In the days, weeks and months since I have jumped head first into the Indie Author world, I have noticed some pretty consistent themes. It seems that every author asks themselves the same two questions over and over. What should I price my book at? How much marketing should I do?
I am not going to pretend that I am some sort of expert in these areas but I will give a few of my own bits of advice. You can take this as you see fit, useful or hot air.
Price Point
I have seen authors, including a rather long discussion on IWU, that argue all sides to this dilema. As authors you want to price what you think it is worth and not belittle you work by pricing it lower than you absolutely have to and therefore the dilema starts. I ask authors to look at this from two sides as there are always at least two sides to a problem. On side one you want to make profits, on the other you want to build a fan base. Pricing will dictate which comes first and will also predict you future as a successful author. I am not saying to price all your books at $0.99 but would it hurt to offer that first one at that low price to get readers to try you out and see if they may be intrested in making you another author on their list of have to read. Big name authors have easy sales because they cultivated an audience using price and effective marketing. Then they cashed in from a rabid fan base that would pay whatever they needed to get the next piece of their favorite authors mind. As a reader I would take the chance on your $0.99 novel/book and I may become that next fan that buys the rest of your collection without looking at the price. I know there are readers out there that look at a book and see a price like $0.99 and instantly think drival but there are many more of us that want the deal and will pass it on to our friends.
Marketing
I have spoken many times about marketing a book and I know I may be way off base but it seems that this way is building a fan base for my wife (RJ Palmer). I have a post that deals with this extensively and I have had several people ask about the time frame I quote. The amount of time you dedicate is always up to just you and you alone. Do as little as you want or go all out, but just do something for yourself and your books.
To see my marketing building suggestion please check out Promotion and Marketing Tips.
I would like to thank Cheryl Shireman for inviting me onto her wonderful blog and allowing me to try and captivate her audience. If you learned something blame her! You can check out my blog at Free Book Reviews http://freebookreviews.blogspot.com/ or you can buy Cheryl”s books and then come visit my blog. The choice is yours.
Thanks for letting me try to entertain your readers and maybe pass on some un asked for wisdom.
Great post, Albert.
We opted for the cheap inroad as a new name, and for any new writer without a fanbase this seems the best approach.
Of course if you do well and then pout your price up it could look like profiteering, so we stuck with the cheaper price for our second book too.
The best way, with hindsight, is to go for the minimum price that will get you the maximum royalty.