci-fi story I’ve got plenty of those, as well as some pure fantasy full length novels. Want some paranormal? I’ve got your fix there too! Feel free to check out my website for samples, my blog to see what’s coming up next, or follow me on Twitter BooksByJason to say hi.

And as always, a heartfelt thanks to all the readers out there and to Mr. Hicks for giving me the chance to share this with you.

In Her Name: Redemption – Free For Kindle Lovers (16-17 May)

I have a love-hate relationship going with Amazon’s KDP Select program. You don’t need to know what that is or why, only that if you’re a reader who enjoys bargains, it’s all good!

This time around, you can get the trilogy (which contains Empire, Confederation, and Final Battle) abso-freakin-lutely free for the Kindle! It’s available free at all the Kindle stores on 16 and 17 May:

Amazon US

“But hey! I don’t have a Kindle! Waaaah!”

Listen, no Kindle, no problem! You can still take advantage of Kindle freebies by snagging one of the free Kindle reader apps. PCs, Macs, smart phones, whatever – if you have an electronic doo-dad more advanced than a mop, chances are there’s a Kindle app for it.

So what the heck are you waiting for? Grab your copy of In Her Name: Redemption today!

Psst! See those little buttons down there that say Facebook, Twitter, G+, etc.? Do me a huge favor and click on the ones you have accounts for so you can share the love with your friends, right?

Can You Guess What This Is?

Okay, this has got to be worth a $10 gift certificate to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, wherever you like, if you can correctly guess what this is (including the contents):

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Sony Book List

Here’s a list of my books in the Sony Bookstore to help you find them more easily!

IN HER NAME Series

Listed in recommended reading order

(In Her Name: The Last War, Book 1)



(In Her Name: The Last War, Book 2)



(In Her Name: The Last War, Book 3)



(In Her Name: Redemption, Book 1) – Free!



(In Her Name: Redemption, Book 2)



(In Her Name: Redemption, Book 3)



From Chaos Born (In Her Name: The First Empress, Book 1) – Coming Soon!



Novellas And Short Stories




The Journal Of Avery Moore – Coming Soon!



Non-Fiction




The Path To Self-Publishing Success – Coming Soon!

Kobo Book List

This is the list of my books on Kobo and links to help you get to them:

IN HER NAME Series

Listed in recommended reading order

(In Her Name: The Last War, Book 1)



(In Her Name: The Last War, Book 2)



(In Her Name: The Last War, Book 3)



(In Her Name: Redemption, Book 1) – Free!



(In Her Name: Redemption, Book 2)



(In Her Name: Redemption, Book 3)



From Chaos Born (In Her Name: The First Empress, Book 1) – Available Soon!



Novellas And Short Stories




The Journal Of Avery Moore – Available Soon!



Non-Fiction




The Path To Self-Publishing Success – Available Soon!