The value of readers…
by C.E. Grundler
There's been much discussion this week on the whole $.99 pricing decision, and I feel I should share my experiences. April is a hectic time for me under the best of circumstances, but this year in addition to the launch into another round of 'extreme boat makeover' I'd been moving ahead on a print copy of Last Exit In New Jersey, and events occurred that made that a top priority. As usual, marketing my writing fell to the wayside, and at $2.99 my sales were less than stellar. But before I go any further, let me back up a bit.
Late last summer I entered into the ebook arena with no online presence other than a blog read by a few friends and occasional strangers seeking cures for leaky decks and the like. I priced my book at $2.99. Sales trickled in. I received some glowing reviews from readers and review bloggers, and the trickle increased somewhat. I'll be completely honest: from the start my approach to marketing has been somewhat hit-and-miss. But a while back I noticed a few new and unknown writers had set their prices $.99, and they quickly shot up in rank. I toyed around with $.99 for a short while, but various sources told me I was 'undervaluing' my work, that my writing could carry the higher price, and that discounting would hurt me in the long run. Readers, I was told, would assume the author of a bargain-priced book lacked confidence in their work, so after a few weeks of increased sales I back I went to $2.99… and my sales dropped like a rock.
Through the winter my husband had a run-in with pneumonia, I was faced with pressures from my former job, and without any marketing my sales were dismal. This March I sat down and took a closer look at the $.99 crowd, and I realized even at their discounted prices they were reaching countless more readers… and ultimately earning greater royalties. Clearly a greater number of readers weren't judging books based upon their price – they were simply looking to be entertained. So I decided to give $.99 another try, and this time I would stick with it.
I'm happy to report that it didn't take long to see results. In fact, literally overnight my sales increased to more than ten times what they'd been. Ten to one. The math is easy. Ten times more exposure to new readers, ten times more potential fans, ten times more chances for word of mouth to spread. That easily makes up the difference in per-book royalties and then some. But that was just the start. As the weeks passed, sales began to snowball. With each passing day Last Exit ranked higher in the 'Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought' list, which in turn fuels more sales. At this point I'm selling more books per day than I'd sold in a month. Numbers that took me six months to achieve now come in weeks. It's thrilling to watch the sales rise, knowing there are so many more people out there reading my work. In making my book more affordable to readers I've made it easier for them to take a chance on a new and unknown writer. I've gained a larger audience and, in the end, higher overall earnings. Might some of those readers still bought my book at the higher price? Perhaps. But it's just as likely many others might not. They'd be missing out on a great book and I'd be missing out on a potential new fan.
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