My 99 cent experiment continues...

You're probably tired of this by now, but I wanted to give another update on how things are going for me this month, with my 99 cent price experiment.  If you remember, to match my best month in sales priced at $2.99 I need to sell 32 books a day priced at 99 cents.

I just sold my 800th book for this month.  Since it's the 20th, it's easy math.  I'm averaging 40 sales per day.  Now, the first four days of the month were fantastic, and it did slow down from there.  So, I calculated out just the 5th to the 19th to get a more accurate picture of what my average sales per day are.  In that snapshot I averaged 32 sales a day.  Right were I need to be to tie my biggest money maker month.  Yay!

Now, I want to address the issue of "cheapening" by work by selling my book at only 99 cents.  I know some people think it devalues my novel, or conditions people to expect a low price for my future works.  I don't take much stock in that thought. 

I'm a totally unknown author.  People don't know my name, they don't know if they like my work.  If I can get several thousand people to try my book, and they do enjoy it, they'll pay more for future books.  It's a marketing strategy, and in my case, it's working.

Now, I don't know how many people buy my book and add it to an already long to be read pile.  But I do know that some people are reading it.  I'm getting feedback from people.  I'm getting reviews.  More people are joining my Facebook fan page.  (Yay!)  So I know that not everyone is buying and not reading.

Which is fantastic.  When I get an email telling me how much someone enjoyed my book, it makes all of this worth it.  :)

Vicki

More Sales Numbers

I know you're all just waiting for me to post more of my numbers.  Well, I won't keep you waiting any longer.  Here's what's been happening this month so far with my sales:

1st: 116 sold.  (Wow, what happened that day?)
2nd: 50 sold.
3rd: 66 sold.
4th: 56 sold.
5th: 34 sold.
6th: 30 sold.
7th: 35 sold.

As you can see, the month started off with a bang!  And things have slowed down here lately.  But I still am selling well beyond my 17 sales that I need to tie what I was doing before I dropped my price to 99 cents.  So, even though I'm slowing down, I am still happy with the 99 cent price and plan on keeping the price for now.

As for what I will price my next book at... I'm really not sure.  At first I thought I would start it out at $2.99 to see what it can do.  Then I changed my mind, wanting to make a bigger bang with rank and decided to start it at 99 cents.  Right now I keep waffling back and forth, not sure what I will do.  I might try an introductory price of 99 cents, and see what happens.  But I don't want to be locked into raising it if it's selling much better than Not What She Seems.  So I'm torn.

Have you played around with your book price?  I'd love to know if you have found that sweet spot for your book.

Vicki

My $.99 Experiment

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

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

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

Hook Victorine #11

Here's the first 400 words from Secrets in the Shadows, by T.L. Haddix.
 

As dawn reached its fingers out over the Midwest, the sun creating pink trails that stretched toward the rivers and fields, the woman’s sleep was disturbed by haunting images of quiet violence. The dream started innocuously enough, as she was walking through a sunlit meadow, the warm summer breezes gently teasing her hair away from her face. As she turned her face toward the sky, eyes closed against the glare of the sun, a sudden chill coursed across her skin, and a shadow fell across her face. Opening her eyes, she was startled to see that ugly black clouds had covered the sky from horizon to horizon, roiling, churning things, filled with a malevolence she could sense in her core.

I like the author’s writing style. The descriptions are poetic, and yet I don’t feel like they’re overwritten. The thing that I would warn against is beginning with a dream. I know I’ve already covered that. If you didn’t read my other post about it, here’s the recap. Starting with a dream is done a lot. And I mean a lot. This is the fourth book in my Hook Victorine that has started with a dream. So, just be aware it’s done quite a bit. I won’t mention it again, I’ll go on and let you know if I’m hooked based on the premise of the story.

I also feel distanced from the character, in this narrated point of view. I’d rather be in her point of view, know her name, and feel what she feels. This is something else I see a lot, and I personally dislike it. However, this is just my opinion, so you might find others who really like that distanced point of view in the beginning.

Turning, she ran toward the house, the place that had always been a safe haven. As she reached the worn steps, she stopped, hesitating and confused. A growing sense of unease was moving through her, telling her to not open the door, to not go in the house. Unable to stop her body, she watched as she raised her hand and opened the door, stepping over the threshold and into the gloomy darkness.

I would suggest a little bit of tweaking here. “A growing sense of unease was moving through her,” I would change to “A growing sense of unease moved through her.” I am curious as to why she’s feeling this unease. I’ll read on to see what happens.

Suddenly, as dreams often do, she was in another place, but still aware of the growing storm outside the windows, as well as of the fear that was growing inside her body.

Just a nit pick here, but earlier she had a growing sense of unease, and how the storm is growing and the fear is growing. I might suggest a rewording, it just jumped out at me. As far as the story goes, I like the sense of fear, and I’m wondering what is going to happen next.

It was night, and the lightning was flashing, but all she could hear was her heartbeat and the sound of her own breathing.

Another nit pick. Instead of saying “It was night,” I would show that it’s night by describing the dark. Also, the lightning was flashing is passive, I would make it more active. Here’s what I would do to tweak it: “The lightning flashed across the pitch black sky, but all she heard was her heartbeat and the sound of her own breathing.”

Her pulse was racing, pounding in her ears, and her breath was sawing in and out of her lungs as though she had run for miles.

Her pulse raced, pounding in her ears. I’ll stop taking out the passive ‘was’ phrases, I’m starting to annoy myself. I’m picking at nits. I’ll keep reading and let you know if I’m hooked.

As she looked around her, she discovered that she was standing in her own room, now faded and gray, the surfaces covered in dust. Staring at the bed, she realized there was someone in it, cowering under the covers. She could see the bedspread shaking with tremors, and she knew that whoever the person was in the bed, they were terrified. A dim light slowly grew across the bed, light from the hall that was quickly extinguished as whoever had entered her room closed the door rapidly behind them.

I don’t think I like someone coming in the bedroom at night. I think this might be a predator of some sort. It gives me a very creepy feeling. If this is what the author is going for, they’re doing a great job.

As her breathing and pulse quieted down, she was finally able to hear the sounds outside her body, and as she listened, heavy boot steps made their way across the room from the door.

Yep, I don’t like the guy with the boots. Okay, here’s my assessment. I would keep reading to see if they creepy guy was going to kill the person shaking in their bed. If this turns out to be a story about the molestation of a child, I wouldn’t continue to read. That’s just my personal preference though. I don’t like to read about horrible things happening to children. But on the upswing, I do think the author has done a good job with creating a creepy mood for this book.

The Winners!

Thank you everyone who entered my contest!  I put everyone's names in a bowl and my daughter drew three of them out.

And the winners are... Kippoe... Stormy... and Linda!

Congratulations!

Now I just need your email addresses.  Just click this link, fill out the form letting me know you won, and I'll send you the .prc file of my book.

Thank you!

Vicki