Pricing #3

It’s been three weeks since the price change for Next Time and here’s a chance to check in. So far, it appears the sales are staying steady with where they were before the change. It’s not selling more than it was, but also not selling less, which was the main worry. Plus, the book is close to 300 ratings on Amazon, which should help with the algorithms in much the same way they helped with First (see previous posts if that sentence reads like I typed it in an alien language). Am I ready to declare victory with the price change? Not so fast. Three weeks is still a small sample size and I’d like this trend to continue and maybe even go up as more weeks go by. The good news is that based on the Amazon royalty percentages, I’m making three times the previous amount on each copy sold. Let’s be clear: that sounds fantastic, but in reality it’s a depressingly small amount of money. I’m not going to get into that today. What I did want to bring up is the topic of perception. As in, what role does perception pay in the price of a book versus its quality? Do people tend to equate a higher price with higher quality? In some cases, like private jets or diamonds, I’m sure that’s the case. Books? Maybe. I’d probably wonder what was wrong if an internationally bestselling author put out a $0.99 Kindle new release. Have my books been hindered in sales by lower prices? I don’t feel they have. Are they worth ten dollars more? Not if I want to sell any. In my corner of the library, a dollar shift in price can make a difference. So far, that doesn’t seem to be the case with Next Time. I’ll keep you updated.