A few weeks ago, I wrote about the pros and cons of pricing your ebook at 99 cents. If you’re one of those authors who hemmed and hawed and finally gave it try, only to find…it hasn’t made much of a difference, I can sympathize.
I dropped The Emperor’s Edge to 99 cents in the middle of May since I was releasing Book 2 this month. I figured it might get more folks to try the series (I have several more novels planned), and it worked…to some extent. Sales roughly doubled, but those of you who know about the royalties know that means I’m actually making quite a bit less on that ebook now (it was $2.99 before and earned 70% royalties; at $0.99 it brings in only 35%).
That said, it did result in Flash Gold and Encrypted having their best sales months, and I also hit the 1,000 ebooks sold mark in May. Ultimately I’m making more money because of increased sales across the board, so I can call the experiment a success, even if it hasn’t rocketed me to the top of the fantasy bestsellers lists.
Some authors see more drastic results when they drop their ebooks to 99 cents (lucky them, eh?) while others don’t see much of a change at all.
If you’re in the latter camp, here are a few reasons why this strategy might not be wowing you yet:
Not enough awareness of your ebook
As they say, obscurity is the biggest obstacle for authors. You can have a great book, but if nobody knows about it, it’s not going to sell at any price point.
Try some marketing campaigns and let people know you’ve dropped the book to 99 cents (I didn’t do this — I decided to sit back and see if the price change alone made a difference — but I’ve been doing some marketing all along since I released it, so I’m sure that helped). Try guest blogging or arrange a book tour. Try being more active with social media. In short, try all the things we’re all supposed to be trying anyway!
Not enough time has passed
I’m the queen of impatience, so I know all about wanting results now, dang it. But it usually takes a while to gain some momentum in this business. Sure, some people force things to happen by undergoing monster marketing campaigns, but I’ve often checked back on those folks later to find they’ve disappeared from the internet and their book’s sales ranking has plummeted.
While there’s nothing wrong with doing a “product launch,” expect it to be the little things, day in and day out, that help sales grow over time. And this is true whether you price your ebook at 99 cents or not.
Unprofessional cover art, blurb, etc.
Even at 99 cents, people are going to shy away from ebooks that don’t look like something they might find in a bookstore. I don’t think your cover art has to be brilliant to sell your ebook (though, hey, I’m sure it doesn’t hurt), but the more professional it appears the better. You may be like me and give it a couple of tries before you get something you (and others) really like. There are no rules against changing it along the way!
While the art is often the first thing people notice, typos or awkward sentences in a blurb can kill your chances with discerning readers. If there are typos in a one-paragraph blurb, it’s not going to bode well for the book.
No reviews or mostly bad reviews
Even at 99 cents, readers may not be willing to try a book with no reviews (or bad reviews). Lots of folks have been burned by buying self-published books, so you can’t blame them for being wary.
Try giving away review copies to get those first few reviews, and you may also want to put a note in your afterword, asking readers to leave a review if they enjoyed your book. Not everybody will, of course, but you should get more responses than if you just ended the book without a comment.
Deluge of 99-cent ebooks in the marketplace
Let’s face it: some people are successful now because they got in early and did enough right. Maybe they were the first to get on board with e-publishing or maybe they were in that first wave of folks who dropped their ebooks to 99 cents. Sometimes there’s a reward for being an early adopter.
There are more players now, and it’s harder to get noticed. Just dropping your ebook to 99 cents probably won’t be enough to make it stand out as a deal because there are scads of books going for that. A year ago, it was novel. Today it’s quickly becoming a normal pricing strategy.
I suspect the best way to get around this last point is to make sure you’re doing all the other things right. Good story + promotion + professional package. I’ve heard it helps to write in a hot genre, too, but I wouldn’t know. 😉
At the end of the day, the 99-cent strategy may not be worth it for everyone. You’ll probably do best with it if it’s part of a grander pricing strategy.
Thoughts?
I don’t think I’ll ever drop my book to $.99. I will probably drop the first book in my series to $2.99 when I’m ready to release my second one. But since that won’t be about until under a year from now, I’ll want to see what will happen in that year.
I’m also trying to recoup my costs and I like money, and having a book for $.99 isn’t profitable. Like all writers, I want to live off writing and I don’t think that’s possible at $.99 especially with less than a handful of books.
Maybe it’s just me, but I think those that are successful at $.99 seem to be because they have HUGE backlists.
I’ve been mulling over pricing as I still working on getting my first book out there. I’m starting to back away from the 99 cent theory in hopes that a higher price shows I am confident in the quality of the work. I’m wondering though if I would lose out on more of a volume of customers that would allow my work to be seen by more.
Yay on hitting 1,000 sales. Congrats, Lindsay! You’ll get there. I lack patience, too. Keep at it and you’ll do great.
Congrats on the 1,000 sales.
As for a constructive comment to add to the discussion…well, I don’t have one. LOL. My data is still too fresh to mean anything at all.
But I have heard talk around the “interwebs” that many readers are getting over the whole 99c thing. How true that is, IDK, but I know I’m still willing to try, sampling everything before I buy regardless of price–yes, that includes even downloading free books.
That is so awesome you hit the 1,000 mark. I think you hit the nail on the head when you said that you need to have a professional looking book or it wot sell regardless of price. And shaking it online sure seems to help a lot too. Great post as always, thanks 🙂
Marc, it’s certainly each author’s choice and something not everyone will have luck with, but Victorine E. Lieske and Lexi Revellian (UK) are authors who sell hundreds of copies a day at 99 cents, and at that volume the 35% royalty isn’t quite so negligible. They both had just the one book out until recently.
You can always try it at different price points, Ryan. Unfortunately, children’s ebooks are still a tough sell, since it’s mostly adults with e-readers at this point.
Thanks, Mary and Brondt!
Nick, I’m trying to shake it anywhere I can… 😉
Congrats on making 1,000 sales! For me the 99 cent book is a great way to get introduced to authors you have not read in the past.