But a little more digging shows up this information. The 70% category is available only if you charge $2.99 - $9.99 and the 35% category is .99 to $200.
I'll break this down a little more because the numbers are interesting. In order to make $1000 on the 35% program you need to sell 2886 books. To make $1000 with the 70% program, you need to sell 477. Selling almost 3000 books can be a daunting number to anyone, especially a new author. IMHO.
So my question is, do you go for the volume and hope that a lot of people try out your .99 book or do you put your book up in price and hope for half the volume but more money?
I'm very curious to see what you all think as I am on the fence on this particular subject and would love to see arguments for both.
6 comments:
i think that if you put the books up at like 2.50 or 3 (for the one series) in the end its still worth about the same as if you walked into chapters/ coles / other bookstore and bought 1 (3 books together aprox 10$)
Both sides have good and bad points, i mean yes you can make abit more $ faster IF you can sell it, or you might not sell very many and get raked over the coals $ wise.
Im really not sure what i would do if i was selling on amazon, expectantly if i haven't really put my name on a cover yet....
I dont know if this helps any or not, at least it might give you another perception to look at?...
I'm tempted to put a book at .99 For me, it's all about getting lots of people to read that first book, and then if they like it, they'll want to read the others. I just read John Locke's Howie book (How to Make a Million) and I think his strategy was brilliant. But first, in able to do this, I think an author needs a backlist. Just my .02 worth.
Mimi
I was going to list my book at .99, but was advised against it. I chose to list mine at 4.99. I know there's the option to put it on sale,for a week at .99, or offer a coupon for example. I don't know what the right answer is. My book became available on Amazon yesterday, and is still caught up in the backlog of Smashwords for the other online retailers. I'll let you know how the sales pan out. And I chose 70%.
Lorhainne Eckhart
www.LorhainneEckhart.com
The Choice, available June, 2011
What would you do for someone you love?
I like 2.99 and then when the rest of the series comes out, dropping the first book to 99 cents. Good question!
From this reader's point of view, it also depends on the length of the ebook. For the most part, I have not paid more than $1.99 for an ebook (some may be more but I had a coupon or equivalent). I may pay $2.99 for the equivalent of a 350-400+ mass market paperback, but that's it and only from authors whose work I already like. I won't be paying more than that for any ebook, not when I can buy the mass market paperback for <$5 with a coupon (and I can sell the book back to the store for credit toward new books; ebooks just take up disk space after I finish reading it).
Thanks for all the feedback! I think that this debate may go on for some time, but that's okay because the industry really is so unsettled, there is going to be a lot of ups and downs when it comes to costs.
It's an exciting time for authors though and for the most part, I agree that a book, especially a new authors book, should be at .99 to draw in readers and help with gaining loyal followers.
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