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Riley wrote: "I just decide a price and list it, though there are many lessons out there that advocate setting the price high, cutting the price low or even free, and then setting the price at a reasonable rate."So I'm going the right way
I'm new too, and I set mine right out of the bag at .99. I figured not many people (since they don't know me) wouldn't pay much more than that. Just my thoughts on it. I haven't made too many sales, but I'm still building my networking up as well. Plus, I didn't really expect much being that it's my first book and all. I even contemplated free and I may do that down the road just to try getting it out there in another way. 1.99 for a price isn't bad and it can't hurt to try. That's all I've been doing is trying. Trial and error. If it doesn't work, try something else and find that right kind of tool that will work for you. Best of luck:)
Amanda wrote: "I'm new too, and I set mine right out of the bag at .99. I figured not many people (since they don't know me) wouldn't pay much more than that. Just my thoughts on it. I haven't made too many s..."Thank you, it's hard to know what is best until you have done it and given it a go x
Depends on where you are publishing. On Amazon, I can't see much of a reason to price a book at $1.99 because it's a full dollar more than the 99¢ "grab" price and only one dollar less than the full royalty. In that respect, it's in a pricing limbo that could get you overlooked. Now, this could be different on other sites, so bear that in mind.
I released a short for free that acted as an intro to the series. It worked to get people "hooked in", so to speak, to the series itself. And then I priced my first full length at what an average ebook for those lengths would be.
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You will be overlooked if you price there Pavan, at least statistically and would be better off pricing at either .99 or $2.99.
Jenycka wrote: "I released a short for free that acted as an intro to the series. It worked to get people "hooked in", so to speak, to the series itself. And then I priced my first full length at what an average e..."I really like that idea, Jenycka, and I actually read it, since I was curious about what all this erotica-novels are about. (Yeah, haven't really indulged in that genre before). I have to say that I found your world intriguing, even though I blushed quite a lot... :-D I might do something like that myself, writing an 'intro', so to say.
Honestly, I'm very new at the publishing, but I've been working as a photographer for some time, and the advice there is to never, ever sell yourself short. People won't take you seriously (in photography business at least) if you so to say 'give away' your work. I don't know if it's the same in book publishing business, though.
I will "third" the comments that on Amazon, $1.99 is a dead zone. We have done numerous countdown deals and a few prices changes on Amazon on 4 different books. For us -- and bear in mind this is just us -- there has been little or no effect on sales between $1.99 and $3.99. At $0.99 there is some effect and at $4.99, your work needs to be substantial to sell. But the difference between $1.99 and $3.99 (a cup of coffee and a large mocha) does not seem to matter much to people.
Do check what other books in your genre sell for. We discovered there was a substantial difference there (between mil-sci-fi and epic fantasy). Also, Amazon has a tool that will recommend a price to you. I can't vouch for it, but it might be a good place to start.
PS: When we first published, we did get comments that some people were put off by the low price, which was $2.99. To some people, an indie author selling work at $0.99 for a full-length novel says that the author does not value it highly and probably did not make the effort to put out a good-quality work. So if you think you have a decent work, price it like the other similar books in your genre, and aim high rather than low. You can always drop the price later if you want -- that looks like a deal.
Thank you everyone, I looked around to see the prices of book around the same as mine and they were all 99p/c so I will put my price down then once I have another book up there, then re look at the price xxx
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I am a first time author and have just put up my book on Saturday 2nd May.
I put it up for 1.99
My plan was to leave it at that price f..."
In my experience, it's a lot of "hunting and pecking". Some of my stories sell well, some do not sell at all. So, it involves a lot of tweaking to see if I can get some life into the ones that do not sell. Pricing is just one of many things that one can dink around with. I'd say go with your plan for a while and see if it works. After a bit, if you don't see sales or if they're not at a satisfactory level, play around with it some. Sometimes changing the wording of a blurb will help. Sometimes changing the cover will help. It's an adventure. Have fun with it and if the sales are slow at first, don't let it frustrate you!
A.E. wrote: "I really like that idea, Jenycka, and I actually read it, since I was curious about what all this erotica-novels are about. (Yeah, haven't really indulged in that genre before). I have to say that I found your world intriguing, even though I blushed quite a lot... :-D I might do something like that myself, writing an 'intro', so to say. "If you blushed, then I've succeeded. I'll have the good grace to refrain from asking if you had any other physiological reactions...
Jenycka wrote: "A.E. wrote: "I really like that idea, Jenycka, and I actually read it, since I was curious about what all this erotica-novels are about. (Yeah, haven't really indulged in that genre before). I have..."Heh, 'good grace', eh? Well, I actually managed to get my husband interested of it - and that's all I say about that... :-D
From reading this thread I've already raised my $1.99 book of short stories to $2.99 (couldn't hurt sales; it has none), and I'm keeping my novels at $4.99, and that works out pretty well. It helps that I have a track record, albeit minor, but if I were just starting out I think .99 and 2.99-3.99 would be the tops.
I have put my price at .99 to start with being a new author getting my name to there I think this is a good price fro me to start with xx
I'm going to raise mine from 1.99 to 3.99, thanks to the comments from here :-)
It seems a lot of authors on kindle got this memo because I swear most books are either .99 or $2.99.Not to diminish the reader's role to a consumer but these prices may have crept into the subconscious as "good" prices where as free or $1.99 are met with suspicion because they're less common.
Courtney wrote: "It seems a lot of authors on kindle got this memo because I swear most books are either .99 or $2.99..."This was alluded to above, but to be specific, the 70% royalty kicks in at $2.99 on KDP, so you'd have to sell 3x as many books at $1.99 to equal what you'd make at $2.99. Readers don't care much about that extra dollar, so a $1.99 book will hardly ever sell 3x a many copies as it would at $2.99. $0.99 is a "foot-in-the-door" price. At 35 cents per sale, it's hard to make much on that, but if it gets your name out there, it allows you to charge $2.99 or more later, where the real money is.
$1.99 really just doesn't make sense and Amazon knows it as well. Their pricing tool is admittedly flawed, but it does point out the weakness in the $1.99 price point. I'll be honest here. As a reader and a cheapskate, I will not consider an ebook higher than $4.99 and even then, not for a first book by an author I've never heard of. There are other factors as well,including length, but $2.99 is a nice,safe price when dealing with the unknown. 99¢ on the other hand,is a great price and I have no qualms about impulse buying a 99¢ book, but browsing that price point can be very difficult because that's also where the big names glut the market with their loss leaders.
Christina wrote: "$1.99 really just doesn't make sense and Amazon knows it as well. Their pricing tool is admittedly flawed, but it does point out the weakness in the $1.99 price point. I'll be honest here. As a re..."
I have now changed my price to get my foot in the door, and as a new author I thought it would be better for me too, who knows if my books does well and everything, I can put the price up :) x
Owen, makes sense on an author's end and - yeah - I don't really overthink $3 on a book.I'm a bit like Christina on not spending too much on unknown authors, though, so I love it when authors use that .99 to build confidence with random readers willing to give them a shot :)
Good info for my future reference, too :)
Hi everyone - new to the group and hoping to get a bit of help re: pricing a novella if you can share some thoughts?It's about 150 print pages and I'm starting the ebook at 99c but I wonder whether jumping up to 2.99 after the launch is too great a leap?
I hesitate because a novella is (obviously) longer than a short story but shorter than a novel. I have a short novel up at 2.99, but it's a hundred or so pages longer than my novella.
Certainly 'length' is not the only factor I'm considering, but I still wonder - would readers feel 2.99 is too much for a novella do you think? Any thoughts or ideas are welcome :)
150 pages isn't bad for $2.99. I hop back and forth between 99¢ and $2.99 on my 23k word novella. Anything over 50k I'm comfortable with keepinh over $2.99 and 99¢ for anything 20k and under. Between that it's anyone's guess as to what will sell.
Quoleena wrote: "Ashley wrote: "Hi everyone - new to the group and hoping to get a bit of help re: pricing a novella if you can share some thoughts?It's about 150 print pages and I'm starting the ebook at 99c bu..."
Great idea, Quoleena :) I've done some research and I'm finding 'horror->ghost' stories seem to mostly be either 'free'/99 or $3 and but the length of each title varies a bit - whereas 'paranormal' I'm finding harder to judge - yet, still a lot of of the same range free,99,$3 regardless of length of title.
The evidence is certainly pointing away from 1.99 :D
I also found that the length of the book doesn't matter, there are longer books for 99p/c or free, or shorter ones for 2.99So I really think that playing with the price is better to see what works with you x
Christina wrote: "150 pages isn't bad for $2.99. I hop back and forth between 99¢ and $2.99 on my 23k word novella. Anything over 50k I'm comfortable with keepinh over $2.99 and 99¢ for anything 20k and under. Betwe..."Cool! Thanks, Christina - so would you say you're finding those two price points reliable? I think I ought to stick with those two. Maybe 150pgs isn't as 'short' as I first feared?
Nothing's guaranteed, of course. I have a two-novella collection totaling 134 print pages for 99 cents, and its even free with Kindle Unlimited. It has a good cover, good opening, great reviews, but it still doesn't sell.
Quoleena wrote: If I was shopping as a reader, I'd have no problem plopping $2.99 for a novella, and 99 cents would be an easy impulse purchase. So, like they're saying, play with those options. You can always change it or do a promo ..."Ace, thank you - great to hear :) I think I'll go with 99c for launch and bump up to 2.99 for the 'regular' price, thanks :)
Ken wrote: "Nothing's guaranteed, of course. I have a two-novella collection totaling 134 print pages for 99 cents, and its even free with Kindle Unlimited. It has a good cover, good opening, great reviews, ..."Absolutely, Ken - very true. Crossing my fingers!
I think soon I'll switch focus to a series rather than a few standalones. Seems like the only way to build sales.
A series definitely sells better. My two standalones don't do nearly as well as the series books and it's a darn shame because I really like writing something and wrapping it up nice and neat!
Christina wrote: "A series definitely sells better. My two standalones don't do nearly as well as the series books and it's a darn shame because I really like writing something and wrapping it up nice and neat!"It's a damn shame, huh? I really love the standalone, like you said - so neat! :D
I like standalones also, and so far it's all I've written. But I'm giving serious consideration to sequels for both my novels, and perhaps turning them into series. The hard part is finding a story for the sequel that's as good as the original. I didn't much like the sequels to Ender's Game because they didn't live up to the first book.
I have kept mine at 99p/c for a while, and I might must it up to 2.99 when I get a few more reviews and sales under my belt I think :)I have 2 reviews so far, and its been up only one week today so I hope it can get better as the days go on xx
I've set mine to $2.99 and I have some pretty good reviews so far. So let's see how it goes. But this will definitely enable me to put the book on sale monthly for $0.99. I don't really like the thought of having a series but that seems to be the way to go. Sigh... Don't people like knowing what happens in just one book?
I find this pricing thing odd. I recently released my first full length novel (following a short story collection and a novella) and set the pre-order at $4.99. Nothing. Zip. Nada. After the books official release, I raised the price to $5.99. NOW it's selling. Makes no sense to me, but I'm not complaining.
If you want to enroll your ebook in KindleSelect, you must set a minimum price of $2.99. It's something worth considering...
Mod
My 99 cent books were in KDP select for 3 months...
Oh I don't know what to do now, seems like people sell more at 2.99 than they do at 0.99
99¢ is the minimum for Select. $2.99 is the minimum for 70% royalty.
I'd set it at $2.99 for the first three months, and not worry about sales. If you're with KDP Select you can do a Kindle Countdown, and set prices at $.99, $1.99, and back up to $2.99. After three months, if sales are rotten, put it at $.99 and forget it while you write your next one.
Pavan wrote: "Oh I don't know what to do now, seems like people sell more at 2.99 than they do at 0.99"To some people, $0.99 sends the message you don't think your work is valuable, and therefore probably didn't take much care with it.
I think I might change the price for a while then have a weekend offer for .99 and see what that does :)
Ace, enjoying the discussion. Very helpful to see what others are up to :)I think the ultimate advantage we have with our independent work is flexibility (& speed?) - for instance, I routinely drop one of my novels from 2.99 down to 99 for promos and then back up again. Might even try at 3.99 later - just as a test.
For my novella, I think I'll definitely try 2.99 as its 'regular' price until I'm sure it's not working - then creep down to 1.99 and see what happens.
I am a first time author and have just put up my book on Saturday 2nd May.
I put it up for 1.99
My plan was to leave it at that price for a week the do a weekend offer of 99p/c then put it back to 1.99.
I wanted to know if I was going the right way with this or am I going the wrong way?
I would love any advice that you all have for me.
Thank you xx