If you’ve been following my blog for a while (or since last Thursday), you know I’m releasing the first book in a new series next week. As an independent author, you get to choose your own price for your ebooks, and it’s no surprise that “how much is right?” is hotly debated.
Should you price low (i.e. free or 99 cents) so more people will give your work a chance (and perhaps be willing to pay more for subsequent books in a series)? Or should you price your book higher, perhaps as much as a traditionally published novel, so people might think your work is of a higher quality? Or maybe you should try something in the middle such as the $2.99 price point, which earns you a 70% royalty at Amazon (with similar setups at most other stores) and is still a deal for the reader?
I’ll tell you what I’m planning for my new book and why, but first I’d like to point out that I’ve interviewed two brand new self-published authors this year who had wonderful book launches with very different pricing strategies.
- Last May, Sue London launched her historical romance, Trials of Artemis, and hit the Amazon Top 100 (that’s 100 overall, not just in a specific category) with a 99-cent price tag and not a ton of marketing (yes, she did some, and you can check out the interview to see what). Amazon invited her to pre-sell her second novel, which she priced at $2.99, and it’s out now and selling very well (#494 overall, several weeks after launch).
- Last spring, I also interviewed Leeland Artra, who launched his first epic fantasy novel, Thread Slivers, at $5.99 and who also did very well, especially when you consider that fantasy isn’t nearly as popular as romance. He’s since sold many thousands of copies and recently had a great launch for the second book in his series. (I will note that Leeland used “price pulsing” and sometimes dropped his ebook to 99 cents for a short time for advertisements with Bookbub and the like.)
From these examples, you can see that it’s possible to go either way, high or low, and do well. A great story, great cover, and appealing blurb can get you a long ways at any reasonable price point if you’re willing to do the marketing to get your book noticed. It seems that the price pulsing concept (and David Gaughran talks more about that in his book Let’s Get Visible) is working well for a lot of people right now, in 2013.
So what am I planning to do for my book launch?
Good question! I’ve gone back and forth on this a bit. My new series is contemporary fantasy instead of my usual secondary-world swords-and-sorcery, and I’m sure some of my current readers will give it a try, but I wouldn’t be surprised if others thought, “Enh, not really my type of fantasy” so I’m treating this as if I’m starting from scratch.
As I’ve mentioned so often before, I love the idea of making a Book 1 free (my first Emperor’s Edge book has been free in many places for almost two years) and letting people try my work at no cost, but that’s generally a strategy people employ after they have a couple more books out in their series (if there’s nothing for people to go on to buy after they finish the free one, they had a tendency to forget about you!). I published the third EE book before I made Book 1 free. Also, as I pointed out during some earlier mulling (Is Using a Free Ebook Still a Viable Strategy for Increasing Overall Sales on Amazon?), Amazon has made it a little harder for folks to find the free ebooks. I’d definitely prefer people to see my book right alongside all the popular contemporary fantasy novels in the paid charts, rather than having to consciously click on the “Top 100 Free” and start browsing there.
So, how about 99 cents for a Book 1? This is what I’ve been contemplating, since it’s the next best thing to free and still an “impulse buy” to many folks, but it’s hard to sell enough at this price (remember, you’re only getting 35 cents per sale because of the lower royalty) to recoup your costs and keep the lights on if you’re not writing in a hot genre. Of course, once you have more books out, it can make sense to have the “loss leader” Book 1.
Something else to consider is if your regular price is 99 cents, you lose the ability to put the book on sale (unless you’re exclusive with Amazon and able to make your book free for a two or three day stint). The problem? A lot of the advertising sites are only interested in plugging “bargain books.” Considering how many copies of a book you can move with a Bookbub ad right now, it’s worth thinking about sites like that as part of your market strategy.
So, start high and run sales?
Not a bad plan, but one thing that always bugs me about starting high and running sales is that the people who support you early on and buy the book right away end up paying more than others who simply see it on sale and grab it. It seems like your loyal readers should be offered the best price from the get go.
In the past, I’ve occasionally put a book up on Amazon for $X and then sent a Smashwords coupon to the folks on my mailing list so they can pick it up at a discount. The problem with this is that it encourages readers to buy from another retailer and doesn’t help with your Amazon sales ranking (more sales and reviews there increase visibility, thus helping new readers find your books),. I have enough folks on my list now that their purchases can really make a different insofar as visibility at Amazon goes.
The final decision…
So, after much debating, I’m planning to launch the book at 99 cents for the first few days, send out word to let everyone know they can grab it at that price so long as they get it soon, then raise the price to $3.99, the price point I’ve decided on for the rest of the books in the series. I’ll keep Book 1 at that price for the first year or so, and experiment with running sales when I have new releases ready, before rethinking 99 cents as a permanent price.
For those wondering why $3.99 is the magic number, it’s based on the word count and prices of my other work. The EE and Encrypted books are $4.95, but they’re all over 100,000 words (most over 120,000). My Peacemaker novella is 45,000 words and is $2.99. The first Rust & Relics novel is 83,000 words, so it’s right in the middle. I like to find the happy middle ground where the books are affordable even to voracious readers but where the royalties can pay the bills. 😀
For those who are wondering if there will ever be a free option, I’ll be running the first book through Wattpad and posting a chapter a week. You can follow me over there if you’re not already.
That’s enough from me for today. Do you have any thoughts you’d like to share on pricing for a series or a launch? Please leave them in the comments section, below!
so…what about those of us who want to support a favorite author by paying full price, who will have to wait another painful week before getting hold of the new book?
🙂
Don’t worry–I’ll make you pay full price for the next one! 😛
Agree with =A. I was guessing you would price it at $5 or more for the readers who want to support your glamorous author lifestyle and let everyone know it would drop to 99 cents in a week or two for those who prefer to pay less. Although it is sweet you that want to be nice to your dedicated readers. I won’t wait a week to buy it at full price though — sorry!
I’ll pay the .99 then buy it for my brother for the 2.99… 8)
I agree that free isn’t the way to go any more at Amazon. Now the only people who will see free ebooks are the ones seeking them out and there’s a different mindset of reader there. It kind of says I’d rather find freebies than pay authors for their work so maybe they are less likely to buy further books in a series too.
I’m not so sure about that. About two week ago, my co-author an I had the first book in our serie finally price-matched to free on Amazon, and the effect was almost immediate in the upsurge of sale. We’re saling toward our best month by far. But it has to be the first book in a seire, I think, and needs to have the rest of it immmediately available for people to purchase or you lose you advantage.
I think genre and target audience matters immensely.
I think permafree can still give you a big boost when you’re a new author and aren’t selling much to start with. When you have a book that’s been purchased a lot of times and is in the also-boughts for a lot of other books (AKA has some visibility out there), that’s where I think switching to free long-term can hurt you on Amazon (although I believe the permafree on the other markets is a huge part of why I actually sell well at Apple, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble).
Well, I just went free on book 1 on Amazon (purely by accident — the Amazon bots were far more efficient than when I *tried* to go permafree with a short story) because I was going free everywhere else. I had really good download traffic and now, a week later, I’m starting to see a little uptick in sales of later books on Amazon. I don’t plan to stay free forever–just through a few promos over the next month–so I’ll hopefully be able to track whether it was worth it or not. That is, if the bots allow me to go back to $0.99. We’ll see, I guess.
Maybe the true secret is to cycle back and forth between free and not-free month by month. 😉 I was actually thinking of doing a two-week free run with Encrypted, then putting it back to normal price. Smashwords is getting updates out there more quickly now, so that’s more viable than it used to be.
Lindsay, you really are an inspiration. I’m catching on the EE books now 🙂 Looking forward to R&R when it releases.
Thanks, William!
Really like the let-me-be-good-to-my-dedicated/rabid-peeps approach.
I love that you explain your thought processes to your readers! I’m buying the book no matter what, but I do love a deal! I’m considering adding a special “Lindsay Buroker” tab to my budget…
Thanks, Candice!
I’m launching another series this Fall, The Arthur Paladin Chronicles. Going to watch your results, but I’m planning on starting Book 1 at $4.99 or my usual $5.99. I figure my fans are the ones who’d be the least likely to be upset about paying full price.
I’m actually tempted to experiment with Storm Phase Book 1 and return it to regular pricing instead of it being a $.99 intro.
I would love to get away from intro pricing, I’m just not sure it’s feasible. I’ve been holding off on perma-free. Not sure if it’s worth it like it used to be. I was too late reaching that point. And I’m concerned that too few of my target audience looks for free books.
Well, I’m going out of the country for two and a half weeks right after I launch this, so don’t know if I’ll be one to watch, hehe. I’m planning to wait until I put Book 2 out (with luck, for Christmas) before doing any serious advertising/promotion. 😉
You could always try a free Book 1 for a couple of weeks. Amazon seems to be good about price-matching on less obscure books, and Smashwords et al. get the updates out more quickly now (if you’re using them to get into Sony or stores like that).
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from reader emails it’s not to make assumptions about target audience. I’ve had 12-year-old girls, 80-year-old grandmothers, and far more notes from guys of all ages and occupations than I ever would have expected as a female author with a female protagonist (including two retired marines *waves guys*). People have told me they’d be happy to pay more for my books, but nobody has ever said having free stuff out there was a turn off (indeed, every time I do a post like this, I get notes from folks that say the only reason they tried me — and went on to become fans of the rest of the series — was because of the free Book 1).
I have readers who are older, but by far most of my feedback is from teens. If I’m straying far outside my target audience, then most of them are talking back at me. Which is fine, of course.
Maybe I should do a brief free promo this holiday season. I have had trouble getting back onto Bookbub for a second go around. And once you’re doing $.99 pricing there is, as you said, no room for sale pricing.
I have no firm idea on when I’ll be able to get the sequel to the new series up. I wouldn’t have launched another series yet except that it’s a rewrite of a book that I wrote before I started self-publishing.
With great publishing power comes endless pricing frets.
“With great publishing power comes endless pricing frets.”
Haha, that is true, but I do like the ability to change things at whim and experimented.
Brand new, so take my data with the knowledge that it is a small sample.
I started with my novel at 2.99, selling about 2-3 books a day. After a month, I put it on sale for .99 for a week with little advertising and did about the same amount.
When I brought it back up, instead of 2.99 I priced it at 3.99 and have actually been having better sales, 2-4 a day.
I’ve heard others say the same thing about higher price points (this especially seems to be true with non-fiction). That’s why I think it’s good for everyone to experiment with his/her own title and see what works best. It’s not always the same for everyone, for sure.
I think a couple days of intro pricing is a great strategy. It lets you offer something to your most loyal fanbase, and it’s always good to show your customers you appreciate them. These are all people who might buy it anyway, but the discount will make more of them buy it at the same time, giving you a solid push onto the bestseller lists to get wider exposure.
Lindsay
I like your strategy. I’ve a new book about to launch and have been tossing around these same questions. I think offering your loyal readers a chance to jump on early gives them a bonus for being part of your community, but still leaves them the option to pay more if they really want (God bless ’em) after a few days of pre-launch pricing. It also help boost initial sales, get more reviews etc which all help in the long run, but doesn’t leave your work in the bargain bin pricing section forever. This pricing business really is a moveable feast.
Raises hand as someone who never would have read your work at all except that EE1 was free. Since reading it, I have bought pretty much everything you’ve written. Indie authors would be well-advised to think less about the “strategy of the week” and more in terms of reader acquisition and reader retention. Early in a writer’s career, reader acquisition is the only thing to be concerned about. As you build a fan base, reader retention becomes important, but reader acquisition is still key.
Many strategies serve both goals, but you need to consider strategies that are geared towards one or the other. Permafree is all about reader acquisition. Offering early access to a book for a higher than retail price is a great reader retention strategy. Fans often want the chance to prove their devotion. There is a reason that first-run movies and hard cover books command higher prices. At the same time, you should also let your fans know if you have an upcoming sale or freebie. Some fans may not have the budget to support their reading habit. Ultimately, reader retention is about building connections with your fans.
Nicely said, William! Thanks for following along with the EE books too. I’m glad you gave that first one a try!
I’d think an established author with a lot of works available would find free books less necessary to launch a new series than a less experienced one. Just a guess, though.
Personally, the single thing that most often makes me buy (or not buy) an e-book? How the free opening chapter on Amazon appeals to me. J. Michael Sullivan has made a mint off me from the incredible opening chapter to THEFT OF SWORDS, for example. Show me a taste of entertaining characters, clever plotting, and engaging dialogue, and you’ll almost certainly get me on board.
Another option, one that I’m trying and I think is having some success, is to separate out an excerpt of a novel (making sure the excerpt has a beginning, middle, and end; i.e. is satisfying on its own) and package that as a separate title on perma-free status. Make sure to note that the excerpt is from a larger work, and maybe people will go on to buy the full book.
The benefit of this is a free title can become more visible (in certain contexts) than a small-selling novel. The excerpt I’ve got on perma-free doesn’t have anything you won’t see in the free sample that Amazon offers, but it’s maintaining a spot on the top free 100 of the Dark Fantasy and Coming of Age lists, whereas the full novel is languishing in total obscurity.
And come to think of it, it would be cool if Amazon offered stats on how many people download a free sample.
I’m planning to release my first fantasy world novelette, “Helldin’s Lore” in about a month, and I’m still not completely sure how I’m going to price it. I’m leaning towards 2.99 at the moment, a relatively cheap price for a shorter book that still would give me the 70% royalty. Helldin will be an ongoing series and the following books will most likely be priced at 3.99. It’s a slightly cheaper intro price, but it’s not so cheap as to suggest that it’s a poorly written story. Wish me luck! 🙂
In regards to your pricing, I can attest to the fact that EE1 being free is definitely what inspired my download, but only after I had found your website by chance while searching for E-Book pricing options. Your honestly in your blog about your promotions and success or failure in advertising (along with your frequent mentions of your books 😉 ) are what really got me interested in them, and after reading about some of your characters, I would have likely bought them even if the first book wasn’t free.
As a voracious reader I am very happy w/your pricing structure. It is the ebooks priced at $10.00+ I have to pass on and have for some of my favorite authors.
Like other folks here, I got sucked in when I picked up EE1 for free . . . bought everything you’ve written since.
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This is timely information, though in my case I’m about to release a book 2 in a series. You’ve got me thinking about an initial price point of 99 cents, maybe for 3 days, for the new book. But I’m also thinking of dropping the price on the 1st book for that introductory period to 99 cents as well. Still thinking about that one.
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Hi Lindsay!
Did you ever post a follow-up to how you believed your launch went with the low price for a limited time offer?
Thank you!