Pricing for the next book in a series

[Jenna]

Howdy.

I'll be publishing the second book in a series next month. At that time, I wanted to run a promotion on Amazon to help 'kick start' it.

So, do I put the first book at 99 cents and the second at full price? (These books are bigger, so I usually price them at $3.99). Should I do both at a 99 cent deal? A countdown deal for the second and 99 cents for the first?

I just don't know - does anyone have experience with this and can tell me what worked?
OR what price finagling would motivate you to purchase a series? (Assume it's a genre you read.)

Thanks for any help!

[Tomas, Wandering dreamer]

0,99$ is good enough for me to give it a try if it's within my preferred genre so I think it's a good start. The exact prices are something that might vary based on length and genre but I think someone who is interested in the story should have no issue giving 2,99$ or 3,99$ for the second book. I've seen it going up one more dollar for later books in longer (4+) series' as well.

[Margaret]

I've run a couple of promotions on the first book in my series, making it free for two days, down from its normal price of $1.99. The other books in the series are priced at $2.99. I've used the promotions when I've released a new book in the series and it's worked well with thousands of downloads and then spilling over to a respectable number of purchases of the other books in the series as well as many thousands of pages read on those books as my books are all enrolled in Kindle Unlimited.

For me, this strategy has worked to drum up interest in the series and to find readers I likely wouldn't have found otherwise.

Best of luck to you!

[Jenna]

Thank you all, I'm really appreciating your input.

[Marie Silk]

If it were me, I would do a free promotion of the first book and keep the second book at full price, especially as it will be a brand new release. The second book in my series sells well at full price (2.99) after a free promotion of my first book. There is also strategy in setting the second book on a 99 cent countdown while the first book is on sale, but for me, this doesn't result in many "extra" sales (beyond what it would have sold at if kept full price) unless I use additional paid advertising for the countdown deal.

[Jenna]

Marie Silk wrote: "If it were me, I would do a free promotion of the first book and keep the second book at full price, especially as it will be a brand new release. The second book in my series sells well at full pr..."

Thanks!
I'm thinking free for a week and then maybe 99 cents for a week or two to drive interest....but keeping #2 at full price. Something like that.

[Wanjiru]

In my case, the newer book (longer by 100 pages) is the one that hardly sells. It used to be $3.99 and the older one at $2.99. Both are now at $2.99, but I still have the same results. I suppose the best thing to do is to do a giveaway on the new book.

[John]

Interesting suggestions... I just wrote and published my first novel (also first in a series) and priced it at $4.49 USD. It has 100K words. Is that too pricey? I agree with making the first book either free or at $0.99 when releasing book 2, and the descending price structure for previous books when releasing a new book in the series.

[Kaylee]

John wrote: "Interesting suggestions... I just wrote and published my first novel (also first in a series) and priced it at $4.49 USD. It has 100K words. Is that too pricey? I agree with making the first book e..."

Kindle books I don't think sell very well if priced over $3.99 unless you're already a well established author with a much loved series. I would try pricing it lower and then you can price the following books in the series higher. This should help you gather interest as well as sales. It's even better if you can do a flash sale of either .99 cents or free for a week to celebrate it's release.

As a reader, I have a very small budget but a voracious reading appetite. So I can't see myself spending almost $5 on the first book in a series that I haven't tried the author yet. Even when I get a bonus to my reading budget, I struggle spending that much. I've cut back on buying from some of my favorite authors until the book is on sale either with bookbub, thriftbooks, or bookoutlet.

As a writer, it pains me to think of listing my own books at that price because that doesn't pay for all the blood, sweat, and tears that went into such a large manuscript.

[Tomas, Wandering dreamer]

$5-$6 is very rarely used for self-published debuts, pretty much only with very long books. The one I bought for that price was something like 700 pages.

If you know it'll be a series, it's probably tactical move to have it stay at $3 as the minimum for 70% royalties and also get some window for raising it with sequels. Many people do it that way and it seems to work.

[John]

Thanks for your suggestions and advice! I've changed the price of my novel to $3.49 US across the board so far.

[Jeffrey]

A related question, to what degree does word count factor into pricing? I'm very c,lose to publishing my first book, 48,500 words. Is that too big? It's the first in a series but the second is right now a WIP.

[Dwayne, Head of Lettuce]

Jeffrey wrote: "48,500 words. Is that too big?"

If that's all the words you needed to properly tell the story, it's the right size.

I'd put it out as a novella and price it at $2.99.

[Tomas, Wandering dreamer]

Word count directly factors into pricing for print books as length affects the amount of paper and ink used. As for e-books, I believe most readers expect some kind of ratio between price and length. After all, it (usually) takes longer to write an 800-page epic than a 100-page novella.

[Jeffrey]

Tomas wrote: "Word count directly factors into pricing for print books as length affects the amount of paper and ink used. As for e-books, I believe most readers expect some kind of ratio between price and lengt..."

Thanks Tom!

[Jeffrey]

Dwayne wrote: "Jeffrey wrote: "48,500 words. Is that too big?"

If that's all the words you needed to properly tell the story, it's the right size.

I'd put it out as a novella and price it at $2.99."

Thanks Dwayne. I'll probably do 2 days at $.99 first.

[Edmund]

Usually, 40,0000 words or more, at least up to 100,000, is a novel. 100,000 and up - an epic. But genre also plays a part.