Hi, I just wanted to let everyone know how my 99 cent experiment is working so far. This is only the 4th day, but so far the results are good.
Before I show my sales for the past few days, I'll share a little bit of background. My average sales for August and September (with the exception of my Kindle Nation Daily spot and my price drop) were 3 books a day. In order to match this and not lose money from where I was at in August and September, I need to sell at least 17.4 books a day at the new $.99 price.
Monday - 49 books sold.
Tuesday - 67 books sold.
Wednesday - 40 books sold.
Thursday so far - 31 books sold at 4:42 pm.
My best month was July, for royalties not sales, and I sold an average of 5.6 books a day. To match my best month, I need to sell 32 books per day. So far, this has been easy to surpass. It looks like my 99 cent price is going to earn me more royalties than my $2.99 price, even though I only get 35%.
And I get more readers. And more reviews.
Something else is happening also. I am getting mentioned on blogs and facebook pages that list very cheap books.
I'll keep you updated as this progresses. I must say that Joe Konrath might be missing the boat a little telling people that the sweet pricing spot is $2.99. At least for me, the 99 cent price is looking sweeter.
Vicki
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
I changed my Kindle ebook price!
Okay, I know I just blogged about how happy I am with my sales. That was right after I was featured in Kindle Nation Daily and I was still on the sales high. My sales really slumped yesterday, so I decided to experiment. (That's the nice thing about having your book on the Kindle.)
I changed my price to 99 cents.
Wow, what was I thinking... right? How can going from making $2.04 per sale to $.35 per sale be a good thing? Well, if I'm selling 3 books a day at $2.99, I'm making $6.12 a day. (That's been my average this month, with the exception of my Kindle Nation Daily short coming out.) And that's assuming all of my sales are in the US. (They're not.)
But, if lowering my price to 99 cents allows me to sell 33 books a day (that's what I've sold today since I changed my price and announced it), then I'm making $11.55 per day. And more people get to enjoy my book. And I get more reviews. And a higher rank on Amazon which gives me more exposure.
That might not seem like a big deal to you, but let's do the math.
$2.99 price + 3 sales a day = $183.60 per month.
$.99 price + 33 sales a day = $346.50 per month.
That almost equals my best month at $2.99. And more people get to enjoy my book, I get more reviews, and a higher rank on Amazon.
Now, I have no idea if these crazy great sales will continue. If the sales drop off the planet, I'll come crawling back here in sorrow, and do more math to figure out my next move. But for now, I'm really liking this 99 cent price drop. :)
I'll keep you posted as to how it's going!
Vicki
I changed my price to 99 cents.
Wow, what was I thinking... right? How can going from making $2.04 per sale to $.35 per sale be a good thing? Well, if I'm selling 3 books a day at $2.99, I'm making $6.12 a day. (That's been my average this month, with the exception of my Kindle Nation Daily short coming out.) And that's assuming all of my sales are in the US. (They're not.)
But, if lowering my price to 99 cents allows me to sell 33 books a day (that's what I've sold today since I changed my price and announced it), then I'm making $11.55 per day. And more people get to enjoy my book. And I get more reviews. And a higher rank on Amazon which gives me more exposure.
That might not seem like a big deal to you, but let's do the math.
$2.99 price + 3 sales a day = $183.60 per month.
$.99 price + 33 sales a day = $346.50 per month.
That almost equals my best month at $2.99. And more people get to enjoy my book, I get more reviews, and a higher rank on Amazon.
Now, I have no idea if these crazy great sales will continue. If the sales drop off the planet, I'll come crawling back here in sorrow, and do more math to figure out my next move. But for now, I'm really liking this 99 cent price drop. :)
I'll keep you posted as to how it's going!
Vicki
Saturday, September 25, 2010
1000th Copy Sold!
I'm celebrating this week because I've sold my 1,000th copy of my book! Wow. It's amazing to think that a thousand people have purchased something that I wrote. I'm both humbled and extremely excited.
For those of you who are wondering how long it took me, here's a quick recap of my sales by month. I uploaded my book on April 20th, 2010.
April - 7
May - 151
June - 456
July - 176
August - 106
September (so far) - 143
As you can see, the bulk of my sales came from June. I attribute this to being featured on some great blogs, and my book was still priced at $1.99. I priced it low for the first three months, which allowed me to gain momentum and get some reviews under my belt. Sales fell dramatically in July when I raised my price to $2.99.
Now, do I feel like I made a mistake raising my price? Maybe. However, I did make a little more money in July than I did in June. Why? Because Amazon raised their royalty rates to 70% in July for all Kindle books priced between $2.99 and $9.99. Before, at $1.99 I was making 35% royalties. ($.70 per sale) Starting in July when I raised my price to $2.99 I began making 70% royalties for all sales in the US. ($2.04 per sale) That's a huge jump in royalties.
August, however, was a very slow sales month for me. I'll never know if I had kept my lower price, if I would have kept my sales momentum. In the end, I am happy with how well it's been selling. I'm very excited for my next book, The Overtaking, which will probably be ready for the Kindle around the end of the year. I do think the secret to success on the Kindle is having a loss leader, so I plan on making The Overtaking mine. I'll price it at 99 cents, at least for the first three months, in hopes that it will sell like crazy and draw some attention to my higher priced book.
I'll let you know how it goes!
Vicki
For those of you who are wondering how long it took me, here's a quick recap of my sales by month. I uploaded my book on April 20th, 2010.
April - 7
May - 151
June - 456
July - 176
August - 106
September (so far) - 143
As you can see, the bulk of my sales came from June. I attribute this to being featured on some great blogs, and my book was still priced at $1.99. I priced it low for the first three months, which allowed me to gain momentum and get some reviews under my belt. Sales fell dramatically in July when I raised my price to $2.99.
Now, do I feel like I made a mistake raising my price? Maybe. However, I did make a little more money in July than I did in June. Why? Because Amazon raised their royalty rates to 70% in July for all Kindle books priced between $2.99 and $9.99. Before, at $1.99 I was making 35% royalties. ($.70 per sale) Starting in July when I raised my price to $2.99 I began making 70% royalties for all sales in the US. ($2.04 per sale) That's a huge jump in royalties.
August, however, was a very slow sales month for me. I'll never know if I had kept my lower price, if I would have kept my sales momentum. In the end, I am happy with how well it's been selling. I'm very excited for my next book, The Overtaking, which will probably be ready for the Kindle around the end of the year. I do think the secret to success on the Kindle is having a loss leader, so I plan on making The Overtaking mine. I'll price it at 99 cents, at least for the first three months, in hopes that it will sell like crazy and draw some attention to my higher priced book.
I'll let you know how it goes!
Vicki
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