I continue to learn so much about marketing my novels. One important aspect of selling books is their PRICE.
How do you feel about the price your publisher sets for your novels?
Or, if you’re self-published, how do you go about pricing your novels?
Recently I bought an ebook recommended by a Goodreads friend. The author wasn’t known to me, but because her book was only $2.99, I eagerly purchased it. That got me thinking of my own novels.
My publisher has set the price of my ebooks at $6.99. How willing is a reader to shell out this amount on an unknown author? Since I’m not a famous bestselling author, many readers will feel like they’re taking a chance on me, and that’s an expensive chance.
All the more reason I was ecstatic when Omnific Publishing put my novel With Good Behavior on sale for $2.99 this month for the Freedom Sale.
Check here to find some great Omnific titles on sale, like Three Daves by fellow IWSG author Nicki Elson, Seers of Light by Jen DeLucy, Pieces of Us by Hannah Downing, Eve of Samhain by Lisa Sanchez, The Guardian’s Wildchild by Feather Stone, Indivisible by Jessica McQuinn, and more.
I’m also stoked my YA novel Streamline will go on sale in August.
Now I need to get the word out about the sale for With Good Behavior. I’ve been tweeting and posting on Facebook. Any other suggestions you can offer?
Upward and onward, insecure writers!
Jennifer Lane Books 
You hit it right on the nose. Traditional or self-pubbed, readers are hesitant to take a chance on an author they don't know. If your publisher won't drop your price then an excellent way for readers to get to know you is by self-pubbing a novella and pricing it low or even for free. But use a good editor, cover designer, and formatter.
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I believe you and Heather are right. There are so many books out there, and people's money is so limited that you have to entice them somehow to take a gamble on you.A free novella is a good way. But people are funny: if you are giving something away, often people will feel it has to be inferior in some fashion.John Locke sold a million eBooks by pricing his at 99 cents. If your cover is eye-catching and your logline intriguing, many will chance a dollar to see if you are any good.Have a happy 5th! Roland
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I'm very cautious about buying a book for .99, mainly because the ones I have purchased have been poorly written. One would think $2.99 would be better, but the one I recently purchased was, again, poorly written. I'm willing to pay a little more for a book that will be good. Besides, if our work is good, why sell it for peanuts?
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I mentioned the sale in my post on Tuesday, so hope that helped. (Saw Nicki's post about it.)My publisher sets the prices for my books, Right now the first one is 2.99 and my recent release is 4.99. Which seems fair to me.Ten dollars is my cutoff point. I won't pay more than that for an eBook. (And I've only made one exception – Jennifer Hillier's Creep.)
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Hi Jen! I think pricing is very important and eBook do need to go on sale, of course, you know my feelings on this. 🙂 I'm very excited about the Freedom sale, and I'm looking forward to next month's sale!!Best!
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I priced my first book at $2.99 because it seemed the right point. Not too cheap, but not too high. Even though I'm an unknown and I could have priced at 99cents and gotten more readers. But with only one book at the time, it didn't seem like a good idea. I had been reading about loss leaders and dropping the price of book one when book two was published, so I held off on any price drops. Plus, lately, 99cents seems to have gotten a bad rep with badly written books.
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I agree with the comments about 99 cents for a novel – I honestly got an icky feeling during that month when my book was on sale for that low. If it was up to me, I'd choose $3.99 or $4.99 for my novels all the time. But I also like having a bit higher price point and then a sale once in a while to give us an extra reason to put the word out. I guess what I'm saying is…I have no idea, ha.As far as getting the word out, I'm going to take a look at that e-mail Enn sent a while ago with the links geared toward lower priced books – if I find any that look useful, I'll share on our author thread. 😉
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I recently posted on this very issue. As an Indie Author, pricing weighed heavily on my mind – I'm also a fledgling author, published less than a year. My first novel is priced at $1.99. My second, a novella, I priced at $0.99. It encouraged readers to take a chance on a new author – at least that's what my sales indicated. :} My third, another novel, is priced at $2.99. But…it is within a different sub-genre of romance. I'm currently nearing the end of another novella (albeit a long-ish novella) and I will probably price it at $1.99. Readers who commented on my pricing post all shared their enthusiasm for the books priced up to $4.99. They felt these were fair prices – and commented that they didn't mind trying new authors in this range. Hope it helps as you seek your pricing-sweet-spot! Thanks for stopping by – It's great to meet you through IWSG.
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Heather, good advice about self-pubbing a novella. I'm getting back the rights to a short story soon and hope to make a catchy cover like you suggest.
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Roland, it's funny because my publisher tried a $.99 sale and the $2.99 sale almost seems to be going better (so far). And my free short story isn't moving much at all. So between free and too expensive, I hope to find the happy medium. Hope your 5th was \”all that\”!
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Mary, that's a bummer you were disappointed by some recently purchased inexpensive reads. I'd argue there are also some turkeys out there for $9.99 or more!I get that point about how much damn work it takes to write a novel then to sell if for so little? But more sales are better than stagnant sales to me.
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Alex, I saw you pimping our sale–thank you! $2.99 and $4.99 seem like fair prices to me, too. I agree that over $10 is outrageous for an ebook.
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Hey Cherie, can't wait to see Embrace skyrocket up the charts once it's on sale next month! 🙂
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Patricia, with one book out $2.99 seems like a great price. You're not the only one commenting how $.99 can make readers wary of the quality. How's the next book coming?
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Hi Nicki, I honestly was fine with the $.99 sale, though it didn't garner as many sales as I'd hoped. Thanks for compiling those ideas! I'll check it out when I get a moment. Thursdays are tough for me because I work all day then go swim.
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Hi Nadja, thanks for the info! I agree that up to $4.99 seems reasonable. Good luck with your novella.
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It's great news that you're happy about the price settings you're getting from your publisher. Sales always attract new readers. I wish you much success. 🙂
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I have very little advice to offer on this since I'm not where you are yet. I hope you are having some good luck with it though.Heather
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Lexa, thank you for the good wishes.Heather, thanks for stopping by.
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