02 Mar 5 Great Reasons to Sell Your Book For .99cents
A lot of my success as a self-published author has come from selling a few of my books for .99cents. Although this wasn’t my first game plan, I quickly realized after months and months of very little sales I had to do something different.
Like most new authors, I was excited and anxious to finally make money off my book series that I put blood sweat and tears into. I had heard stories of authors making thousands of dollars on Amazon and I was so ready to give it a try.
I quickly uploaded my books onto all the E-book platform, then sat back and waited for my hundreds of thousands of dollars to start rolling in. Unfortunately after 3 months I had only sold about 15 ebooks total, impressive huh? Yeah, not so much. This wasn’t the success I had hoped and dreamed about and I knew something had to change.
So I started doing some research on internet marketing and realized one big mistake, I was pricing my books too high. I started out the gate with a $5.99 price tag which, at the time, I didn’t realize was pricing me right out of the game.
You see, as a new author no one knows your work and no one is wiling to invest $5.99 on an e-book download from you, well, other than your mom, dad and a few close friends.
So by pricing my first book in my 3 book series at .99 cents, I went from selling 5 books a month to 4,000 books a month. Now of course I’m not saying that everyone will have this type of success, but it’s definitely one way to rev to up your sales and get you noticed.
So over the years and much research later, I have added to my list of why you should consider selling a book or two at the bargain price of .99 cents. The best way I see doing this via Amazon is through their KDP program. This program allows you to discount your book for up to 5 days. This discount can be anything from free to .99cents. The key to this program is to entice the reader to grab your book while it is on sale for a limited amount of time. Also, if you don’t want to go exclusive with Amazon, you can still price your book down to .99cents, just remember to go in and change it back once the sales start rolling in, if you decide to raise your price.
Below are my 5 reason why you too should drop that price tag down to .99 cents
1. Get More Readers
Pricing your book at .99 cents will guarantee more readers. Like I mentioned earlier, as a new author people are very reluctant to spend $5.99 and over on a download. A physical book yes, a download you can forget it. By dropping your price down to .99 cents you increase your chances of selling more books which in turn you will get more readers. I like to call my .99 cents book my “bait” book. This is the book that you are willing to discount in exchange for obtaining more readers. And we all know more readers means more sales in the future. If you have a series, you may want to consider keeping your first book at .99cents and then pricing the others a bit higher. I have done the following with my book series: I priced book 1 at .99cents, book 2 at 2.99 and book 3 at 3.99. That way you can bait them in with your .99cent book and when they are hooked and you have proven that you can actually write a great story, they will be okay with spending a bit more on book 2 and 3.
2. Launch A New Book
When launching a new book it is always a good idea to offer your work at a discount price. My suggestion is to offer your discounted price of .99 cents for 2 or 3 days. Couple that offer with a social media blitz broadcasting that your novel is now available at a discounted price (.99 cents) for a limited time only (2 or 3 days) This will not only gain several downloads for you, you will begin to build your readership and following.
3. Boost Your Sales Rankings
Amazon has a very supportive algorithm when it comes to selling your books. Pricing your book at .99 cents will more than likely propel your book to a top ten spot in the category that you’ve listed it in. This is great in so many levels. One, you have bragging right that your novel is #1, 2 or 3 in its said category. Now you are technically an Amazon bestseller. A badge you can brag about on your social media sites. Two, when your book hits a top ten rating, it automatically populates on thousands of people’s bookshelves as “customers who have bought this title have also bought yours”. You see, the more you sell, the more times your book pops up in a new readers bookshelf, and that’s what matters. Keep in mind, the higher the sales rank the more exposure your book will have. The more exposure your book has, the more sales you will make. The more sales you make, okay I think you get where I am going with this.
4. Get More Reviews
Reviews to an author is like fuel to a Jet. We need them desperately, and without them our career doesn’t stand a chance. A large percentage of reader buy books off the reviews given on Amazon or any platform for that matter. When an author is new and no one has ever heard of them, reviews help them get noticed and sell more books.
So by pricing your book at .99 cents you in turn will sell more books. More books sold will raise your chances of gaining more reviews and we authors love great reviews.
5. Establish Your Name as an Author
Every author wants to be known for his or her work. Establishing a good reputation is extremely desirable for all of us. Getting your book in front of as many readers as possible by pricing it at .99 cents will do just that. Think about it as campaigning for a political position. It’s all about getting your name out to as many people, or readers, as possible. You want your name to keep popping up in as many readers bookshelves as possible. The best way to do that is offering your work, (at least one of your books) at a discounted price of .99 cents.
I tell authors all the time, don’t be afraid to give your work away for a discounted price. I’ve even given away my books for… wait for it… FREE. At the end of the day, in the beginning what’s most important than the money made, is building your name as an author. A sacrifice in one area (money) to gain in another (recognition and readers) is so worth it in the long run.
My motto is, do what you love and with passion, and the money will come. Guaranteed 😉
Until next time, stay focused, stay positive and keep writing.
~Kim
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