In the Ebook Dep't: "A Wind from the South" and strange sales behavior

[dianeduane]

So some of you may remember that a little while ago I moved A Wind from the South from its free-at-website-only status to wider availability at Amazon, this time actually charging money for it... i.e., a shattering USD $1.99. (Having first made sure everyone who might have wanted it free had had their chance.) This was in the nature of an experiment, to see how (or if) low ebook prices worked for me.

So the first paycheck in which AWFTS was included has come in, and it was okay. But the sales still weren't exactly stellar. So I took the experiment in a slightly different direction: I raised the price to USD $4.99.* And suddenly sales have jumped.

Could it be that, when you're an author who's been established in print for a while, that it's not smart to price your book too low? Is it possible that people look at it and say, "Oh, this thing must be cheap because it's no good", and pass by on the other side? Or is this just some seasonal effect, or some other kind of coincidence?

It'll be interesting to see how the next month or two of sales goes. (BTW, for those of you who might want it, the book remains available for a lower-than-Amazon price at the DD.com shop. I'm waiting to see if the dreaded Amazon PriceBot  notices the lower price and discounts the Amazon version of the book accordingly.)

*For international purchasers, VAT is added and the price goes up a little. It's $5.86 when you're buying it in Ireland, for example.

Comments

[keristor.livejournal.com]

I've seen the "too low" effect discussed elsewhere, it does seem to be real for some people (including some who are fine 'buying' free books). I would expect it more with unknown authors, however, where it looks more like "I'm desperate to get anyone to buy my book!" than with an author of established quality (although I suppose no matter how "well known" an author is in their own genre there will still be a lot of people who don't know them, I'm sure there are hundreds of 'good' authors I've never read).

Pricing is, I think, a matter of guesswork and experiment. But if you both sell more copies and get more for each one that has to be a win...

[kcscribbler]

As a frequent Kindle fiction buyer, I have to say that I do usually pay attention to low prices like that, especially if I don't recognize the author. I've found that when gambling with Kindle fiction, the $1.99 and $.99 books are usually that cheap for a reason; poor plot and many typographical errors. That's a factor at least for me, when buying fiction from an author about whom I know nothing; perhaps the sales were mostly from people who didn't recognize your name?

/two cents' worth

BTW, Happy early Birthday! :)

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

I've certainly seen marketing discussions of too-low pricing. I haven't worked close enough to retail or marketing to know anything more than what one hears, though.

I would expect people looking at your book on Amazon to have some rough idea who you are. The number of books on Amazon is so high that not many people will end up at your book purely at random. If they get there via reasonable connections, most will have seen your name. And, at least on the cover shown, it mentions NYT bestseller, which pretty much establishes that you're not some self-published fly-by-night. (Doesn't, of course, prove much about whether person X would like your books, or whether they're "good" according to some objective standard other than high sales numbers.)

[marlinkhylacat]

Definitely, I'd say that pricing too low is often a damaging factor! I agree with the comments above mine; they give very good reasons why this would be so.

I just wanted to add in my own personal observations about this sort of thing. I'm on an online community for artists, and we very frequently have discussions where someone will complain that they don't receive any commissions no matter how low their prices are. That type of remark ALWAYS triggers a lengthy discussion, with multiple other artists popping in and replying, "No one ever noticed my stuff when I was underpricing myself. But when I raised my rates to a more fair [to the artist] price, I started getting much more work!"

[seasleepy.livejournal.com]

I know if I saw something from an established author pop up somewhere for $2*, I'd assume it was a short story/novella/something not novel-length (especially as your other books all are at $4.99 and up).

*and there wasn't a banner saying SALE SALE SALE!