Pricing Your eBooks -- What Works, What Doesn't



I get asked a lot for my opinion on eBook price points, so today I'll talk about what works for me. 

When I first published, I started out at .99 and I kept my books at this price for one year.

WHY?

A few reasons:

1. I didn't have an established fan base.
2. I was just creating my brand.
3. At the time, .99 eBooks were hotter than the Vegas strip in July.

Note that third one.  And not the "stripping" part ;) One year ago, a majority of books in my genre in the top twenty were .99 books.  And many of those were John Locke's novels, but there were several other 99 cent books as well.  Then something happened.  Amazon changed their algorithms (in my opinion) and now many of the .99 books aren't being promoted like they used to be.  I do still see them pop up now and again on my "recommended book" lists, but not like they used to.

One year ago, half of the top twenty eBooks in the mystery & thriller genre were .99.  Not only that, to see a book priced above $3.99 was rare in the top twenty.  Now, (August 2012) here's how it shapes up:

#1   $12.99
#2   $12.99
#3   $12.99
#4   $1.99 (this is a 60 page Kindle Short)
#5   $12.99
#6   $12.99
#7   $9.99
#8   $4.99
#9   $14.99
#10 $.99
#11 $12.99
#12 $4.99
#13 $9.99
#14 $12.99
#15 $14.99
#16 $4.99
#17 $13.99
#18 $12.99
#19 $12.99
#20 $3.99

There's only one .99 book in the top twenty, and it's so short, a person could finish it in thirty minutes, hence the price.  There's not another .99 book on the list until #69.  In fact, in the top #100 right now in mystery & thriller, only three novels are .99.  Hmm. 

Amazon does an excellent job at promoting indie authors, and they have outstanding platforms as well such as their Thomas & Mercer imprint, among others.  But I heard a rumor last year that the "Bix Six" publishing companies were a little miffed their books were being outsold by indie books.  While I'm not sure that's true, one look at the difference in the current top 100 list makes me wonder what happened and why...

But let's get back to my thoughts on eBook pricing.  When I first started out, for me, .99 was the way to go.  At that price readers who'd never heard of me weren't afraid to "take a risk" and check out my books.  They didn't have much to lose.  Many newbies either don't grasp the importance of this concept or don't care.  They price their book at $5.99 or whatever amount they think is fair, telling themselves their novel is worth much more than a mere .99.  And although that's probably true, here's what ultimately happens: no one buys their book. I wouldn't even spend $5.99 on a book by an unknown unless I'd seen rave reviews or heard about it. I'll admit it--I'm a tightwad.  But how many others out there are like me?  More than you think.

It's hard for me to say if the same strategy I used is as effective now given all the recent changes this year, but with the right promoting, I still feel it's the way to go.  At first.  Not forever.

Once you develop a fanbase, I suggest raising your price.  Especially as you continue putting more books out.  This was really hard for me.  I kept worrying about what all indie writers worry about--what if no one buys my books when I raise the price?  I went from .99 to $2.99 with the release of the third novel in my Sloane Monroe series.  I priced all three at $2.99, and ever since then I've made more money than I ever did at .99.  Now I'm gearing up to price one of my books at $3.99 to test the waters.  I'll put one little toe in at first, swish it around, and see how it goes. 

eBook Price Sweet Spot

Are there certain prices that seem to keep readers buying more than others?  Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords, seems to think so.  In a recent inteview he said books priced between $2.99 to $5.99 are selling better than .99 to $1.99.  Click HERE to read the rest of the article.

Of course, free books sell better than anything else, but I would only suggest doing this for short periods of time as an incentive and to build your brand and get your name out there.

Don't Be Afraid to Try New Things

My birthday is in August.  I'm always looking to try new and exciting incentives, so I decided to make all three novels in my Sloane Monroe Series .99 for one day only on my birthday. 

Before I get into the results, I want to suggest you put your price change in the afternoon before your incentive to ensure enough time is allotted for the change.  And then at that same time the day of the promotion, you need to change your price back on Amazon.  Barnes&Noble and Sony Kobo updates a lot faster. 

Now to the results.  Here's how many more books I sold than the day before the incentive:

Black Diamond Death +66

Sinnerman +77

I Have a Secret +400

Whispers of Murder (Novella) +17

So in one day, I sold 560 more copies of my books than the previous day.  And yes, they were .99, BUT I still made more more money than the previous day.  That wasn't my goal though.  My goal was to improve my rankings, and I did.

Better Ranking = More Sales

I Have a Secret outsold everything else, seeing a ranking increase from 6,346 to 281 in the kindle store because I ran a promotion on eReader News Today to go along with my own promotion. 

Good luck everyone, and may your books do well at any price point :)  

Pimping Your New Release - My Checklist

Updated July 2014

I've changed a lot of things since I posted this a couple years ago. Here's a list of what I'm doing now to promote a new release.

BEFORE RELEASE DAY

Before the release date I create buzz by getting my fans ready for the release. I give an approximate release date, release the first chapter of the book, create a banner teaser, post the book cover.

RELEASE DAY

New banner goes up. I post links for the book on Facebook, Twitter, my authors pages, etc. I create a blog post to announce the new book.

Once or twice a month I do a "Free Giveaway Sunday" on my Facebook page. If I have a new release out, I'll give away copies of the book one Sunday and things pertaining to the book during that month.

UPDATE

Don't forget to update all your other book pages when first publishing a new book.

For me this includes book sites Amazon, Barnes &Noble, Kobo, iBooks, Google Play, and Goodreads.

On my product pages, under the description, I always put "Also by Cheryl Bradshaw" and then the titles of my other books.  It's great to show you are established with more than one title under your belt, and it's also a free way to promote yourself and let readers know the order of a series.

Add book to my page on Author Central.

I also update all blogs, websites, Facebook pages, etc. with the new book, links, banner, etc.

BOOKMARKS

I usually update my current bookmarks whenever a new book comes out. I use Print Runner. I sent bookmarks to fans, my street team, etc.

NEWSLETTER

I send out a newsletter every time I publish a new book or run a sale.

CREATE A PROMOTION/GIVEAWAY

I create a targeted Facebook ad for my new release, and I plan a BookBub ad as well. After the BB ad, I run ads on Free Kindle Books and Tips, BookBasset, BookSends, and eReader News Today.

WEBSITES/PROMO SITES TO UPDATE OR PROMO ON

Each time you publish a new book, there are certain sites you should be active on that you'll want to update with your latest release.  Here's a list of sites I frequent:

Authors Den
You can create your own account and add your books.  They have over 1 million hits on their site every month.  You also can track your stats to see just how many people are looking at your individual profile and your book pages.  All this is free.  You can pay to upgrade/advertise.

Goodreads
Aside from adding your latest novel, you can and should run a giveaway. Information on that is also on the page I linked to above. 

Digg.com
On Digg, you can submit a link to your new novel.  I usually blog about it and then link to my blog.  I use this site whenever I run a contest as well or am doing any type of donations.

Reddit
Reddit works like Digg.  You actually can just copy/paste what you submitted to Digg right into the form on Reddit. 

Pinterest
I have a Pinterest account and an entire board dedicated to my books.  To get an idea of what you can do with yours, you can see mine HERE.

Crimespace
On CrimeSpace, you can create an account and then blog or tweet from there about your book(s).  This is a site primarily for crime/mystery/thriller writers only.

Library Thing Giveaway
On Library Thing, you can upload all your books from Amazon and also run giveaways through their authors promotions program.  If you've never been on the site before, you can sign up and then find your books and select that you are the author.  From there, it takes a day or two to get approved.  Then you can list a giveaway and they accept both eBook and print, which is nice! 

Authorgraph
With Authorgraph, you can add your books and be notified when an author wants an autograph for their book.  They also feature different authors every month.

Google+
Google+ is a fast-growing way to share your information with others.  You can create a profile, add your books, your links, etc.  But what I like about it is that when someone searches you on Google, your profile comes up on the right, just like it does on Wikipedia.

The Benefits of KDP Select Free Days

Before you read this article, read THIS ONE.

I started in KDP Select in January 2012 and had a really stellar year. Much of my success that year was due to all of my books reaching #1 free when I used my KDP Select free days and then Amazon's algorithms pushing my books up the charts when they came off free. This worked like a charm for a while until Amazon changed their algorithms and books no longer skyrocketed when they went back to regular price.

I don't expect anything to last forever, and as an author, just because you hop on the "trending train" doesn't mean you shouldn't keep trying all sorts of different things. If you put all your eggs in one basket, when that basket empties, you might find yourself left with nothing. And then it's back to the drawing board.

Two years later, I have a couple novellas in KDP Select, but my full-length novels are on multiple sites. Do I still think KDP Select is a good idea? Yes, if you are a new author.

What does a new author need?

1. To get noticed.

2. To find readers.

3. To establish a fan base.

I believe KDP Select is still a great option for newbie writers. Readers don't mind taking a chance on you if your book is free, but as an unknown author, even if you price it for what you think your work is worth, very few readers want to pay good money for an author that is unknown.

The key to success if you're putting your novel up for free is to let others know about it.  To maximize your chances, I've created a list that gives you all the places you should notify when your book is going free.  Believe me when I say, it's worth every second of your time to prepare for your free days well in advance.

Facebook Groups:

When I first wrote this post, I included about 100 Facebook pages where you could pimp your book freebie (with the group admin's permission, of course). However, one of the latest trends I've seen too much lately is authors marking other authors as "spamming the page" even when you post your book on a site dedicated to author freebies AND with permission. As someone who is opposed to spamming in any way, shape, or form, I was disappointed to see this happen to good law-abiding authors who didn't deserve it.

The first time some random person reports your post as spam (and you won't even know who reported it as misuse, by the way) you get slapped by FB with a two week probation. Do it twice, you could lose your account entirely. I have an author page on Facebook and run my own paid ads on there quite a bit, so the risk just isn't worth it, even though I wasn't doing anything wrong. I'd rather pay for ads than go to Facebook jail. So I'd like you all to consider using your Facebook author page to your advantage, and I'll try to carve out some time in the near future for a post on making the most of your Facebook author page. For now...let's move on.

Main Book Sites to Notify:

Before we get started, if you would rather pay $25 to have someone else notify 25 sites for you, consider Ebook Booster and also additional exposure with Fiverr.


Awesome Gang

Fill out the form.

Bargain eBook Hunter

You can request your book be featured free or pay $10.00 to guarantee placement.  See page for details.  If you can shell out the five bones for a guaranteed placement, do it.  You want as much publicity on your free pages as you can get.  Click HERE for the $5.00 form.

BookBlast

Fill out the form. They have about 25,000 subscribers and are growing every day. Books must have five reviews.

Book Goodies

Fill out the form.

Book Marketing Tools

So...this site does a lot of the work for you for a price of $14.99. They submit your freebie to 55 websites. This is a great way to go if you don't want to spend hours doing it yourself.

Digital Book Today

Good news and bad news with this one.  If your book is new, it probably won't get promoted.  You need a minimum of 30 reviews and an average of 4.2 stars or more to promote your book on the day it's free.  You will also need to pay.  Anthony charges $30 per day. 

Discover Free Books

On this site, they are running a promotion where you pay $5.00 and they will promote you all over the place.  Check out their page for more details.  NOTE: You MUST give them a seven day advance notice minimum.

Ebooks Addict

Fill out the form at the bottom of the page.

eBook Deal of the Day UK

Fill out the form. They only accept the romance genre.

eBooks Habit

Fill out the form. They offer paid promotions as well. Books must have at least three reviews and no graphic sex scenes.

eBook Lister

Fill out the form

Ereader News Today

Fill out form. NOTE: He does not guarantee that he will post your book and selects books with the MOST reviews and highest rankings first. 

eReader Perks

Fill out the form.

eReader Utopia

You can submit freebies and any books you are promoting up to $2.99.

Flurries of Words

He charges $5 to list your book for free. 

Free Book Dude

Fill out the form.

Free Booksy

Fill out form.

Free Digital eReads

Fill out the form.

Free eBooks Daily

$5 to promote your freebie.

Free Kindle Books and Tips

Fill out the form.  Book needs to have an average of at least four stars to be considered. 

Good Kindles

List your freebie at three different price points, the lowest being $7.95 and the highest $19.95. As far as followers, they have over 1,600 on Facebook, and that's all I could find out on their page.

Indie Book of the Day

Follow the instructions on their site. No erotica.

Just Kindle Books

Like their page to unlock the form.

Kindle Freebies

On this page they list their email address which you use to email your freebie.

Kindle On The Cheap

From what I can tell, you fill out the contact form.  Include name of book, your name, dates it will be free, link.

Kiss My Freebies

They do have some requirements including a minimum of ten reviews and a 4.0 average ranking.

Kobo Book Hub

IF your book is on Kobo, they have their own submission form.

Orangeberry Book Tour

It is $9.99 for two days, and they will pimp you on their Twitter and Facebook pages.  You will receive ten tweets, five per day.

Pixel Of Ink

You can submit up to 30 days in advance.

Pixelscroll

Fill out the form.

Storyfinds

A continually growing fan base which includes over 17,000 Facebook likes. Excellent and cheap for your .99 sale days.

Talisman Book Publishing

Fill out the form.

That Book Place

Fill out the form.

The-Cheap

Fill out the form.  They charge $25, and I am not sure what the reach is.  They have over 4,000 Facebook followers as of 12/2012.

The eReader Café

They have a form for freebies as well as .99 books. Books must be at least 120 pages.

Wanton Reads

For romance/erotica.

Wonderworld

It's $8 for one book and one book excerpt. No erotica, no gore.





TWITTER

Tweet these guys and they will retweet your freebie for you.  I have found three that always RT, and they are the ones below in red.  As for the others, a lot of times they don't RT. 
https://twitter.com/#!/AuthorKarma
This is a Twitter site. You tweet your book announcement to them starting with the word "announcement" and they will re-tweet it.

@kindlebookpulse will RT your promo, just send them a DM.

@kindleebooks
@Kindlestuff
@KindleEbooksUK (THIS IS UK, SO MAKE SURE YOUR TWEET IS FOR UK SITE)
@KindleFreeBook
@free
@4FreeKindleBook
@DigitalBkToday
@kindlenews
@AmazonBookPromo
@WritersNetGuide
@TweetinURBook
@KindleBookBlast
@BookForPromoted
@Superfabbooks
@kindle_promo
@IndAuthor
@ZilcheBooks
@KindleDaily
@AmazonKindle
@HundredZeros
@e_reading
@Free_UK_eBooks (THIS IS UK, SO MAKE SURE YOUR TWEET IS FOR UK SITE)
@BooksontheKnob
@KindleNews
@FreeStuffRocks
@BookBub
@KindleFireDept