Pay What You Want: Month Three Report
December, 2014 marked the third month I’ve offered my books, short stories, non-fiction, and music—really, everything I make and sell on my site except my freelance services—on a pay what you want basis. I know there are lots of folks using pay what you want pricing, but since I may be the only indie fiction author doing so at this time, I’ve been sharing the results each month. Here’s how December went!
Overview
I released just one new product in December: the audiobook edition of my short story, “The World Revolves Around You,” on December 4th.
Irritatingly, a covert wrench was thrown into my operation at some point during December: the caching program I use (it helps the site run faster and more effectively, especially when there’s substantial traffic) broke my shopping cart in a way that gave no hint that it was actually not working (unless you tried to buy something).
I have no idea if people tried to purchase something from the site and found they couldn’t, and so gave up, resulting in lost opportunities. If you tried to buy something from me in December, but site errors prevented you, please let me know in the comments!
Whether as a result of the secretly broken shopping cart, only releasing one product, or the general rush of the holiday season, December sales on this site were down. Only 29% of my income from creative endeavors came from direct sales on the site, down 26% compared to November.
Sales
I sold eight copies of the audiobook edition of my short story, “The World Revolves Around You,” to eight people for a total of $25.95 in direct sales. That’s just 37% of November sales.
Of those eight products, four were sold at the suggested price of $1.49, and four were sold for more than the suggested price. A fifty / fifty split… and one customer paid an astonishing 670% more than the suggested price!
All told, I earned 2.18 times more through direct sales in December than if the same number of products had been purchased through a third party retailer (or at the suggested price). That’s another month of positive news for the pay what you want pricing model!
Donation to 826 National
In December, the total amount paid above the suggested price was $14.03. I’ve pledged to donate 10% of that to 826 National: $1.40. That brings the total amount to $5.66. In the interest of maximum impact and keeping processing costs down, I’m waiting until there’s at least $10.00 in the pot before I send the donation. Still a ways to go!
Conversions
In December, the percentage of site visits that converted to sales was .14%, which is, frankly, pretty terrible. I’d love to blame the broken shopping cart, but there’s truly no way knowing exactly why December sales were so poopy.
Looking Ahead
Between a pretty heavy client workload (which continues in January) and holiday-related social obligations, I didn’t accomplish all the things I’d planned in December. However, I did do two things that will have a positive impact on January and the months ahead:
Developed and launched a patron program through Patreon.com to accommodate those generous friends and fans who wish to provide ongoing financial support for my creative endeavors. As I write this, seven patrons have pledged a total of $38.00 per month.
Laid out my creativity plan for 2015. You can read all the details here or listen here. For January, it means recording and releasing the audiobook version of my short story “Cloak” late in the month, writing more installments of my serial fiction, and beginning a new short story.
I’ll continue to release weekly episodes of The DIY Endeavors Podcast, which blasted past 1,000 downloads in December. You should subscribe to the show in iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, PlayerFM, or via RSS (copy-paste into the player of your choice). If you’re a DIY, independent creator or creative entrepreneur and you’d like to be on the show, reach out to me!
All that self-promotion I meant to do in December fell by the wayside. I’ll work on that in January!
Tell Everyone You Know
If you know anyone who would dig my stories, music, non-fiction, podcast—heck, if we just seem like “a good fit”—please, send them here! Remind them they can get a free 22,000+ word sampler of my works when they join the mailing list community. And of course, don’t forget to mention that they can pay what they want for anything I sell!
If you’re reading this on the website, it’s super-easy to share the good news. Simply go to the home page (or any page!) and use the share buttons on the left-hand side of the screen!
Thanks! Yay, January!
This post, Pay What You Want: Month Three Report appeared first on the website of author and creator Matthew Wayne Selznick. If you liked it, please click through and comment, and don't forget to join the mailing list community -- I'll send you a 22,000 word sampler of my fiction and non-fiction! Thanks!
