What's up with the Brits?

[Katie]

When I first started out with Treespeaker I sold really well on Amazon UK. Better, in fact, than on Amazon US which, being Australian, is where my local market would buy. That was when it cost 99c. Since I put it up to $2.99 I haven't sold a single copy in Britain. I've sold a few copies of The Dragon Box but I could name all those buyers and I've sold 2 copies of Mark of the Dragon Queen- again, to friends. Are the British tight-fisted when it comes to books? I wouldn't have thought $3 was that much to pay.

[Patricia]

Is that one of the places where $2 is added to the price?

[Claudine]

Not sure about Amazon UK being one of the places the whispernet fee is added on. Africa definately has it. For me, generally speaking, if a book goes up from 99c (effectively $2,99) to $2,99 ($4,99 for me) I'd wait until a price drop to purchase the book.

[Andre Jute]

No, short or non-existent sales in Britain for books costing over 99c isn't about the fees. There are none. It is about

a) the British being cheapskates

b) a bunch of writers, of whom Stephen Leather is the most important, loudly and persistently accustoming them to 99 books.

The Christmas before last, Leather, a top British thriller writer, cleared out his bottom drawer and put all those books out at 99c with the declared intention of selling 50K copies in the UK, a big deal in a nation of about 6m. He made it too, but he ruined the market, as I predicted he would.

Every since, the British have been the mainstay of the demand for 99c books.

(There are exceptions. Full disclosure: I have no problem selling $2.99 books in the UK, but the last time I tried $4.99, it killed sales in the UK but not the US.)

[K.A.]

I upped my price to $3.99 from $3.25 - might have been a mistake.

Got another 'wince worthy' review. Might need to drop the price to $2.99. Still - she loved the 'foodie' part - which was the point of the setting, after all.

No borrows or sales on 'Swallow the Moon.' Might give it 1 or 2 free days to jumpstart it. Then use the rest before it turns back over.

No rush on deciding.