[Heather Walsh]

I published my novel in November, and it's been priced at 99 cents since launch.  I set it this low, after much hand-wringing and research, because I am a first-time author with no base and figured people would not take a chance on a pricey book from a first-timer. I signed up to do KDP select and am planning on doing a few free days in February. I'm wondering what to price the book when it goes back on sale.

What has your experience been? Did you hike up the price in anticipation of of the sales spike? Or did you keep it low so you could maximize the amount of sales?

Thanks for any advice you can give me! I'm glad I found these boards.

 

[teashopgirl]

Welcome!

I launched a somewhat similar novel last year, with a fifteen-year-old protagonist. I'd consider raising your price to $2.99 or $3.99. I've had good results at both prices. It can be helpful to have a perma-free or low priced title if you have several books, but I'm not sure it is the best strategy when you have just one title.

I'm sure others will disagree, however. Good luck to you!

 

[Adele Ward]

We find it's best to set the price low, as people hear about the giveaway too late, go to the book, find it's no longer free but low-priced so they think 'might as well buy it now I'm here'. We set it a bit higher than you ($2.99) as Amazon only gives us 30% on a lower price than that and we pay the author royalties as we're the publisher, so we need to be able to give them a good amount.

 

[Heather Walsh]

Thanks Teashopgirl and Adele. Great advice. The reason I set it at 99 cents is that my goal is to get as many readers as I can and gather a fan base before I release my next novel, due out in October. I didn't want to offer it perpetually free because I was afraid that would de-vaule people's opinion of the novel--and trust me, I see and mostly agree with the argument that a 99 cent price accomplishes the same thing. But at least it costs something, was my thinking.

Have any others out there priced a novel at 99 cents coming off of Free days, or do you set it to 2.99 or something along those lines?

 

[Amanda Brice]

Have any others out there priced a novel at 99 cents coming off of Free days, or do you set it to 2.99 or something along those lines?

Your exposure is greatest about 3 days after coming off of a free run (as opposed to immediately after a well-promote 99 cent sale, like a Kindle Daily Deal or a BookBub), so I think this is what I would do.

1. Raise the price from 99 cents to $2.99 or $3.99.
2. Go free (so you get the slash through the $3.99, which looks a lot more impressive than the slash through 99 cents).
3. Change the price to 99 cents once you go back to paid, to capture the latecomers who find the listing on a website a bit too late but decide to buy it anyway since it's just 99 cents
4. Three days later, raise the price to $2.99 or $3.99, at about the same time that your popularity ranking is highest.

 

[KM Logan]

Glad I found this thread today, all my books have been sitting @ $.99, I think I'll bump up the price later this week. (You've all been warned  )

 

[dalya]

My most lucrative Select promos have been priced at $4.99.

If you're actually getting a fanbase at 99cents (people on your FB page and mailing list), I guess it's not a bad idea to keep the price low.

But if you aren't "securing" those people, 99cents is sooooo low for sales. You have to sell 6x as many compared to $2.99

BTW, at the risk of taking this thread way off topic, your book reminds me of a pretend book I made up for myself about a year ago:

 

[Heather Walsh]

Amanda, that sounds like a great plan. Especially your point about the slash through the 3.99 looking more impressive. Having a 99-cent book has other drawbacks as well. For instance, I've found some book bloggers who are willing to host e-book giveaways, but what's so exciting about giving away a book that costs 99-cents?!

Dalya, good point about the sales. And why is Rusty Can only pretend--that looks like a winner to me. Ha. I'm assuming you created that cover yourself? I did too. Even dented the can myself: http://www.hwalsh.com/cover/