Anecdotal pricing story

I had a slightly odd experience today. I was visiting a friend in the hospital and he introduced me to another friend who was also visiting him. In the course of the conversation, my friend (who is also one of my beta readers) told this other person that I had written a book and that it was available on Amazon. This other friend ran to her laptop, brought up Amazon, searched my name and, of course, my one and only book popped up.

The pricing info on the Kindle edition showed that the paperback price was normally $14.99, and the Kindle price was $4.99. The slightly odd part of the experience was watching someone looking at my book and make a buying decision right in front of me. Her reaction was "Oh, look, your book is on sale today. I'm going to grab it right now, before it goes back up." She didn't have any idea that I was self-published and that I had set that price.

I have no idea how often those kind of thoughts run through our potential customers heads, but I do know this woman is a self-described "reading junkie."

I know we are familiar with the bargain hunters out there, but it's good to remember that these kind of scenarios take place too. I'm sure she would have happily bought the book for .99 or 2.99, but she still saw a lot of perceived value in the 4.99. In fact, when she saw the price, she asked me "Is it a full-length book?" assuming that the price might mean it was a shorter work.