New E-book Experiment - Ideas Please
So maybe it's not the most genius business move to use your own book as a guinea pig, but I'm on a mission to find and prove the right price range for ebooks. By "right" I mean that sweet spot that's fair to everyone - readers, writers, publishers, booksellers. Where creators are paid & buyers aren't gouged.
My instinct has this price at $4.99. The publishing industry is keeping it up around $10.
In December, my publisher and I ran one experiment. Details and results are here.
Now, ECW Press has given me an exciting new challenge: they're willing to experiment again, and they're asking me for ideas about what kind of experiment we should run.
The purpose of the experiment is twofold:
1. To continue trying to determine the sweet spot for ebook pricing, and what direction the publishing industry would take on ebooks if it was smart. (Ha ha.)
2. To act as a promotion when Death Plays Poker (book 2 in the Clare Vengel series) comes out in October 2011.
As may be apparent, my primary goal is #1 & ECW's main objective is #2. But that's fine - people with different end goals work together to come up with awesome results all the time. (And it's not like our objectives conflict - they're also interested in experimenting and of course I'm also happy with promotion.)
So here's the question: Which of the following promo ideas do you think would yield the most interesting research results?
a. Lowering the price of Dead Politician Society to $1.99 for the month of September.
b. Lowering Dead Politician Society to $4.99 September through October, and starting Death Plays Poker off at $4.99 for October only.
c. Bundling the books so that when someone buys the Death Plays Poker ebook in October at its regular price (approx. $10), they receive a free ebook of Dead Politician Society.
d. Lowering Dead Politician Society permanently to $4.99 as soon as Death Plays Poker is released.
e. Giving a free e-book with the purchase of a print book. (Suggested by Jennifer Robertson Quirion on Twitter.)
f. Selling Politicians at the regular price and including a voucher for $5 off Poker for a limited time. (Suggested by Leeswammes)
g. Something else - I would love to hear suggestions.
My instinct has this price at $4.99. The publishing industry is keeping it up around $10.
In December, my publisher and I ran one experiment. Details and results are here.
Now, ECW Press has given me an exciting new challenge: they're willing to experiment again, and they're asking me for ideas about what kind of experiment we should run.
The purpose of the experiment is twofold:
1. To continue trying to determine the sweet spot for ebook pricing, and what direction the publishing industry would take on ebooks if it was smart. (Ha ha.)
2. To act as a promotion when Death Plays Poker (book 2 in the Clare Vengel series) comes out in October 2011.
As may be apparent, my primary goal is #1 & ECW's main objective is #2. But that's fine - people with different end goals work together to come up with awesome results all the time. (And it's not like our objectives conflict - they're also interested in experimenting and of course I'm also happy with promotion.)
So here's the question: Which of the following promo ideas do you think would yield the most interesting research results?
a. Lowering the price of Dead Politician Society to $1.99 for the month of September.
b. Lowering Dead Politician Society to $4.99 September through October, and starting Death Plays Poker off at $4.99 for October only.
c. Bundling the books so that when someone buys the Death Plays Poker ebook in October at its regular price (approx. $10), they receive a free ebook of Dead Politician Society.
d. Lowering Dead Politician Society permanently to $4.99 as soon as Death Plays Poker is released.
e. Giving a free e-book with the purchase of a print book. (Suggested by Jennifer Robertson Quirion on Twitter.)
f. Selling Politicians at the regular price and including a voucher for $5 off Poker for a limited time. (Suggested by Leeswammes)
g. Something else - I would love to hear suggestions.
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I agree, Lorna. I think (b) is a nice long time frame for result-gathering. I also think $4.99 is high enough that no one's going to buy the book unless they actually want it, and low enough that if someone does want to read it, the price won't deter them from giving it a chance.
I like option C, because it makes sense for people to first read Book 1 and it is a "nice gesture" to include it free with Book 2. Another idea is to offer Book 1 at the normal price but with a $5 discount voucher for Book 2.
Thanks Leeswammes - I'll add your idea to the list. Book 2 can def be read on its own (I tested it with pre-readers who hadn't read the first one), but it's true - you get to follow Clare's growth arc better if you see who she is at the beginning - so #2 is enhanced by having read #1. (So said the pre-readers who read them in order, anyway!)
I like a one-month-only $4.99 price point for 'Poker, as well as 'Politicians' (a simpler variation on 'b. Lowering Dead Politician Society to $4.99 September through October, and starting Death Plays Poker off at $4.99 for October only'), perhaps in combination with 'e. Giving a free e-book with the purchase of a print book.' Another option, suggested by my agent for a book we haven't found a publisher for yet, is to sell the book in one-chapter e-chunks, for $1.99. That way (with fiction like yours), people can try out a chapter before buying the book. This book of mine is non-fiction, so people could start with the chapter(s) that best apply to their situations.
That's a cool idea for non-fiction books - selling it in chapters as they're relevant to particular readers for a reduced price. Ha ha, I wonder if I tried that for Death Plays Poker if anyone would buy the ending only. Good thing I have a publisher who would veto that before my perverse experimental nature could take hold and give it a try! We actually already have 3 chapters up online as a free sneak preview of Death Plays Poker.And thanks too for the vote and variation on Option B - on Twitter, too, B has been a clear favorite choice. I like the 2 month period because it gives the experiment side longer to work. But simplicity is often the right move, so maybe lowering both books at the same time to the same price would be the smartest way to go.
Okay, my personal favorite is f, but I think b would work best. I would opt for c about six months from now. I think changing things up a bit when you're working on a series is an interesting idea, though I only have one book out so far, so what do I know? :)Debra
Thanks Debra! Interesting idea, to play with bundling the series a few months down the road. Might even be cool to try a year from now, when #3 is nearly out. (Um, that is if I can finish the MS by its deadline in a month from now...)
"Lowering Dead Politician Society to $4.99 September through October, and starting Death Plays Poker off at $4.99 for October only."