# The New Amazon Royalty Option - Anyone Upping Their Price?



## davidhburton (Mar 11, 2010)

Is anyone planning on upping their price to the $2.99 minimum at Amazon to take advantage of the new 70% royalty option? The current rate is 35% royalty for authors. More info here: http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20100120005644&newsLang=en

Today:
At 1.99 - I make $0.70 per book at the 35% royalty rate.

In June:
At 1.99 - I would still only make $0.70 per book because the 35% royalty would apply.
At 2.99 - I would make $2.09 per book at the 70% royalty rate.

It's a significant difference.

I can't speak for others, but I like cheap ebooks. Yet as much as I like the price at $1.99, I don't think I can turn away from a 70% royalty option either. I certainly won't be going higher than $2.99.

I intend to change my price in the next week or so since it takes time to propagate and I need to change it for other systems as well.

Anyone else planning on making changes to their prices?

And readers: How does this impact you? Would it bother you to see prices go to a minimum of $2.99?


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

My baseball novel, Turning Back The Clock, is already at the $2.99 threshold, so I'm not planning on moving it up or down. A Galaxy At War is currently at $1.99, so that may go up next month. The entire trilogy is over that price. Authors may see some sales dwindle, but if you've developed a fan base and have entertained them well enough, those fans will pay the $2.99 without question. New readers may hesitate, but if they hear good things about the book, they may buy it regardless.


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## Basilius (Feb 20, 2010)

davidhburton said:


> Is anyone planning on upping their price to the $2.99 minimum at Amazon to take advantage of the new 70% royalty option? The current rate is 35% royalty for authors. More info here: http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20100120005644&newsLang=en
> 
> Today:
> At 1.99 - I make $0.70 per book at the 35% royalty rate.
> ...


I have no problem at all with a $2.99 price. In fact, I fully expect most indie authors to move to that price when the new royalty rate kicks in. And I'm more than happy to support them in the effort.


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## L.J. Sellers novelist (Feb 28, 2010)

My first book is already priced at $2.99, and my publisher plans to drop the price of my second book when the third one comes out in August. We knew the $2.99 target was coming and priced accordingly. I posed a similar question to readers recently, and there was overwhelming support for authors, even at $2.99. It's very encouraging.
L.J.


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## NickSpalding (Apr 21, 2010)

I'd only do this if the book reached a certain strength in regular sales and overall amount sold. Otherwise, ther'd be no point.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

I lowered the price of my first book to $2.99 in January and sales took off like a shot.  I figure most people are going for the $2.99 price and I have to be competitive.  I've also priced my second book at $2.99, but it's a significantly longer work and I may go up to $3.99 at some point.

What bother's me about the 70% is your e-book has to be exclusively available on Amazon and you have to give them your digital rights.  If that is the case, I don't think I'll be signing anything.  35% of $2.99 is fine by me.  

If I'm wrong about that, please correct me.


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## David &#039;Half-Orc&#039; Dalglish (Feb 1, 2010)

I haven't heard anything about the whole exclusivity and whatnot, I think that was an article's misinterpretation of what it means to upload to Amazon's DTP. The only real catch I've seen is that it has to be 2.99, has to be at least so much percent lower than a physical copy, and cannot be sold cheaper anywhere else. For most indies, none of these should be a significant difficulty to meet. You won't be selling rights to Amazon.

David Dalglish


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## davidhburton (Mar 11, 2010)

David, I interpret it the same way based on these requirements:

The author or publisher-supplied list price must be between $2.99 and $9.99
This list price must be at least 20 percent below the lowest physical list price for the physical book
The title is made available for sale in all geographies for which the author or publisher has rights
The title will be included in a broad set of features in the Kindle Store, such as text-to-speech. This list of features will grow over time as Amazon continues to add more functionality to Kindle and the Kindle Store.
Under this royalty option, books must be offered at or below price parity with competition, including physical book prices. Amazon will provide tools to automate that process, and the 70 percent royalty will be calculated off the sales price.

Glad also to know that $2.99 seems quite acceptable. Perhaps for a debut indie author that's a reasonable price. That must mean I'm a bargain at $1.99.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

David, David, thanks to both of you for the explanation.  I've never gotten anything directly from Amazon about this.  It sounds like I qualify on all counts.  It'll be a few more $$$ in my pocket which will probably go straight to e-books.


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## maryannaevans (Apr 10, 2010)

I expect to go to $2.99 for the novel, Wounded Earth







. I think the majority of books will go there, except for those being offered for free, because the incentive of the new royalty rate is so strong. Pricing is a business decision, but I think most people publishing with the intent to generate income will go with the $2.99 price. It's still pretty darn cheap.

My stories will stay at $0.99, because I thought that was a more-than-fair price to begin with. My inclination was to set them at $0.49, but Smashwords won't accept any price under $0.99, other than free. If a book-length collection is, say, 12 7,500-word short stories, then a price of $0.99 is about equivalent to buying a trade paperback, so paying that for a single-story is only cost-effective if you're doing it to sample an author's work before plunking down big bucks for a book.

My mini-anthology, Offerings







, is currently $1.49. It consists of three stories, so it's priced according to the logic in the last paragraph. The ebook version is essentially $0.49 a story. I'll probably raise that price to $2.99, but add some value by including three more stories.


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## David McAfee (Apr 15, 2010)

My novel was originally proiced at $2.99 because when I published it I knew about the upcoming changes. I basically put it on sale for the month of April, and it'll be going back to $2.99 in a week or two.


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## jonconnington (Mar 20, 2010)

I;m currently priced at 99 cents as a promotional tool...plan on upping it after May 15th.


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## Imogen Rose (Mar 22, 2010)

I think I am going to leave mine at $1.99 simply because I think my sales will decrease if I don't and I want as many as possible to read it.  Once I build up my fan base, maybe I can charge a little more for the sequel.


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## Ali Cooper (May 1, 2010)

Please could you explain the pricing. I've just uploaded my book and set the price at $2.99 out of which I've got just over $1 on each sale so far. but amazon are charging nearly $6 for it.

Ali


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## davidhburton (Mar 11, 2010)

Hi Ali,

First off I'm going to make an assumption that you're not in the U.S. The reason I say that is because I'm not (I'm in Canada) and even though I set my book price at 1.99 it lists at 3.99 when I view it. You're likely seeing the same thing. Perhaps someone who is in the U.S. here can confirm the price of your book.

In regards to royalties, Amazon currently offers 35% royalty on books which means you're probably getting 1.05 per book. As of June, the new royalty structure will be 70% royalty, so you should see something more like 2.09 per book when June rolls in.


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## LCEvans (Mar 29, 2009)

Currently my book We Interrupt This Date is at 1.99 and Night Camp is at .99. I'm going to leave them at that price, but I'll price my new book at 2.99.


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## Ben Lacy (Apr 20, 2010)

I don't know. I can't help but think sales would drop a lot at that price. There's way too much cheap stuff out there.

I'd be curious what non-authors on this board have to say.


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## jonconnington (Mar 20, 2010)

I don't know if raising the price by a few bucks would knock down sales...besides, there's always the perception of quality. Something that sells for 99 cents might give the impression that it sells that cheaply because it isn't any good...


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## Eric C (Aug 3, 2009)

There's plenty evidence to suggest that Kindle readers as a group are very price sensitive. I think it's inevitable that some indie authors won't have much luck selling books at $2.99 and will lower prices. Ultimately, they will be the ones showing up on the top 100 genre best seller lists and on the "customers who bought" thumbnails, and other authors may follow suit. I can easily see a scenario in which, within a month or two after July first, most indies don't go for the 70% royalty option. (Really hope I'm wrong though.)


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## Archer (Apr 25, 2009)

Okay, so the rumor is that we will now begin paying for storage space, and that books over ten megs (which ALL of mine are) have to be priced at minimum 2.99.

Who knows the truth of it? Where can I find out? I am planning to raise my books to 2.99 each (the middle one is there already), but the first in the set (Elfhunter) I wanted to leave at 99 cents. I think I'm going to have to raise that one, too. 

(Ignorant in Indiana)

--'Archer'


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## David &#039;Half-Orc&#039; Dalglish (Feb 1, 2010)

Archer, is it safe to say the reason it is such a large file is because you have images embedded? If so, you might consider removing the images and uploading a smaller file, that way you can keep your 99 cent price point. It all depends on what is important to you, but I'm thinking for bringing people into your series, it'd be worth it.

If there aren't any images within, then perhaps you just need to tweak the file a bit, because my 120k story is only 383k.

David Dalglish


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## Archer (Apr 25, 2009)

Hi, David.

Yes, the illustrations are in the kindle versions, but they don't add that much--they might represent 10% of the file. They are an asset to the reading experience, and it will take some thought to decide whether to eliminate them to stay at the 99 cent price point. It also depends on what Zon is going to charge for 'storage space'.

I don't know...not sure what to do here. But I still want to know where I can learn more about the new requirements/restructuring. I suppose I'll be enterprising and ask Amazon. I need to know what the facts are.


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## cheerio (May 16, 2009)

They are probably trying to create a new amount of revenue and they don't see at raising the price by $1 a significant impact on consumers, only time will tell


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## tintaun (Apr 20, 2010)

I'm going to reduce one of my books from $3.50 to $2.99 and  publish my forthcoming one at $2.99. This way, I get a good royalty and the reader gets the price break.

es


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## TC Beacham (Nov 23, 2009)

Don't know yet but the new terms don't begin until June 30th.

The announcement came before the pricing wars - maybe Amazon will make the decision easy and simply raise the lowest available price to $2.99


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## TC Beacham (Nov 23, 2009)

Eric C said:


> There's plenty evidence to suggest that Kindle readers as a group are very price sensitive. I think it's inevitable that some indie authors won't have much luck selling books at $2.99 and will lower prices. Ultimately, they will be the ones showing up on the top 100 genre best seller lists and on the "customers who bought" thumbnails, and other authors may follow suit. I can easily see a scenario in which, within a month or two after July first, most indies don't go for the 70% royalty option. (Really hope I'm wrong though.)


Yes, I can see this happening too - unless Amazon raises the lowest available price.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

archer said:


> Okay, so the rumor is that we will now begin paying for storage space, and that books over ten megs (which ALL of mine are) have to be priced at minimum 2.99.
> 
> Who knows the truth of it? Where can I find out? I am planning to raise my books to 2.99 each (the middle one is there already), but the first in the set (Elfhunter) I wanted to leave at 99 cents. I think I'm going to have to raise that one, too.
> 
> ...


Has anyone actually been contacted by Amazon about all this? I've only seen what's been posted here.

Except for the first couple of months at 99 cents, I've been doing better with AP at $2.99. One review actually thought it was a great price and that was a non-KB review.


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## Jasmine Giacomo Author (Apr 21, 2010)

I'm curious to know if Amazon requires a print copy for the Kindle version to be 20% less than, or if that requirement is just ignored for ebooks with no paper equivalent.

Also, on charging for storage space: POD publisher much? Tsk. I'd really love to get my eyes on a full list of requirements for the 70% royalty.

edit: found the full Amazon press release from Jan 20th: http://eeereader.net/2010/01/amazon-gives-kindle-publishers-and-authors-70-royalty-on-e-books-sold/

Highlights:

authors can select either the 35% or the 70% option

at launch, the 70% option will only be available for books sold in the US

Delivery costs will be based on file size and pricing will be $0.15/MB


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## 5711 (Sep 18, 2009)

Good to see what everyone else is doing and how they see it. 

I'm lowering the price of my latest to .99 until the end of May and then back to $1.99 along with my other two. After June, it's $2.99 for me. 

My take is that $2.99 won't be too much of a stretch for many readers and it will become the new 1.99. Best of luck everyone. 

Steve


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## Victoria lane &amp; R.T. Fox (Nov 10, 2009)

I was looking on Amazon to work on up loading a new book. Guess what, they now have it posted in red the price they want you to sell your book. It reads $.99 to $200.00 So I guess we will all have to go to 2.99.


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## Imogen Rose (Mar 22, 2010)

Victoria said:


> I was looking on Amazon to work on up loading a new book. Guess what, they now have it posted in red the price they want you to sell your book. It reads $.99 to $200.00 So I guess we will all have to go to 2.99.


Victoria, I'm confused. If it reads $.99 to $200.00, why can't we price at $1.99 for example?


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## Victoria lane &amp; R.T. Fox (Nov 10, 2009)

You can .99 and up


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## David &#039;Half-Orc&#039; Dalglish (Feb 1, 2010)

Maybe I should price my book at $200 when the new royalty plan hits. I mean, I'd only need 1 sale for every 400 I get currently at 99 cents. Right? Right?

David Dalglish


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## David Derrico (Nov 18, 2009)

I'm certainly going to raise my prices to $2.99 each and hope they continue to sell decently at that price. $2.99 is a very fair price for a well-done novel, and $2 is a fair royalty -- whereas it's tough to make more than coffee money at 35 cents each.

It will be interesting to see if (a) $2.99 becomes the new 99 cents and pretty much everyone lines up at those prices and readers happily pay it, (b) some books can make it at $2.99, while others have to lower the price to get any sales, or (c) $2.99 pretty much flops and most people go back to $0.99 or $1.99.

I guess option (d) is that Amazon decides to raise the minimum price to $2.99. Maybe they don't make enough money on 99 cent e-books for it to be worth their while either.


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## Sharlow (Dec 20, 2009)

archer said:


> Hi, David.
> 
> Yes, the illustrations are in the kindle versions, but they don't add that much--they might represent 10% of the file. They are an asset to the reading experience, and it will take some thought to decide whether to eliminate them to stay at the 99 cent price point. It also depends on what Zon is going to charge for 'storage space'.
> 
> I don't know...not sure what to do here. But I still want to know where I can learn more about the new requirements/restructuring. I suppose I'll be enterprising and ask Amazon. I need to know what the facts are.


 You could provide a 0.99 no picture experience, and a $2.99 full picture experience book couldn't you?


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## David &#039;Half-Orc&#039; Dalglish (Feb 1, 2010)

My money is on a midway point between (b) and (c). The vast bulk will end up going back to 99 cents for popularity and sales, while a good many people who know how to advertise and promote their works (people like Konrath) will succeed at 2.99. I don't feel like people's perspectives will change, not on the buying end. If people aren't selling their books at 2.99 right now, I don't see this magically changing come the royalty change.

David Dalglish

p.s.

Sharlow just posted his reply while I was writing this. So did you ever get something worked out, Archer? I've forgotten to ask.


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## Eric C (Aug 3, 2009)

Half-Orc said:


> If people aren't selling their books at 2.99 right now, I don't see this magically changing come the royalty change.


It'll change if we indie authors collude so that no books are offered for less than $2.99! (Now getting a bunch of artists to agree and coordinate on anything would be truly magical.)


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## amanda_hocking (Apr 24, 2010)

Here's what I'm doing: I have a series of books, and the third one comes out May 29th. The first 2 are already priced at $.99, and I'm going to price the third one at $2.99 right when it comes out, even though the royalty change won't take effect right away. 

If the third book does even moderately well, I'm going to move the second one up to $2.99 starting when the royalty change takes effect. And if I feel like I'm not selling very well, then I'll lower it.

I know that a price change is pretty easy to fix it, but I feel nervous, like I'm going to offend readers by charging more. 

Oh well, we'll see how it goes. I am interested to see how this all plays out for everybody though, and hopefully, we can all benefit from it.


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## David Derrico (Nov 18, 2009)

Eric C said:


> It'll change if we indie authors collude so that no books are offered for less than $2.99! (Now getting a bunch of artists to agree and coordinate on anything would be truly magical.)


No way, colluding to fix prices of our books and ensuring that all the prices go up and are sold at higher prices at all locations is against the law! UNLESS we come up with a catchy name like the "agency model" or something, then it's totally cool.


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

I'm sticking at .99 for a bit, and give away free copies where I can too.  

I've been debating on whether I'll price the next books higher, or try a collection.  I think it's good to have the first book in a series priced low.  I just don't have any second books up yet.

Camille


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## Mark Ledbetter (May 7, 2010)

Amanda, good thinking.

As for me, I'm new to all this and just beginning to get some sales. How many? No idea, but my ranking keeps bouncing around between 20,000 and 70,000. Means someone's buying, right? Anyway, I don't want to mess with a good thing right now. I'll stick with a dollar fifty.

Mark Ledbetter

America's Forgotten History
Globocop


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## Cliff Ball (Apr 10, 2010)

I'm keeping Out of Time at $.99 on Kindle because it's less than 35,000 words and Don't Mess with Earth at $2 because it's right at 50,000 words. The only time I'm going to sell an e-book on Kindle for over $5 is if I ever write a novel that is way over 100,000 words. I really don't care all that much how much I make at the moment, so the royalty isn't that big of a deal to me.


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## jonfmerz (Mar 30, 2009)

Thanks for all the posts - this has made for interesting reading.  I'm still raising to $2.99 on novels and collections, but keeping novellas at $1.99 and shorts at $0.99 (I'm all about providing gateway fiction to hook readers, lol)


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## amanda_hocking (Apr 24, 2010)

Mark Ledbetter said:


> Amanda, good thinking.
> 
> I'll stick with a dollar fifty.
> 
> ...


I read this thing on Konrath's blog where he said books sell better at a more even price like $.99 or $1.99. He can't explain it, but even bumping things up to $1.99 improves sales, even though its more expensive.

I just thought I would pass that along. But I understand. I get nervous about messing with a good thing too.


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## Sharlow (Dec 20, 2009)

amanda_hocking said:


> Here's what I'm doing: I have a series of books, and the third one comes out May 29th. The first 2 are already priced at $.99, and I'm going to price the third one at $2.99 right when it comes out, even though the royalty change won't take effect right away.
> 
> If the third book does even moderately well, I'm going to move the second one up to $2.99 starting when the royalty change takes effect. And if I feel like I'm not selling very well, then I'll lower it.
> 
> ...


Wow your sales have been great for the entire series, but so far your newest flutters, is an absolute hit. Congrats! I'm going to have to pick one up here and have a gander this weekend.


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## Amyshojai (May 3, 2010)

I only have the one book so far on Kindle and priced it at $2.99 --that's way lower than the original trade paper price, and still less than the "used book" cost since they also charge for shipping. *shrug* And my nonfiction includes lots of photos, which does add to the value, plus many hot-links to references and recommended products. I've nothing to compare sales since it's the only one, but it appears to be selling at a rate of one sale every other day. Not great, but actually better than expected right out of the gate. Hoping when the next books go "kindle" they'll help sell each other. 

Great to read others' experiences. I'm debating about going the Kindle route with fiction, too. Thus far, just kindle-izing the backlist books, and their existing platform seems to help.

amy


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## ReeseReed (Dec 5, 2009)

I plan to keep my novella (both Childproofed and my newest work I'm getting ready to release) at .99, but when I finish my full novel I'll price it at 2.99.


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## amanda_hocking (Apr 24, 2010)

Sharlow said:


> Wow your sales have been great for the entire series, but so far your newest flutters, is an absolute hit. Congrats! I'm going to have to pick one up here and have a gander this weekend.


Thank you  I've been working hard, and I'm happy to see that people are enjoying it.


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## Brian Drake (May 22, 2010)

I think I'll stay at $1.99 unless Amazon says otherwise. I think it's a confidence thing. I've only sold two copies of my ebook so far this weekend on Smashwords; if I was higher than $1.99, I don't think I would have sold any.


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## Susanne O (Feb 8, 2010)

davidhburton said:


> David, I interpret it the same way based on these requirements:
> 
> The author or publisher-supplied list price must be between $2.99 and $9.99
> This list price must be at least 20 percent below the lowest physical list price for the physical book
> ...


But it says in the article that it applies only to books sold in the US... If you sell in any other country, I suppose the old royalty applies?


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## Sharlow (Dec 20, 2009)

amanda_hocking said:


> Thank you  I've been working hard, and I'm happy to see that people are enjoying it.


But you upped the second one's price before I got it.


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## Sharlow (Dec 20, 2009)

well I'm in this thread and I'm not sure if I said what I was going to do. I would love to raise my price, but unfortunatly I have not yet built enough exposure. I would hope that would change in the future, so for now I will be staying at 0.99, as at least for me, some sales are better then no sales.


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## amanda_hocking (Apr 24, 2010)

I've been getting a lot more sales since I raised the prices. (I'm not sure if that's the correlation, or if something else happened to boost the sales.) But it might not hurt to experiment and see what happens when you raise the prices. 

I still can't imagine charging $9.99 for my books. But $2.99 is working really well.


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## drhetal1 (May 23, 2010)

hey.. i kept price of my book on kindle as 0.99 dollars
but on amazon i am seeing it to 2.99.
my book is a simple lifestyle book and i have written it to share my findings with world
i thought kindle was a good way
i could not put it for free since that option is available only for popular authors
i am very dissappointed with this

can you please explain me why the cost is different and way too higher


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## amanda_hocking (Apr 24, 2010)

drhetal1 said:


> hey.. i kept price of my book on kindle as 0.99 dollars
> but on amazon i am seeing it to 2.99.
> my book is a simple lifestyle book and i have written it to share my findings with world
> i thought kindle was a good way
> ...


Are you from somewhere other than the the US? Because my understanding is that it has to do with some kind of $2 fee that Amazon tacks on for international charges, but I'm not entirely sure why. If anybody else knows the reasoning behind, please explain it to me.


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## MegHarris (Mar 4, 2010)

I plan on raising my novels to $2.99 and seeing if they can sell at that price.  I think that's too much to ask for a novella, though, so I'll keep my novellas at 99 cents.


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## P.A. Woodburn (May 22, 2010)

Methinks that I will have an introductory price of 0.99 and then, hopefully, go up to $2.99. I did read somewhere that if you ask for the 70% royalty you have to sell on Kindle only? Is that true or false?

Anyway I'm delayed for a couple of weeks because my cover artist has to travel.

Ann.


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## Guest (Jun 3, 2010)

I've just upped mine to $2.99. It'll be interesting to see if it has any impact.


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## terryr (Apr 24, 2010)

We had 99 cent prices for a while, through February into April. We decided then to take everything to the 2.99 price in April so we wouldn't have to change again when the Amazon royalty option did. 

Speaking as a reader, I think 2.99 is more than fair for a full length fiction book.


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## TC Beacham (Nov 23, 2009)

T.M. Roy said:


> We had 99 cent prices for a while, through February into April. We decided then to take everything to the 2.99 price in April so we wouldn't have to change again when the Amazon royalty option did.
> 
> Speaking as a reader, I think 2.99 is more than fair for a full length fiction book.


I had a $.99 special too (March-May) and the sales were great, but I agree that $2.99 is more than fair - and better for authors in the long run. Changed my price back to $2.99 on June 1st and so far I'm happy.


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## Guest (Jun 3, 2010)

I'm staying at $0.99 for the two I have up now. 

IMO FWIW, Kindle authors shouldn't forget that not-in-the-U.S. readers are also buying Kindle books. That means, non-U.S. readers might be buying significant numbers of certain books, and the authors aren't even aware of this if most sales are anonymous. Those readers will probably be hit harder by any price increases: they already have an extra $2-3 fee tagged on. 

If prices are raised, too many now-low-cost ebooks may then approach, or even go over, the $5 mark for international buyers. I just got into a discussion with an Australian reader about this. I don't want any potential readers priced out of reading my books because of their geographical locations.


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## Eric C (Aug 3, 2009)

P.A. Woodburn said:


> Methinks that I will have an introductory price of 0.99 and then, hopefully, go up to $2.99. I did read somewhere that if you ask for the 70% royalty you have to sell on Kindle only? Is that true or false?


False. The key restriction is you can't sell your book at a lower price at another site. There's also a restriction vis-a-vis the relation of ebook price to dtb price, but I can't recall what that is.


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## Eric C (Aug 3, 2009)

FP said:


> I'm staying at $0.99 for the two I have up now.
> 
> IMO FWIW, Kindle authors shouldn't forget that not-in-the-U.S. readers are also buying Kindle books. That means, non-U.S. readers might be buying significant numbers of certain books, and the authors aren't even aware of this if most sales are anonymous. Those readers will probably be hit harder by any price increases: they already have an extra $2-3 fee tagged on.
> 
> If prices are raised, too many now-low-cost ebooks may then approach, or even go over, the $5 mark for international buyers. I just got into a discussion with an Australian reader about this. I don't want any potential readers priced out of reading my books because of their geographical locations.


Even a $5.99 ebook ($2.99 + $3 surcharge) is a competitive price in comparison to the ebooks from the major publishers.


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## Guest (Jun 3, 2010)

"Even a $5.99 ebook ($2.99 + $3 surcharge) is a competitive price in comparison to the ebooks from the major publishers."

...Not to me and not to some readers, in my experience. And competitive doesn't necessarily equal inexpensive. If you're a known writer with an already-established audience, you can probably get away with higher prices easier. If you're not these things, getting readers to take a chance on your work tends to be harder. I think the lower prices are incentives there; at least reader after reader has often said so on the Amazon forums.

If a reader speaks about not forgetting that international charge, I'm going to listen--and not forget.

Besides that, I price my books as low as comfortably possible because the lower the price, the more people can afford to buy them, the bigger the potential reader pool. When I first started POD self-publishing, the books were too expensive; trade paperbacks tend to be high cost in general too. I had a high per-book royalty then, but barely sold any copies. With my more recent POD books, I lowered my royalty to almost nothing; these were not too expensive--I still barely sold any copies. 

Never mind the money (I never had any fantasies about making lots of money writing), I want my work to be read. And it isn't when the prices are more competitive. I'm an unknown offbeat writer writing offbeat (often unorthodox) content. Now that my prices are lower, more people are taking a chance on my books. I won't fix something that isn't broke.


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## P.A. Woodburn (May 22, 2010)

I think writers deserve to be paid as much as they can for their books. It takes a tremendous amount of time and effort to write a book.
I don't think $2.99 is too much to pay, especially since we don't have postage. If everyone keeps dropping to 0.99 then readers will expect that. I will go 0.99 for the first month, but after that I will go $2.99. I would ask writers who are selling too cheaply to think of how they may be effecting other writers. Many writers do need income from their novels or they will not be able to continue writing.

When you are adding up the cost of your novel don't just consider the cover and editing. Think about how much you have spent learning to write. Books purchased, conference fees paid, gas mileage to writing groups, time spent and so on. You don't have to get those expenses back from one book, but you should not completely ignore them either. 

If you have ever sold books on Amazon second hand you will see that today's best selling novel will quickly drop to 0.01 for a second hand copy because all the sellers tried to undercut each other. I don't think we Indies want to do the same thing. Many of us want to be able to make a living from writing.

Ann.


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## Eric C (Aug 3, 2009)

FP said:


> Never mind the money (I never had any fantasies about making lots of money writing), I want my work to be read. And it isn't when the prices are more competitive. I'm an unknown offbeat writer writing offbeat (often unorthodox) content. Now that my prices are lower, more people are taking a chance on my books. I won't fix something that isn't broke.


If your goal is to maximize profits in the short term it's straightforward how to do that: experiment with various prices until you find the sweet spot. But if you want to take a long term view and factor in potential readers down the road then it's not so straightforward what to do. You can find lots of Kindle owners confessing that they have hundreds of unread free or cheap ebooks in their queues. Just a hunch but if they're willing to pay $5.99 for a book then I think they're much more likely to read it than when paying 99 cents.


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## Eric C (Aug 3, 2009)

P.A. Woodburn said:


> I think writers deserve to be paid as much as they can for their books. It takes a tremendous amount of time and effort to write a book.
> I don't think $2.99 is too much to pay, especially since we don't have postage. If everyone keeps dropping to 0.99 then readers will expect that. I will go 0.99 for the first month, but after that I will go $2.99. I would ask writers who are selling too cheaply to think of how they may be effecting other writers. Many writers do need income from their novels or they will not be able to continue writing.
> 
> When you are adding up the cost of your novel don't just consider the cover and editing. Think about how much you have spent learning to write. Books purchased, conference fees paid, gas mileage to writing groups, time spent and so on. You don't have to get those expenses back from one book, but you should not completely ignore them either.
> ...


Amen, sister.


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## Guest (Jun 3, 2010)

Um, excuse me? How I price my books is my business. I don't owe anyone else anything. I'm getting a little tired of writers telling me and other writers what I should do and how I should "think about other writers." I've been fighting for writer's rights for years, and all while plenty of writers have given me nothing but lots of grief back (as I think is starting in this thread, as usual). I've been at this 18 years now; I've written over a dozen books. I have some experience here. I certainly have plenty with my own writing and how to price it; you crowd don't.

I have NO OTHER SOURCE OF INCOME. I'd be at poverty level if not for my family helping me. I'd love an income from all the years of blood, sweat and tears, sixteen-hour days writing, till my back ached and my bladder was ready to burst. But that income never materialized. I am finally making some sales, but I should go contrary to that, based on what new self-publishers say especially? I don't think so. 

Partly because of people like me fighting in the trenches all these years, you crowd are able to Kindle now. What do you think--this all happened overnight? I used to scream everywhere under the sun with argument after argument against the self-publishing stigmas; I got attacked all over the place. Many things self-publishers are commonly saying now--I was saying them years ago. I and others braved the path you crowd are walking now. 

I came in here trying to alert people to the international issue, FOR THEIR BENEFIT, NOT MINE. Because if you crowd sell less books if you price them too high, that might benefit ME. And what do people like me get accused of? Of not thinking of others. I should have kept my info to myself. From now on, I will.

"When you are adding up the cost of your novel don't just consider the cover and editing. Think about how much you have spent learning to write. Books purchased, conference fees paid, gas mileage to writing groups, time spent and so on. You don't have to get those expenses back from one book, but you should not completely ignore them either.... Many of us want to be able to make a living from writing."

--I'm sorry, but keep dreaming if you or whoever think you'll be getting all this money back. Most writers don't; only the top-most successful ones do. 

In my opinion, you've got to write because you can't do anything else, because you can't NOT write. If you're looking to make consistent money and lots of it, fiction writing's one of the worst professions for doing that.


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## jonfmerz (Mar 30, 2009)

With the new royalty option, is it automatic?  meaning if I raise my prices accordingly, will the royalty option kick in without me having to check something?  or do I have to opt in to it?


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## TC Beacham (Nov 23, 2009)

jonfmerz said:


> With the new royalty option, is it automatic? meaning if I raise my prices accordingly, will the royalty option kick in without me having to check something? or do I have to opt in to it?


Good question - I don't know either but I'll bet somebody will tell us soon.


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## MH Sargent (Apr 8, 2010)

Jon, I wrote to DTP asking just what you asked. They sent back an long email saying the following:

Thank you for your email about the 70 percent royalty option.

In order to qualify for the 70 percent royalty option, books must satisfy the following set of requirements:

    * The author or publisher-supplied list price must be between $2.99 and $9.99
    * This list price must be at least 20 percent below the lowest physical list price for the physical book
    * The title is made available for sale in all geographies for which the author or publisher has rights
    * The title will be included in a broad set of features in the Kindle Store, such as text-to-speech. This list of features will grow over time as Amazon continues to add more functionality to Kindle and the Kindle Store.
    * Under this royalty option, books must be offered at or below price parity with competition, including physical book prices. Amazon will provide tools to automate that process, and the 70 percent royalty will be calculated off the sales price.

So, does that help? Not for me.    I am presuming that bumping the price to $2.99 will have the higher royalty kick in. But I could be way off base. Let's see if anyone has a clue.


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## David &#039;Half-Orc&#039; Dalglish (Feb 1, 2010)

FP said:


> Um, excuse me? How I price my books is my business. I don't owe anyone else anything.


You're right. No one does. However, you entered into a public discussion involving whether or not people will be moving from 0.99 to 2.99. The whole concept of this thread is to discuss and decide if it is worth it for certain authors. Why are you suddenly shocked that someone disagreed with you?



> I've been fighting for writer's rights for years, and all while plenty of writers have given me nothing but lots of grief back (as I think is starting in this thread, as usual). I've been at this 18 years now; I've written over a dozen books. I have some experience here. I certainly have plenty with my own writing and how to price it; you crowd don't.


Before my post, a grand total of two people had disagreed with you, and they were both civil in their discussion...and remember, this is a discussion thread. Walking in here assuming you will automatically be declared correct because you have 18 years of writing is again, wrong.



> I am finally making some sales, but I should go contrary to that, based on what new self-publishers say especially? I don't think so.


There are plenty of people here doing very well on Kindle. Heck, we've got a fellow KB author sitting at #7 total paid sales. Again, discounting any advice or opinions on our part just because we're "new self-publishers" defeats the whole point of these topics. Are you here to discuss and learn along with us, even though you've been in the business a very long time? Or are you here to enlighten us with your experience while hoping for some free publicity?



> I came in here trying to alert people to the international issue, FOR THEIR BENEFIT, NOT MINE. Because if you crowd sell less books if you price them too high, that might benefit ME. And what do people like me get accused of? Of not thinking of others. *I should have kept my info to myself. From now on, I will.*


Only one person specifically disagreed with you about the international part. They thought a 5.99 book was still competitive and fair priced. You disagree. That disagreement can be discussed without resorting to accusations and sulky, whining comments about keeping information to yourself.

Maybe it's your 18 years of self-publishing. Maybe it is because you've had a harder road than many of us. Maybe it's because of other message boards you've been on. For whatever reason, you come across as very defensive. The second someone disagrees with you, you start declaring your experience, your accomplishments, and acting like the world is out to get you. In many message boards (Amazon *cough cough*) you'd be right. But that isn't going on here.

I do want to make something very clear: I don't have any opinion which way you price your books. I think you are very smart about keeping foreign markets in mind. I find your devotion to writing admirable. You feel that keeping your prices low is the best to keep gaining new readers, which sounds like what is far and away most important to you. You can find people that agree with you throughout this entire thread, people like Ed Patterson. No matter how many sales I get, I don't plan to ever raise the price of my first book beyond $0.99. You can also find people that feel a 2.99 price point is healthier and better for self-publishers. Some just want to see how good their book does at that price.

A lot of us are new. A lot of us are experimenting. If you want to help us out, and tell us what has and has not worked for you, there are a lot of us here, including myself, that would love to listen and learn. But even if I'm ready to learn, I'll still ask questions. I'll still disagree at times. Healthy discussion. Certainly we can keep that up, right?

David Dalglish


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## amanda_hocking (Apr 24, 2010)

I second everything David Dalgish said.

I enjoy reading to see how different people are doing things, but in the end, I decide the prices of my books myself, and I expect you to do the same. That is part of the joy of the way we're publishing - we're the ones that get to dictate, but its still helpful to take into consideration how other people are doing.



Half-Orc said:


> No matter how many sales I get, I don't plan to ever raise the price of my first book beyond $0.99. You can also find people that feel a 2.99 price point is healthier and better for self-publishers. Some just want to see how good their book does at that price.
> 
> David Dalglish


I planned on doing the same thing, but I think, just for fun, I'm going to up my first book up to $2.99 towards the end of June to see how things go. If its not well, then I'll lower the price.


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## David &#039;Half-Orc&#039; Dalglish (Feb 1, 2010)

amanda_hocking said:


> I planned on doing the same thing, but I think, just for fun, I'm going to up my first book up to $2.99 towards the end of June to see how things go. If its not well, then I'll lower the price.


Sitting at 479 in sales, with two later books at 2.99, and you're pondering bumping the first one up as well? Personally, I think you're insane 

David Dalglish


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## TC Beacham (Nov 23, 2009)

Half-Orc said:


> Sitting at 479 in sales, with two later books at 2.99, and you're pondering bumping the first one up as well? Personally, I think you're insane
> 
> David Dalglish


Don't mean to be dense, but are rankings so important? Do people really buy books based on rankings - I never have.


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## P.A. Woodburn (May 22, 2010)

FP: 

I was not referring to you in particular. I was merely saying that if we drop prices and drop prices in order to sell every last book that is the price that will be set in the reader's mind.

Sorry you had to struggle writing for 18 years. I had to struggle working in a job I hated for much longer than that because I could not afford to write. I did not say you had to do what I suggest. I am just telling you what I believe will happen if everyone goes back to 0.99.

Ann


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## Guest (Jun 3, 2010)

Wow, you've got a lot of nerve, David. Your post is mostly a personal-attack against me full of strawpeople. You keep responding to me trying to make me look bad. I stopped talking to you because of that, so please avoid talking to me. I don't have anything to say to you. Where do you get off telling me what I assume? Are you in my head now?

This is the third time "Ann" has posted like that near me or in response to me, making statements right after mine, with hers implying attacks on my character. Twice on Kindle forums and now once on here. I think you, David, should mind your own business here. If others had said what she had, my response probably would have been different. 

I'm sorry, but I see a lot of naivete around here, and I'm not going to hold my tongue about that. Too much focus on sales and covers--and not enough on actual writing. THIS makes self-publishing look bad. Writers have already gone on to be financial successes based on self-published works; self-publishing will have arrived when multiple new self-published works are being taught in schools. 

Worry a lot less about increasing prices and worry a lot more about upping your writing game.

I responded on this issue only to help out, and I get attacked? This is just B.S. 

--Edited to add: oh and I only brought up my experience and financial hardship because of Ann's post implying writers like me are doing well and can afford to have no writing income, when that just isn't the case. I'M one of the ones who could use money at this. My bringing up what I've been going through was partly in response to this, "I would ask writers who are selling too cheaply to think of how they may be effecting other writers. Many writers do need income from their novels or they will not be able to continue writing."

I've more than paid my dues to other writers and to my own writing. I don't like hearing anyone question that for me or any other writer who's been at this a long time. Sorry if newer writers don't like that.


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## Guest (Jun 3, 2010)

Yeah right, Ann. This is the third time you've posted like this near me or in response to me. It's just a coincidence, right?

Oh, and Amanda, you agree with everything David said, including all the personal attacks against me? 

Maybe it's just me, but lately, this place has gotten meaner. I'm sorry, but it isn't just against me. It is meaner in general. I've seen posts between others that I think were uncalled for in tone. 

People are taking advantage of here, I think.


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

I have been advertising the .99 price on my books as "Summer sale" and have mentioned that I'll be raising the prices in August.

I HOPE to have the sequel to The Wife of Freedom polished and uploaded by then - and I'm serializing the first on Daring Adventure Stories in anticipation of that. (I figure, hey, why not make it an event?)


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

O.K. Folks I'm going to call a time out here. . . . .what we have here is a failure to communicate. . . .and some rudeness going on.  Further posts attacking people will be deleted.

FP, please take a deep breath. . . .I've read the whole thread and don't see where anyone has attacked you personally. . . . . .and I don't see meanness from anyone. . .except, frankly, YOU. . . . maybe you're having a bad day. . .that's o.k. . . . .we all have at one time or another. . . . but please. . . .let's all chill.

You writers get back to writing -- I've got less than 500 books on my TBR list. .

You readers. . . .get back to reading. . .'cause I know you all have long TBR lists as well!  

Further antagonistic posts will be ruthlessly deleted

Ann in Arlington
Book Bazaar Moderator


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

FP said:


> Maybe it's just me, but lately, this place has gotten meaner. I'm sorry, but it isn't just against me. It is meaner in general. I've seen posts between others that I think were uncalled for in tone.


Whoa! Let's all just chill out. I have to admit also read your post as something of an attack, and while I didn't think it was necessary to respond, I also didn't think the responses were _that_ far out of line.

I think people are overall getting a little heated just now, no matter what triggered it. (Also, people seem to be mistaking what your position is, which indicates to me that they're not reading closely - but responding to responses instead.)

So let's take a big collective breath and stop accusing each other of anything but simple defensiveness - because that's all I see on both sides.

As for the international issue - there is nothing we can do about Amazon's pricing policies except offer the same title as Smashwords, where Kindle users can buy a mobi formatted copy for the same price as U.S. customers.

Camille


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

As I said before. . . .further posts on other than the topic, posted in a cordial manner will be deleted.

Thank you.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

This thread is temporarily locked. . . . . .


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Good evening!

One of the great things about KindleBoards is that our members have a wide range of experiences and strong opinions and a willingness to share both.  However, the Internet being what it is, when a discussion starts running hot and heavy, due to the lack of vocal or visual cues, we can take things the wrong way or say things that come out the wrong way.  Believe me, I've been there.    

I've read through the posts, including the deleted posts, and I think there was (and hopefully will be) a great discussion here, as well as a few misunderstandings and over-reactions (hopefully no more of those).  Ann and I have discussed it and we will reopen the topic for discussion at 8PM EDT, subject to a few rules:

--No further reference to the previous disagreement.  We will delete the posts.  Let's move on, people.

--A clarification on what constitutes a personal attack.  If someone says "you are a great purple puffball" or "you are responding as if you are a great purple puffball," unless the person being addressed actually is a great purple puffball, that could be considered a personal attack.  Please refrain from expressing yourself in these terms.  Also, bear in mind that "you" may mean the collective you and not a specific "you."  You (collectively) are of course allowed to disagree with statements made by another member, politely, but please do not impute motives or feelings to someone unless they have been stated by that person.  This is a matter of courtesy and Forum Decorum. 

--see that little link in the bottom right of each post?  That says "report post to moderator?"  If you think someone has violated Forum Decorum or made a personal attack against yourself or someone else, please click it instead of responding directly.  We will handle it, that's what we are here for.  Let the bad behavior, if that's what it was, float past.  Pretend it's a bad review on Amazon.  Oh, wait, that's another thread. 

Seriously, I really didn't expect a knife fight to break out in the Amazon Royalty thread.  Let's move on and have a great evening.  Thread reopens at 8PM EDT.  Remember your emoticons, folks.

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Thread re-opened as promised. . . . . .


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## jonfmerz (Mar 30, 2009)

Just wanted to say thanks to MH for emailing Amazon.  And yes, uh...that was quite a long email just to not answer a question, lol...


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## David Wood (Feb 17, 2009)

Returning to the actual topic... I had my first novel priced at $1.99, but went ahead and bumped it up to $2.99 in advance of the new royalty and, lucky me, Amazon discounted it to $1.99 while keeping the list price at $2.99! Not sure how that decision was made, but hopefully they'll do that for some of the better-selling titles. I'm keeping my second book at $3.99 because sales have been very good, but I like having book 1 at a lower price as a teaser to hopefully draw in new readers to the series. I also have a novella priced at $1.99. I'll probably keep it there for the time being, but I've been adding bonus chapters to the podiobook version, and when the podiobook wraps up, I'll release it with the added material and raise the price to $2.99.


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## David &#039;Half-Orc&#039; Dalglish (Feb 1, 2010)

Excellent, another David to add to the muddy confusing waters of Davids...now where were you when we launched The Attack of the Davids? Bah.

Onto the real topic at hand: any chance you can either link your books, or throw 'em into your signature? I like spying on other people's books. Good to hear you're doing so well at $3.99. I'm not sure if/when I'll ever get the courage to price one of my books that high. That high and people might get expectations, like me, you know, actually knowing how to write something intelligently.

David Dalglish


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

David, (Wood. . .not to be confused with any of the other many Davids infesting the boards. )  have you started threads for your books?  Did you know you can put links to them in your signature. . . .I mention it, because I like to check out indie authors, especially those whose sales have been "very good".


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## daveconifer (Oct 20, 2009)

Hasselhoff's gonna' be here any second now with his book, I can feel it...


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

I wanted to add that the extra international fee has changed over the last week.  There has been a lot of discussion about it and I'm not sure if it's a slow rollout, if it's affected by region or what but a lot of people (including me) have noticed that the extra fee has been dropped.  Beforehand a 99c book was $3.51 for me, now it's roughly $1.18.  Plus, free books are really free now, yay!  There are still people seeing the old higher prices but who knows, maybe it'll drop for them too.  A $2.99 book now costs me $3.51 - I'm more than happy with this.

My issue with the higher royalty thingy is the bit about international sales.  It hasn't been clarified anywhere that I have seen what exactly this means.  Do international purchases or international authors not qualify?  I'm curious about this.  

I don't have any novels on Kindle so I won't be going up to $2.99 - I can see a splurge of people raising their prices only to drop them again.  Either to undercut the others or because they aren't selling enough and think the price is the reason.  I'm sure lots of people will be successful at that price point and I think authors deserve that percentage of sales but it won't work out the same for everyone.  I also think what's been said about people being more likely to read books that are more expensive is probably true.  I've been downloading those free books on kindle this week without any real intention of reading them.


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

As I understand it, the surcharge has to do with the wireless delivery.  It probably has to do with how Amazon has contracted with it's carriers.  And if there's a price drop in the surcharge, it probably has to do with ongoing negotiations with various carriers.  (However, this does not explain why you can put a book you didn't buy from Amazon without the surcharge.  Most likely they didn't expect people to use that feature much, and though it would be seen as a bonus if it was free.)

Camille


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## Sharlow (Dec 20, 2009)

Half-Orc said:


> Excellent, another David to add to the muddy confusing waters of Davids...now where were you when we launched The Attack of the Davids? Bah.
> 
> Onto the real topic at hand: any chance you can either link your books, or throw 'em into your signature? I like spying on other people's books. Good to hear you're doing so well at $3.99. I'm not sure if/when I'll ever get the courage to price one of my books that high. That high and people might get expectations, like me, you know, actually knowing how to write something intelligently.
> 
> David Dalglish


your not a David, Your Half-Orc....


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## Ali Cooper (May 1, 2010)

Several points here.

Firstly, thank you for answering my previous pricing question much earlier in the thread.

Secondly, the overseas surcharge has dropped in UK (I think the extra is now UK VAT) but it hasn't dropped globally according to threads on the main kindle forum.
I don't think it's coincidence that it dropped in UK the same day the iPad went on sale here. So it may be a marketing move and not a permanent change, but let's be hopeful.

Thirdly, thanks for linking to the royalty change info. I'd previously thought the raise was only for US authors but, reading it more carefully, it seems to apply to books sold in US. So, as a UK author, I'm hopeful I'll get the extra cash.

Re upping the price. My book is already $2.99. 

My personal opinion - and this is most definitely not intended as an attack on anyone - is that to charge less, other than for occasional promotion or introductory offers, or for very short works, would be an insult to myself and my writing. For me, if I were regularly offering my book for less than that, it would be an indication that I set no worth in my writing ability and should not be publishing yet.
Rather, if my current sales hold, I will be thinking of increasing the price slightly.


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## Joseph Rhea (Nov 9, 2009)

My "list price" has always been $2.99 for the Kindle/Epub versions of Cyberdrome (at 90,00 words and well reviewed, it seems a fair price), but with so many $0.99 books selling so well in my genres (SF and thrillers) I decided last month to join the crowd and go with 99 cents until the royalty change later this month. The results are *topographic*, in that sales are high, and royalty is low, but that was my choice, and I am living with it.

I also plan to debut a brand new cover, plus some additional content, so that will all happen at the same time. In the mean time, I am sort of "laying low" and not advertising the sale price much--that way when I post it for $2.99 in 3 weeks, there won't be a bunch of threads around telling people it used to be cheaper.


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## Varin (May 12, 2009)

I really don't mind 2.99. If authors get paid more and I get a good price, well I can't argue with that... especially since I'm seeing more of those 14-27 dollar ebooks in the store. If the book was five dollars and up that would give me more pause. Not being cheap, mind, just that the purchase will change from an impulse buy into a more weighty decision

There was a thread on Amazon asking about the price of novellas, short stories and short story collections. Now, for a single short story, I think 99 cents is a fair price, and I don't think you can set the price lower than that, anyways. If most indie publishers moved "up" to the 2.99 price point, more room for short stories at the lower price point.... although if people have more than one work available, I think pricing one work at 99cents will help get the word about your work out and gain a readership, and putting the other works at 2.99.


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## J Dean (Feb 9, 2009)

I guess the one thing that's keeping me from jumping up to 2.99 is that, when I first published my novel online, I set it at 2.99, and people gave me these weird looks, as if I were charging too much. So I dropped it to 99 cents.  I'm not sure that knocking it up to 2.99 will necessarily be in my favor.  I'm looking for readers, not necessarily profits (at least, not initially).


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## Kristen Painter (Apr 21, 2010)

I upped my price to 2.99 on Heart Of Fire and I believe it took effect this morning (or maybe late last night). No new sales at that price yet. I'm curious to see how it's going to do.


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

Ali Cooper said:


> Secondly, the overseas surcharge has dropped in UK (I think the extra is now UK VAT) but it hasn't dropped globally according to threads on the main kindle forum.
> I don't think it's coincidence that it dropped in UK the same day the iPad went on sale here. So it may be a marketing move and not a permanent change, but let's be hopeful.


It also dropped in Ireland and we don't have the iPad yet.


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## lyndahilburn (Apr 8, 2010)

I was pretty clear about raising my prices to $2.99 at the end of June, but now I'm not so sure. I had a potentially cool thing happen over the last week. Someone who can really help my publishing career contacted me based on my books' ranking (here's my kindle page: http://amzn.to/dcxXiz) on various genre best seller (kindle) lists. Do I want to take the chance that raising the price will lower my rankings? Will that person change his mind if my rankings tank? Hmm. Money vs. positive attention. Can I have both? Good thing I have a month to think about it.

Lynda


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## Joseph Rhea (Nov 9, 2009)

Just for comparison, I looked at my DPT report for the past 4 months during which time I changed the price of my book numerous times between $0.99, $1.99 and $2.99 

Out of the last 1258 copies of Cyberdrome;
533 sold for $0.99
231 sold for $1.99
494 sold for $2.99 

Now this doesn't take into account how long each price was in effect, but it does tell me that $2.99 was working almost as well for me as $0.99 this year, and therefore might not be a deal-breaker when I go back to it later this month. (wait a minute, why am I selling so cheaply again?)

Your results will probably be different, but at least it might give all of you some idea of what to expect if you do make the change.

Hope this helps...
Joe


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## MH Sargent (Apr 8, 2010)

Thanks Joe, for sharing that. I still can't decide what to do. Go up to $2.99 or keep the books at 99 cents. Every time I think I've made a decision, I change my mind again. But your post makes me think I won't lose a ton of readers by bumping up the price. Thanks.


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## TC Beacham (Nov 23, 2009)

Joseph Rhea said:


> Just for comparison, I looked at my DPT report for the past 4 months during which time I changed the price of my book numerous times between $0.99, $1.99 and $2.99
> 
> Out of the last 1258 copies of Cyberdrome;
> 533 sold for $0.99
> ...


Can I ask if you worry about rankings? I ran a spring special at $.99 that brought great sales and nice rankings, and if things keep going as they are I'll make twice as much per month at $2.99 - but rankings, which were often in the 200s for one book during the sale and 300-500s for the other, have dropped.

Since I've never purchased a book based on rankings, I don't know how important this is. What do you think?


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## Joseph Rhea (Nov 9, 2009)

MH Sargent said:


> Thanks Joe, for sharing that. I still can't decide what to do. Go up to $2.99 or keep the books at 99 cents. Every time I think I've made a decision, I change my mind again. But your post makes me think I won't lose a ton of readers by bumping up the price. Thanks.


You know, I think it's human nature to want the "most product for the least cost" and every time I have raised my price back to $2.99 after a few weeks at $0.99, my sales have fallen off for a while. I think my strategy next month will be to sort of forget that my book was ever at $0.99 and instead talk about the fact that it was once selling for $5.99 and even $7.99 last year. That makes $2.99 seem like a bargain, right? 

Besides, even though many authors here are saying they won't go to $2.99, I think the lure of doubling their profits might convince many of them. Right now, you have to sell 3 times as many books at $0.99 to earn the same money as $2.99, but after June 30th, you would have to sell 6 times as many books to break even.

The other way to look at it is this: if you are selling at $0.99 and make the switch to $2.99, you can afford to sell 1/6 as many books as you are right now, and still earn the same money. I think the worst post-sales slump I ever saw was 1/2 the sales for a few weeks, so I'm not too worried.

As for me, I'm also hoping that a few of the 1,700 or so readers who have my book on their lengthy TBR lists, will actually read it this year and maybe a few will take the time to write a positive review, or better yet, tell someone else about it. Positive word-of-mouth advertising is pure gold in the Indie world.

Just my opinion, of course, and not any better or worse than anyone else's...


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## David &#039;Half-Orc&#039; Dalglish (Feb 1, 2010)

Definitely worthwhile to mess around with. For my series, I figure 99 cents is a great way to suck people in, then get more sales on the later books. Why risk a bottleneck at the start? But yeah, realizing that I could sell 180 copies at 99 cents to make the same amount of money as 30 copies at 2.99...it's going to tempt a lot of people.

David Dalglish


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## Joseph Rhea (Nov 9, 2009)

TC Beacham said:


> Can I ask if you worry about rankings? I ran a spring special at $.99 that brought great sales and nice rankings, and if things keep going as they are I'll make twice as much per month at $2.99 - but rankings, which were often in the 200s for one book during the sale and 300-500s for the other, have dropped.
> 
> Since I've never purchased a book based on rankings, I don't know how important this is. What do you think?


I pay attention to rankings for one reason: lower (better) rankings mean more visibility to the average online shopper. It doesn't guarantee more sales, but a better rank, especially in whatever your genres are, helps other people see your book. One of the main reasons I dropped the price of my book to 0.99 last month was because my rank was going so high (meaning bad) that I was worried about falling out of my genre rankings (I'm usually happy being in the top 25 - which is the first page when you look at them.) So, even though I was making a bit more money at 2.99, I dropped to 0.99 to stay inside the top 25. Not what everyone would do, I'm sure, but I made a "command decision" to go for as many sales as possible before the royalty change this month, and not worry about money. Next month, I will go back to thinking about "success" in terms of money because I will have already "given away" enough copies of my book to last a while.


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## Kristen Painter (Apr 21, 2010)

I just wish I could get my DTP to show me my past records. It hasn't worked in days.


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## TC Beacham (Nov 23, 2009)

Joseph Rhea said:


> I pay attention to rankings for one reason: lower (better) rankings mean more visibility to the average online shopper. It doesn't guarantee more sales, but a better rank, especially in whatever your genres are, helps other people see your book. One of the main reasons I dropped the price of my book to 0.99 last month was because my rank was going so high (meaning bad) that I was worried about falling out of my genre rankings (I'm usually happy being in the top 25 - which is the first page when you look at them.) So, even though I was making a bit more money at 2.99, I dropped to 0.99 to stay inside the top 25. Not what everyone would do, I'm sure, but I made a "command decision" to go for as many sales as possible before the royalty change this month, and not worry about money. Next month, I will go back to thinking about "success" in terms of money because I will have already "given away" enough copies of my book to last a while.


Hadn't thought about genre rankings (just storewide) - I'll be off first pages with this price point, though it won't concern me if sales remain steady. I like the idea of doubling my profits this month - and doing even better with the new royalty. Guess time will tell how much sales depend on rankings.


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## Gone 9/21/18 (Dec 11, 2008)

Joseph Rhea said:


> Your results will probably be different, but at least it might give all of you some idea of what to expect if you do make the change.


Thanks a bunch for putting those figures out. They sure indicate that for you the $2.99 price with the 70% royalty would be the way to go. I know genres are different and each book is different, but still those are at least some real figures to help someone like me who has never experimented with pricing decide.


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## Ali Cooper (May 1, 2010)

If most people up their price, $2.99 will effectively become the new base rate and it shouldn't affect the rankings.

Also, if you want to build up readership and good reviews then surely it's better to have the price high enough that readers will sample the book first and only buy it if they like it. I've heard people say they buy $0.99 books without looking at them and I suspect a lot don't get round to reading them because they automatically buy almost everything at that price.


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## Archer (Apr 25, 2009)

Ali: Exactly. 
You have summed up the reason I am raising my books to 2.99. We'll see how it goes.


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

Here is what I've come to think about .99 pricing:

Yes, it's a good promotional price.  But it only works if it's identified as a promotional price.  If there ARE limits to it. The point of a sale is not just to move merchandise but to get attention. 

Camille


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## Sharlow (Dec 20, 2009)

lyndahilburn said:


> I was pretty clear about raising my prices to $2.99 at the end of June, but now I'm not so sure. I had a potentially cool thing happen over the last week. Someone who can really help my publishing career contacted me based on my books' ranking (here's my kindle page: http://amzn.to/dcxXiz) on various genre best seller (kindle) lists. Do I want to take the chance that raising the price will lower my rankings? Will that person change his mind if my rankings tank? Hmm. Money vs. positive attention. Can I have both? Good thing I have a month to think about it.
> 
> Lynda


I don't see how delaying a price raise for a month will hurt you. You can always raise your prices later.


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## Ricky Sides (Sep 16, 2009)

MH Sargent said:


> Thanks Joe, for sharing that. I still can't decide what to do. Go up to $2.99 or keep the books at 99 cents. Every time I think I've made a decision, I change my mind again. But your post makes me think I won't lose a ton of readers by bumping up the price. Thanks.


I can relate. I have changed my mind on this issue three times. I'm now thinking hard about what I should do, and that's after thinking I'd resolved this weeks ago.


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## David Wood (Feb 17, 2009)

daveconifer said:


> Hasselhoff's gonna' be here any second now with his book, I can feel it...


Could this board withstand his awesomeness?

Sorry to add another David to the thread. You're welcome to call my by my real name, "Brad Pitt."

To add a note to my post yesterday- Amazon just dropped my price again, down to $1.59. I suppose I like the lower price, since I'm still getting paid a royalty on the list price of $2.99, but a price ending in .59 just seems a bit weird to me.


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## Gone 9/21/18 (Dec 11, 2008)

Ricky Sides said:


> I have changed my mind on this issue three times.


Only three times? Not only do I change my mind more often than that per day, I don't even change to the same thing - raise both my books; raise one, leave the other; raise one, lower the other, leave both; lower both. Yaaagggghhhh.


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## P.A. Woodburn (May 22, 2010)

Ellen:I think Rotweiller Rescue will do fine at $2.99 can't say about the other not my genre.

Ann.


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## David &#039;Half-Orc&#039; Dalglish (Feb 1, 2010)

Hey Mr. Wood, you should remove the hard enter in between the links for your books in your signature, that way they are side beside instead of one underneath the other. Takes up less space and all.

To the topic at hand: my first book I've priced at 2.99 is the third in my series, and so far its sold adequately enough. Once we hit the 70% royalty rate, it will easily outperform my other books. I'm not entirely sure what I'll price A Dance of Cloaks for, but I might try out 2.99 for a little while just to see.

David Dalglish


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Half-Orc said:


> Hey Mr. Wood, you should remove the hard enter in between the links for your books in your signature, that way they are side beside instead of one underneath the other. Takes up less space and all.
> David Dalglish


Those with small monitors will appreciate it. 

(Also, the images look out of focus to me. . . .not sure why that is. . . .there are plenty of folks hangin' out here who can help you fix it up!)


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## Guest (Jun 5, 2010)

I increased the price of my novel yesterday (from $0.99 to $2.99) and sold three times as many as usual. Shame the 70% royalty hasn't kicked in yet -- that would have bought me a bottle of Chateau neuf du Pape.


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## David Wood (Feb 17, 2009)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Those with small monitors will appreciate it.
> 
> (Also, the images look out of focus to me. . . .not sure why that is. . . .there are plenty of folks hangin' out here who can help you fix it up!)


Awesome! Thanks for the guidance from both of you. I hate making noob mistakes.

Also, today Amazon bumped my other book down to $1.59. We'll see how it impacts sales, if at all.


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## David &#039;Half-Orc&#039; Dalglish (Feb 1, 2010)

Hopefully it'll help ya. They're still discounting my second book, and I couldn't be happier.

David Dalglish


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## Kristen Painter (Apr 21, 2010)

I don't think upping the price has negatively affected my sales. Of course, getting a fabulous review yesterday has probably helped, but that review isn't posted on Amazon yet, just the review site, so that may not have done anything.

When does the 70% rate kick in?


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## Ricky Sides (Sep 16, 2009)

Kristen Painter said:


> When does the 70% rate kick in?


After June 30, which could mean the beginning of July. I assume they have tentative plans for the first of July, but that this plan could change. Otherwise, it seems to me that they'd have stated a specific starting date rather than after June 30.

A couple of pages back in this thread there is a list of the information released. You have to meet several criteria, most of which you are probably already meeting.

Have a great day,
Ricky


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## HelenSmith (Mar 17, 2010)

I've got one of mine - The Miracle Inspector







- at 99 cents for a few days only. My other two are priced higher.

In common with other people's experience (thanks for sharing) I find that as the price goes up, sales go down a little but income does not. I'd love to price low and sell loads. My experience so far is that if I price low, I'll sell a few - and if it's really low, then people buy it and tuck it away on their tbr pile and might not get to it all for a few months or a few years. Still, The Miracle Inspector is new on kindle and I'm looking to jump-start sales so even if it gets tucked away for now, that's OK so long as people are buying.

Mind you, who's going to find out about this spectularly low price for my book except for you fellow authors? I started a thread for The Miracle Inspector in the Book Bazaar a few days ago (actually I started two due to temporary insanity and had to contact Ann and ask for them to be merged) but can't go back and mention the 99 cents price for a while, otherwise it looks like a sneaky bump - by the time I have a chance to mention it, the price will be about to go back up. I mean, I've put the price in the subject line but who's going to read it as it's on pg 5 or something. Tsk. I'm really in a muddle this week - trying to get three books out and write the new one and blah blah blah.

Hehe, talking about promotion/pricing thing is like picking a scab - quite an absorbing passtime for whoever's doing it, but probably quite repulsive for onlookers. Thank goodness for the Book Bazaar, eh?


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## drhetal1 (May 23, 2010)

daringnovelist said:


> Here is what I've come to think about .99 pricing:
> 
> Yes, it's a good promotional price. But it only works if it's identified as a promotional price. If there ARE limits to it. The point of a sale is not just to move merchandise but to get attention.
> 
> Camille


Since i am a foriegn author my book price is 2.99.
I am not sure how i can invite reviews to my book
What is sampling
Can i distribute free copy of my book somewhere and invite reviews?


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## lee_frey (Aug 4, 2010)

Writers used to complain about freelance writers selling their work at a low price (the main complaint was for free). Why don't you see the same complaint about eBooks? Selling a eBook below the "fair price" hurts all writers. That said, I've still priced mine lower than what I think it is worth, but it is still priced $2.99 (I think it is at least half as good as many of the best sellers which are priced around $14.99). Call me a hypocrite.


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

I've been all over the place on this topic; I see an argument for tossing my first book out there at $0.99 just to get exposure. On the other hand, I don't want to underprice my book and appear "amateur."

It seems that $2.99 is now becoming more accepted as a bottom-line price, so perhaps I'll start there; I can always lower it if it doesn't move.


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## Bane766 (Aug 2, 2010)

I'm of the mind that starting at 2.99 or 3.99 is best.  If you start low, then raise it later it annoys customers.  If you start at 2.99 or 3.99 and lower it to .99 for a month or so then it's a sale and makes more sense to readers.  The other way looks like price gouging.


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## Cliff Ball (Apr 10, 2010)

I saw that I posted earlier in the year I would keep one of my novels at $2, but if you want the 70% royalty, then Amazon makes you go $2.99, so that's what I did. Gosh, I'm a hypocrite    I did keep Out of Time at $.99 though, and I plan on keeping my other novels at $2.99, until Amazon decides to make us up the prices again.


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## Guest (Aug 19, 2010)

cliffball said:


> I saw that I posted earlier in the year I would keep one of my novels at $2, but if you want the 70% royalty, then Amazon makes you go $2.99, so that's what I did. Gosh, I'm a hypocrite  I did keep Out of Time at $.99 though, and I plan on keeping my other novels at $2.99, until Amazon decides to make us up the prices again.


You should be selling "Out of Time" for 4.99 or more. Its worth it so far!


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## Cliff Ball (Apr 10, 2010)

M.R. Mathias said:


> You should be selling "Out of Time" for 4.99 or more. Its worth it so far!


Not to slam my very first published novel, but, you're joking, right?


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## StevenSavile (Jun 23, 2010)

I'm all  over the place on this one - I put out The Last Angel at 99c and sold 300 in the first week, put out The Sufferer's Song at 2.99 and managed 5 in the first week... Sufferer's is a bigger, better book, no bites... it's taking considerably more promotion than TLA did... no one's impulse buying it. Now, it shouldn't concern me, but tracking other stuff, my soon to be released stargate paperback is consistently selling this week, priced much higher and doing *good* numbers... and my 9.99 ebook Silver, a year old almost, has done just as well... but when all of my indie releases synchronised at 2.99 sales stopped...

curious...


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