# It Can Be Done - Selling A Novel At Trad Pub Prices



## Elizabeth Ann West (Jul 11, 2011)

I write in a specific niche, I built a readership by publishing every 2 months from July. 

And this is not to brag, but meant to be a call to others that you CAN possibly price high and still sell. It depends on many factors, but it can be done.

By Consequence of Marriage has 504 preorders at $8.24 a piece. The book goes live tomorrow. I've had 9 cancellations total.

Again, this is not "Look at me, look at me" just I can't even believe it and it's MY KDP report that I can see.


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## cblewgolf (Jan 3, 2011)

That's fantastic!  Over $2500 on a pre-order?  I assume this is romance and it is part of a series?


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## Sever Bronny (May 13, 2013)

Hmm. I was thinking of charging more for book 2 in my series, and this gives me hope. Mind you, book two is about 160k words...


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## Elizabeth Ann West (Jul 11, 2011)

It's historical fiction. Book one of a new novel series. It has romantic elements but it's clean romance so no sex or anything taboo. The book is 72k


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## zoe tate (Dec 18, 2013)

Elizabeth Ann West said:


> It Can Be Done


Of course it can.

If it can be done by trade publishers, it can be done by self-publishers.

The "average reader" (whoever that is!) has no interest at all in who the publisher is. Trade publishers don't normally give digital books away free or sell them for $0.99.

It's just about deciding how/where you want to compete in the market - with professionals or with amateurs, and publishing and marketing accordingly.

(I'm biased, of course: my digital books are $8.99/$9.99 and I wouldn't sell for less).


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## Ronny K (Aug 2, 2011)

Sever Bronny said:


> Hmm. I was thinking of charging more for book 2 in my series, and this gives me hope. Mind you, book two is about 160k words...


I'm all about higher pricing, but be careful making too large of a jump, because--as has been said elsewhere--different customers exist within different pricing brackets. So jumping from $2.99 to something like $7.99 might be close to starting from scratch. MIGHT BE. I'd still be interested to see.


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## Sever Bronny (May 13, 2013)

Ronny K said:


> I'm all about higher pricing, but be careful making too large of a jump, because--as has been said elsewhere--different customers exist within different pricing brackets. So jumping from $2.99 to something like $7.99 might be close to starting from scratch. MIGHT BE. I'd still be interested to see.


Yeah definitely, I'd have to be careful (and I'd solicit everyone's opinion anyway before publishing).


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## I&#039;m a Little Teapot (Apr 10, 2014)

Excellent, Elizabeth! I'm launching a new series very soon and will be pricing higher, more in line with the traditionally published books in the genre.


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## D. Zollicoffer (May 14, 2014)

Congrats! I never understood the race to the bottom. My full length novels will be $5.99 - $7.99.  I think that's reasonable for something that took hundreds of hours to make


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## Elizabeth Ann West (Jul 11, 2011)

There are .99 jaff books and .99 Christian romances. So I'm not immune to that. I'd say look at the highest price in the top 20 of your sub genre.


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## Claire Frank (Jul 28, 2014)

Kayla. said:


> I agree with you, but do you think it's possible to price high even when the bestselling competition prices at 0.99?


I think that's why it is important to look at your genre/subgenre lists and watch what is selling and take note of prices. In fantasy, I'm going up against things like the Game of Thrones/Song of Ice and Fire series at $4.99/$5.99 for the ebooks, as well as other popular, well-selling fantasy books by both trad and indie authors in the $2.99-$6.99 range. The prices of a lot of backlist fantasy ebooks have been going down in the past year or so. Granted, I don't expect new releases to be priced that low, and there are some that are priced higher, especially for the big name authors in that genre. But there are a ton of books in my genre in that lower price range, so it is simply something I have to take into account.

I'm definitely not disagreeing with you in the least, Elizabeth! I think we all understand the importance of looking at our own books/situations/etc. and making decisions from there. It is awesome that you're having a great preorder at that price and it is an important message - that we don't all have to price at $.99 or whatever in order to sell books in this market.


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## Drake (Apr 30, 2014)

Good for you!  Never let the naysayers tell you what you can't do.


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## Pauline Creeden (Aug 4, 2011)

hmmm....those are interesting numbers and makes ya think  Congratulations!


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## KelliWolfe (Oct 14, 2014)

If people only shopped for the lowest-priced items there would be no brand names. Fortunately, not everyone shops in the bargain basement, so if you can differentiate your work from the rest of the pile you can command a premium. Of course figuring out how to do that is the trick, isn't it?


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## Elizabeth Ann West (Jul 11, 2011)

I don't think my results are universal. I would NOT for example suggest pricing at $9.99 for Contemporary Romance. I don't think there's a single best seller at that price. That's an issue for that genre, absolutely.

Historical fiction is priced higher on average. 

As far as children's books go, I can't answer that. As a parent, I would say I'd be more inclined to purchase something if it was NOT 99 cents. Again, that's because purchasing books for my children is about quality.


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## Carol Davis (Dec 9, 2013)

That's terrific, Elizabeth -- congratulations!


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## Elizabeth Ann West (Jul 11, 2011)

My stomach is in knots to see this hit the KDP account. End of February, drinks are on me!  

The book is live in the UK. The rank is starting to climb in the US . . . if you hear a woman's scream from the general direction of Connecticut this week it will be because the book climbed the sales rankings again.

:asses the popcorn because she can't eat ::


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## lilywhite (Sep 25, 2010)

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## 75910 (Mar 16, 2014)

Congratulations on a new release!!


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## Someone (Dec 30, 2011)

Elizabeth
That is awesome news. Congrats. 
Besides being you shared your good news, I am so glad you posted. I ran across a site that would be GREAT for you to list your books on and forgot to post it. You using jaff above was just the reminder I needed. It'd be a real bummer if the delay went longer, especially with your new book about to launch.
Check this out girl. This is so for you
http://www.jaffbooks.org/


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## Elizabeth Ann West (Jul 11, 2011)

Thank you Someone! 

That site is affiliated with MLS, and I am an author there.  I will look into what I can do to be listed.


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## Vaalingrade (Feb 19, 2013)

I'm slowly and steadily ratcheting it up. No one said boo about EUE being 3.99 up from 2.99 so the new series will be all 3.99.

Meanwhile, the big books are doing fine at 8.99 and 6.99, which at MMTPB prices.


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## Tim McGregor (Apr 2, 2013)

Well done, Elizabeth. That's awesome. I applaud your chutzpa in matching the trad pubs in pricing. Cheers. 

Zoe has a good point too. Readers really don't care who's publishing the book. They just want a good read.


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## Chris Fox (Oct 3, 2014)

Elizabeth, I'm so excited for you. You're always here offering advice to help the rest of us. I love seeing you do well!


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## coolpixel (Sep 17, 2012)

Congratulations Elizabeth. just checked the ranking - very healthily ranked. 

we are all obsessed about ranking, but it's earnings that matter!

my pricing journey has been deeply influenced by Elizabeth.

early this year, i had just one thriller out (i write action thrillers, in a series. think Lee Child/Jack Reacher). it was a 60k word book, priced at 2.99. i was selling maybe 10 books a month.

in the summer i released the second one, a 104k word, priced at 3.99. i started selling more.

one month back, i released my third book, a 70k word work, and by this time i had come across an earlier thread by Elizabeth about pricing.

i studied the bestselling trad authors in my space - Vince Flynn, Stephen Hunter, Lee Child, Robert Crais, Michael Connelly, Brad Thor, Greg Rucka and several others.. the majority of them are 6.99-10.99 

the likes of Lee Child are well above 10.99.

i priced my latest book at 4.99, upped the second one to 4.99 and the third one to 3.99. my average price now is 4.

all this, one month back.

Now, daily sales have doubled.  in February i will be releasing my 4th thriller and i might, just might, increase my price across the board to 5.99.

i am NOT selling truckloads of books. but i think i am earning more than many authors in my genre, who have as many books as me , 3, but are priced significantly lower than me.

i hope this maintains, but i will not be going back to lower pricing.


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## coolpixel (Sep 17, 2012)

Sever Bronny said:


> Yeah definitely, I'd have to be careful (and I'd solicit everyone's opinion anyway before publishing).


your book is #1 in one category and in top 10 in another category.

you can take the risk of upping the price by atleast $1 or 2.

you can always revert.

self publishing allows you to determine your own destiny.

actually all of life does that, but let's not get philosophical


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## martyns (May 8, 2014)

Thanks, food for thought. I've often suspected low pricing can actually harm peoples perception of a book. If something is free or cheap then you assume it's not going to be great.

Having said that, perma-free'ing my part 1 has helped to get sales of the later books rolling. I'm hoping releasing book 4 next year will provide a boost. I'm a bit bogged down in a creative writing course at the moment to work on my projects though. I'm currently working on a re-telling of 'The Lambton Worm' for an assignment and it's proving tricky to squeeze into the word count. Still, it's slowing me down, but I think it's given me some new idea and a better understanding of why I write how I write. 

I'd love to be selling my books at $10 circa - I don't think it will happen in fantasy though, I don't know? Is anyone pricing over $8 for fantasy? What about perma-free part 1 series? Any of those priced high?


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## Lady Vine (Nov 11, 2012)

Spot on, Elizabeth, and well done. You probably already know this, but the higher priced books sell really well on Google and generally all other retailers who cater to the non-US market. 

I set out from day one to price my full-length works $4.99+, and I haven't deviated from that. I'm finally stepping into my favourite genre in the new year, writing under my real name, and I won't be going anywhere near permafree or $0.99 pricing. While I can see the value in pricing short works that way, I'd never do that for novels. I have to condition my readers to expect "premium" pricing from me from the get-go. (I'm also splurging on professional services, so the price has to reflect the cost in a sense.)


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## Elizabeth Ann West (Jul 11, 2011)

I can't speak to euro prices, only American unfortunately. In American dollars $1.99 to $3.99 would be a bargain to me as a parent for a book. 

This book is going wide release in January. I'm waiting to get some of my novellas out of KDP select in late December early January. That way I have a catalog on those channels too.


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## GeneDoucette (Oct 14, 2014)

This is interesting.  My indie pub novels had lost a ton of momentum by the end of 2013.  It was (granted) in part because I didn't put out a third book in a trilogy in a timely fashion, but they were also priced a $9.99 at a time when the market didn't like that price.  It does seem to me the market is embracing higher priced books now, though.  We dropped the prices on the novels to $5.99 and they move just fine at that price.  When I self-pub novels next year I was going to target that price.  Now I'm wondering if I need to raise the prices on all of them.


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## Elizabeth Ann West (Jul 11, 2011)

There's about 5 of the top 20 for Immortal (thrillers historical) appear to be priced $6.99 + (http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text/6361463011/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_kstore_2_5_last)

That's the big thing to look at, and for most authors, wait until February to really make a decision because right now there are MASSIVE discounts on books that would not ordinarily be that low.


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## Joe_Nobody (Oct 23, 2012)

I'll second Elizabeth's notion that it can be done. All 16 of my full-length titles are at $9.00 or higher. I've experimented with lower prices, Select, and the like, and never found any better route to revenue than pricing at that level. I've never found a formula that increases the number of readers three-fold, which is what I would have to do in order to produce equal income.

I've posted several times in this forum, and elsewhere, that I think the average indie undervalues their work. It's easy to do. Many times I've asked new writers, "If you don't think your work is worth it, why should the reader?"

Anyway, congrats Miss Elizabeth and keep up the good work. Nock'em dead.


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## Elizabeth Ann West (Jul 11, 2011)

My other books are charting again as well! The Trouble With Horses, A Summer Shame, and A Winter Wrong have all moved up in ranking today! (A Spring Sentiment is out of KDP Select so I don't expect it to rise much. That's in preparation for January when I get The Trouble With Horses and A Winter Wrong back, I can post all 4 titles to other venues).


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## Chinese Writer (Mar 25, 2014)

Congrats Elizabeth!

Based on my own reading habits, I know that readers don’t always value a cheap book. My Kindle is filled with free and cheap books (over 1000+). And yet, the 40-50 books I read a year are normally priced higher than $2.99. It’s gotten to a point where I’m slowly deleting titles from my account permanently. I usually give a book 3-5 chapters to hook me and if it hasn’t picked up by then, I’ll delete it. But I have friends who would delete after the first chapter.


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## Caddy (Sep 13, 2011)

Congratulations, Elizabeth! Good for you.


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## A.A (Mar 30, 2012)

Nice to hear about your success, Elizabeth! I definitely want to try writing a romance novel this year.

My YA horror novels are at $6.99

This is a pretty normal price for YA (on the low side for trad-published YA). Unlike other genres though, many YA readers absoloutely DO know who the publishers of the books they read are. And many do care about who published what.

I was selling around 15 a day for 2 books at that price, but the rate has recently dropped. I need to think about advertising again.


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## Taking my troll a$$ outta here (Apr 8, 2013)

Congrats Elizabeth, that is fabulous.

I definitely agree indies can sell at higher price points. Recently, I published a bundle of my series and priced it at $8.99. I pretty much soft-pubbed it and did very little promo, and was surprised to see that it is selling pretty decent. It gave me a new perspective on pricing. From the reviews, it looks like these are readers who took a chance on an unknown and purchased the entire collection, so that gives me hope I can still reach new readers at the higher price points even as a lesser-known author.

I think there are just a different group of readers you will reach at different price points. Some readers only download freebies, some love the $0.99. Some will buy lots of books at $2.99-3.99.  Others will only buy at $4.99++, and there is a group of readers who are willing to put out $6.99-7.99-8.99+ for a book. I always priced my new books at $2.99...then I tried $3.99 and saw there was not much difference in sales so I stayed with that. Tried $4.99 for the latest release and now have my pre-orders priced at $4.99 and it looks like the readers are sticking with me or it is not turning off new readers. So lots of lessons learned this year.

It is great that indies can price whatever we want and adjust as necessary. Right now, for me, it is working nicely to have books ranging from FREE to $8.99, so I think if you have enough books in your list it is worth the risk to play with your prices.


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## GeneDoucette (Oct 14, 2014)

Elizabeth Ann West said:


> There's about 5 of the top 20 for Immortal (thrillers historical) appear to be priced $6.99 + (http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text/6361463011/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_kstore_2_5_last)
> 
> That's the big thing to look at, and for most authors, wait until February to really make a decision because right now there are MASSIVE discounts on books that would not ordinarily be that low.


I never even considered doing a narrow search like that before. Partly because I have a lot of trouble classifying my own novels. Immortal, yes, but: urban fantasy, historical fiction, thriller, action/adventure, sci-fi, humor.


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## Elizabeth Ann West (Jul 11, 2011)

Yeah, finding those niche best seller lists is vital. My preorder never fell off the first page of hot new releases for Historical European Fiction. That's vital discoverability for 2 months I didn't have to pay for. In fact, I was just PAID for being there.  (Well, paid in February). 

Just started transcribing the next novella of mine and MAN, this is like sooooo easy compared to the novel I just did. I'm like, whoa, I already have 3K and the thing is only 30-35k long! I predict this will be done this week (no Christmas, we did it on Saturday last).


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## 13893 (Apr 29, 2010)

Elizabeth Ann West said:


> Yeah, finding those niche best seller lists is vital. My preorder never fell off the first page of hot new releases for Historical European Fiction. That's vital discoverability for 2 months I didn't have to pay for. In fact, I was just PAID for being there.  (Well, paid in February).
> 
> Just started transcribing the next novella of mine and MAN, this is like sooooo easy compared to the novel I just did. I'm like, whoa, I already have 3K and the thing is only 30-35k long! I predict this will be done this week (no Christmas, we did it on Saturday last).


Elizabeth - congratulations on your new release today!


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## Elizabeth Ann West (Jul 11, 2011)

Thank you all so much!!!! 

Cracked the top #10,000 so far today and got my first review, a 5 STAR.  Breathe in. Breathe out.

In other news, I emailed signed PDFs of my books to the 70 readers who wanted one, fought with Nook and easily used Kobo's interface and scratched my head at Google's (I THINK maybe I did that right, a PDF? I don't know, crazy, but I did set the price HIGHER there to account for a 23% discount). 

And there's 3,000 words on the next book. Hubby brought home liquor. I'm going to go drink some now! WOOHOO!


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## Richardcrasta (Jul 29, 2010)

Thank you for inspiring me to revised my only KU title (to my regret, 38 days more to be free of it) and my best-reviewed novel, The Revised Kama Sutra, from $4.99 to $7.99. It initially sold quite well at $8 and $9, but noticing the downward slide in prices, I had lowered it ... with zero benefit.

I have, independently of this post, priced my two new books, though short, at the same level or higher (on Google Play, whose reports seem to be lacking in the last few days). I feel the content is valuable, daring, and original enough as to deserve this higher price.


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## Diane Patterson (Jun 17, 2012)

May I ask why you picked $8.24? (I've wondered if readers care about "non-traditional, non-ending-in-.99 prices.")


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## anotherpage (Apr 4, 2012)

Elizabeth Ann West said:


> I write in a specific niche, I built a readership by publishing every 2 months from July.
> 
> And this is not to brag, but meant to be a call to others that you CAN possibly price high and still sell. It depends on many factors, but it can be done.
> 
> ...


Elizabeth can you shed some light on this.

In order to setup a preorder. Do you have to upload the file, or can you upload it a few days before the live date?

Second how long did it take to get 504 preorders on that book ( i.e i set it up in July, it's now december and i have 504 preorders )

Third. Did you write all three books before July then set them up for releasing every 2 months? Or was you still writing one when you released the first?


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## Elizabeth Ann West (Jul 11, 2011)

My prices are birthdays. Mine is 3/25 hubby's is 8/24. 

In June, I quit a job with insane hours that paid peanuts. I was demoralized and wrote a story just for me. Took me 9 days to write The Trouble With Horses. I published it July 4 nearly midnight. I literally had to jump off that cliff.

When the book immediately started selling, I wrote another. A Winter Wrong was done in 12 days. My editor edits AS I write, so 7 days later the draft was good to go and up it went, July 23. That too did well. Readers wanted more. So I wrote and the sequel to A Winter Wrong went out September 23. Again, success. So I kept going. Very Merry Mischief AND A Summer Shame were written in October for November release.

Over and over again, even though the novellas did well, some readers wanted a novel. That's By Consequence of Marriage. 

Now I'm working on An Autumn Accord to go out in January, and sequel to By Consequence of Marriage to go out in February.


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## Deke (May 18, 2013)

Is the new book part of a series? And if so, are first/earlier books priced free or lower? I ask as I wonder if there is a correlation between the number of earlier books downloaded (for free or a fee) and the success of latter books in the series.  I assume you have a robust mail list. And very impressed with your consistent output.  That's key.


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## Elizabeth Ann West (Jul 11, 2011)

Deke said:


> Is the new book part of a series? And if so, are first/earlier books priced free or lower? I ask as I wonder if there is a correlation between the number of earlier books downloaded (for free or a fee) and the success of latter books in the series. I assume you have a robust mail list. And very impressed with your consistent output. That's key.


I don't really use my mailing list. I'm bad about that. I should. I have 1,000 people on one, and 100 on the other that's specifically for the JAFF. Really, I am doing well because I KNOW the genre, I am an avid reader of all things Mr. Darcy and know there's just never enough good material available. I would binge read one weekend a month, going through 8-10 books to find maybe one or two that was well written and become a favorite.

For me it's really about publishing WELL and publishing often. And I have a spreadsheet. : https://docs.google.com/a/thecheapebook.com/spreadsheets/d/1i9tCrzZctNnucllTkxyRtTRrvN1_yu6Rb2xfmbr_RPY/edit#gid=1674240584

I did the whole free thing back with Cancelled. I won't do it again. I don't have any of the books discounted. But that's again because I KNOW the genre. Readers of JAFF don't want a deal, they want a great story. They wan t a story they can read again and again to feel that sigh of relief when Elizabeth and Darcy finally get together. It's what we ALL crave. So I know they don't jump for a free book or a 99 cent book. They look for quality, and one indicator of that is the price. It's not meant to sound cras, it just marketing analysis.

Historical fiction overall commands a higher price point. Certain genres do. It's all up to us about what we write.


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## Elizabeth Ann West (Jul 11, 2011)

Someone asked about preorders. October 17th is when I put it up. So roughly 66 days netted 511 total preorders. The book now has 562 sales worldwide on Amazon, including preorders that went through.

It's now available on Google, Nook, and Kobo just today. Waiting until January to tackle iTunes.


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## anotherpage (Apr 4, 2012)

Elizabeth Ann West said:


> My prices are birthdays. Mine is 3/25 hubby's is 8/24.
> 
> In June, I quit a job with insane hours that paid peanuts. I was demoralized and wrote a story just for me. Took me 9 days to write The Trouble With Horses. I published it July 4 nearly midnight. I literally had to jump off that cliff.
> 
> ...


Ok so your books are around 177 pages, probably around 40,000 word count to make it a novel, any less and it would be a novella. So you are just writing fast, edit, release, write another, edit release. You aren't writing 3 or 4 books then releasing all at once. Just sticking to around 40,000 first draft, edit and release.

But when you upload are you releasing it right then? or is it set as preorder for the next month? And if it is setup for preorder is that part of your strategy, to get people ready for it? why not just release it then?


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## anotherpage (Apr 4, 2012)

One other question. What is a Pride and Prejudice Variation?

I know the original book but are you basically allowed to take the same two characters and create your own story with them? Is that what you mean by it?

I notice some of your books are in KU and some are not. Is that part of your marketing strategy?


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## Elizabeth Ann West (Jul 11, 2011)

Book 1- the Trouble With Horses is 30k long. Was just a story for me. Started this whole crazy ride. It was originally priced at $4 but I brought it down to $3.25 after a few days. Released July 4, 2014, then rereleased to extend it's stay on the HNR list right before Amazon closed that little loophole. Put into KU the second day that program was available. So far, it's made $5,000+ in total revenue.

Book 2 - A Winter Wrong July 23, 2014. First book in novella series, 35,000 words. It's at $4500+ in earnings through November. 

Book 3 - A Spring Sentiment September 23, 2014, had a preorder to test that out of 3 weeks. Set up preorder when I had a final rough draft, waiting for final edits. Sold 341 in preorders. It's closing in on 1500 copies sold.

Book 4- A Summer Shame November 23, 2014. Was set up as a preorder in Mid October. 488 preorders. I set up the preorder for both A Summer Shame and By Consequence of Marriage at the same time as their drafts were almost done and planned to write to that deadline. I did it, but did not enjoy it. I won't be doing that anymore.  A Summer Shame is now (including December's numbers so far) just over 1,000 sales (sales and borrows together). Right at about $2,000 earned if you include December. 

Book 5- Very Merry Mischief just a novella in a boxed set, holiday. 20,000 words. I make $1 per sale and I think we are at just about 500 sales on that one, that also came out on November 23. The other author is controlling that listing but I get the spreadsheet.

Book 6- By Consequence of Marriage 72,000 words. 511 preorders from mid October until Dec 23. It's at 623 total sales right now (including preorders). Writing a novel series is a new thing for the genre, so it will take a little time for readers to know that. My novella fans already know how I write and ending but leave something for you to want the next book. That's what my favorite series do. That's not something other writers of JAFF do, and some readers don't like that, which A-OK there are other writers out there to serve their needs. And these sales are despite giving away 50 readers copies away, and posting my stories as I write them on private forums. 

I am pulling out of KU slowly as books come available so that I can be on more outlets come January. I had renewed A Winter Wrong right after A Spring Sentiment released, so Spring's one stint in KU ended before Winter's second stint will. A Summer Shame released after I made my decision to not be in KU. The next novella will also not be in KU. 

I tried out preorders and thought it would be good for me to have a deadline. Now, I think I would only use a preorder for 4-5 days so the time it takes for Also Boughts to line up doesn't count against me for the Hot New Release list since I generally sit on those right up to my 30 days expiring. 

My marketing strategy is give readers as much as they want. Those who will buy the stories will do that, those who won't, won't. But by writing efficiently (I won't say fast, I dictate and edit and then hand off to my editor who has a stake in the book and has been my business partner for 3 years), I can give readers what they want and that's consistent, fresh ideas with the characters we all love. Yes, a variation is imagining a new story for Darcy and Lizzy, or doing a sequel. I'm not trying to be ALL things to ALL JAFF readers, just to the readers I can serve. that's important. 

In the new year, I will be part of a group blog with some of the biggest names in the genre. I will see how that impacts sales.


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## anotherpage (Apr 4, 2012)

Elizabeth Ann West said:


> Book 1- the Trouble With Horses is 30k long. Was just a story for me. Started this whole crazy ride. It was originally priced at $4 but I brought it down to $3.25 after a few days. Released July 4, 2014, then rereleased to extend it's stay on the HNR list right before Amazon closed that little loophole. Put into KU the second day that program was available. So far, it's made $5,000+ in total revenue.
> 
> Book 2 - A Winter Wrong July 23, 2014. First book in novella series, 35,000 words. It's at $4500+ in earnings through November.
> 
> ...


Can I just say that I appreciate all you have shared in this thread. It's folks like you that really make this forum valuable. Thanks.


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## lilywhite (Sep 25, 2010)

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## Elizabeth Ann West (Jul 11, 2011)

Kalel - Thank you for the compliment. I just try to help where I can. I certainly don't know everything, and try to share data when I can so others can use it to help them make decisions about their careers. 

Lilywhite- Expectations are hard. I have had to self-check MY OWN little "Ugh, why isn't By Consequence of Marriage ranking better like the other books?" LOL forgetting, um, hello, you sold 511 books in preorders, quit your whining! LOL. I have a stickie note above my monitor that says my original goal "Just sell 100 copies a month of each book" That was my original goal when I started writing again this summer. I like to do my goals in layers. I have a "Would LOVE" layer, "Would LIKE layer" and "Bare minimum" This works for me, it's a personal thing since I'm a HUGE procrastinator. If I have a pie-in-the-sky goal to obsess over and miss just about every time, that bare minimum is what get's done. 

If I ridiculously think yeah, I can write three books in a month, I'll get one done. IN a good month, I'll get two done. My goals have nothing to do with sales aside from the sell 100 copies of each book in a month and now that I'm going wide release in the New year, I think that goal will be even more attainable. And by December 2015, I want 20 more titles to my name.


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