Price Points: Finding The Sweet Spot

I recently did a little experiment with the pricing of my novel (looking for that sweet spot). I'd love to hear your thoughts on pricing, too, and your own experiences, as buyers and sellers.


My Brief experiment:

You know, I've never been able to bring myself to buy a .99 cent book (unless it was from a friend, or from the second hand shops). I believe, rightly or wrongly, that things have a certain value. The idea of paying $5 for a novel seems like a real nifty bargain to me. But $36 for a hardcover? You crazy!

As for .99? You crazy, too. (yikes! don't jump down my throat yet. This is how I feel as a buyer, not a seller or publisher - we'll get to the seller-thoughts in a second).

As a buyer, when I look at .99, that price point screams, "I was too cheap to spring for an editor, or, "my book really isn't very good."

I believe, you get what you pay for, too, so it's just hard for me to believe that a .99 cent novel is worth my time. I also know that, what I think, doesn't really matter much in the grand scheme of things. Clearly, lots of people like to buy .99 novels, otherwise John Locke wouldn't have sold over a million of his novels, all at .99.

I'm also not one to say, 'never'. So, yesterday afternoon, without fan-fair or publicity, I dropped the price of my book to, yes, .99 cents.

Now, don't rush off to grab my new 'bargain' book. It's already back up to it's xmas sale price of $2.99 (still crazy cheap). Actually, yes, do rush off and grab it - then hurry back.

I admit to being curious about this low, low price. Clearly other people are comfortable with it. Perhaps I was missing out on something. So, I went and dropped the price, curious to see if I'd notice any sales spikes.

Well, I did see a change in my sales. I sold...none.

The nice thing about being self-published is that I can do stuff like that. When I first put the book out, I had it listed at $4.95. A good price, I thought. Sales for the first week were reasonable, respectable. During that time I came across some sales data on eBooks. Seems, according to the data, that between $3 and $4 is the ideal price for an eBook (the price-point that encourages sales and gives the optimum return to the seller). After reading the article, I dropped my price from $4.95 to $3.95. Right away, and for the following week, my sales doubled. Coincidence? Who knows.

One week later, I dropped the price again to $2.99. I figured, as long as I saw a similar spike, then it would be worth it. But I didn't. Sales stayed steady at that price point (I actually sold a few less copies, but not enough to seem significant).

Which brings us to yesterday's experiment. For twenty-four hours, I dropped my book to .99, and for twenty-four hours, I didn't sell a single book. This could still all be coincidence. I freely admit this.

This was just an experiment. I was curious.

I think I was also, in a weird way, relieved. Let's face it. The world is in a race to the bottom. Everyone's bending over backwards to undercut each other, hoping for a leg up on the competition. If my sales had spiked, I might have been tempted to keep the price there (which also means I'd be giving most of the proceeds over to Amazon, which makes little sense).

So, for the moment, I'm back at $2.99. I'll keep it there until the New Year, and then I'll bump it back to $3.95

I'd really love to hear from you, though, and find out your own thoughts on price.

Science-Fiction Fantasy Saturdays

Read snippets from other SFFS authors here: scififansat.blogspot.com

Snippet from The Girls From Alcyone

Back to book one for this teaser. In this snippet, I thought I’d let the girls show off some of their more advanced ninja techniques as they consider how to infiltrate an enemy encampment.

    Leta's face lit up. "Ooh! I have an idea." She started pulling off her shorts and shirt. "Rosa's always going on about misdirection, right…" In a matter of seconds she had stripped herself down to her underwear.

All the girls had gone through a rather healthy growth spurt thanks to their modifications and enhancements, but the process provided an added effect on Leta and her more obvious womanly attributes. Leta untied her hair to release the tight ponytail she kept and shook out her voluminous curls. They cascaded over her shoulders and down the curve of her bare back, reaching down to the narrow tuck of her waist. At nearly six feet, the term statuesque hardly did Leta justice. Her full, curving hips gave way to a pair of long and stemmy legs; the simple bra she wore labored to contain her shapely breasts. Sigrid felt positively like a child in comparison.

Suko grinned. "This is your plan?"

Writing The Naughty Parts

Or: Sex & The Single Girl (In Space)

For this blog post, I ask the question (and dare you to share): How does writing about sex make you feel? Nervous? Anxious? Giddy? Or is it just par for the course; business as usual?

To kick things off, I offer up my own recent experiences.

Of all the things you can write about, I don’t think anything comes under more scrutiny than sex. And for good reason. Let’s face it, for most of us, sex is one of the, er, more intimate and personal interactions that we can have - Ooh! And fun! Let’s not forget fun.

I knew when I undertook the task of writing a science-fiction novel that a lot of the elements would be scrutinized: my invention, or re-invention, of a reactionless space drive engine, my take on genetics, even my calculations of astronomical units. Science-Fiction is one of those genres where a large portion of the readership will really pour over the details - but that’s what makes them such a passionate and fun group to write for.

While I’m sure I got plenty of the techy elements completely wrong, writing about them didn’t make me nervous at all. At least, not nearly as anxious as I got when it came time to tackle a subject I think I know a great deal more about. Sex. After all, I’ve had sex - and more than once! I think I’m pretty good at it too (as Woody Allen said, “well, I practice a lot when I’m alone”).

While I was writing those sexy-bits, one particular notion really hit home: dear gawd, people might actually read this.

Yikes!

And it’s weird. I’ve written sexy scenes before. But they’ve always been in screenplays, and usually the ‘camera’ would simply pan away, at the appropriate moment, to a roaring fireplace, or the train would enter the tunnel and the lights would flicker, obscuring everything from view.

But I didn’t want to wimp out with this book. There would be no ‘panning’ away or jumping ahead. The intimate bits were there for a reason. It’s not that I wanted to go all graphic. Far from it. I don’t enjoy sexy scenes that come across like anatomical survey expeditions. I just didn’t want to shy away from what needed to be a very frank and, I hope, real moment.

So, not only would people be reading these more intimate parts, they were bound to have something to say about them too. I started to feel quite exposed - as a writer, worrying about how my take on sex would be judged, but also as a person, knowing that, to some extent people would know that there’s a lot of me in those ‘behind-closed-doors’ bits, if you know what I mean.

I know no one’s going to read any of the action sequences, and think, “gee, this is how he holds his katana?” But in the sexy parts, let’s face it, we all draw on our own real life experiences, and our fantasies (and those videos we accidentally click on in the spam box).

Now that it's done, I'm glad I didn't shy away or wimp out. And like dropping your trunks on a clothing-optional beach for the first time, it's never quite as scary the second time around. 

As Karen (one of the awesome girls from Alcyone) says, "Well, this is really quite invigorating!"

Charting and Selling!

Rather than just blowing my horn and telling you about my book, I thought instead I'd, well...blow my horn and tell you about my book. 

But in a good way! 

It's been 2 weeks since we released The Girls From Alcyone. When I undertook this project I had no idea what to expect in terms of how the book would be received or whether or not it would even sell at all. Like almost all of us who write, though, those things were the furthest from my mind. I wrote the book because I had to; I knew that if I didn't take the time to do this now, I'd regret it, big time. 

So now it's out. It's up for sale all over the place (wonderful thing, these eBooks and POD). And I couldn't be more pleased. You're actually buying it! 

Sales are definitely exceeding my hopes and expectations (while I admit, I was fully prepared to sell zero). This past week The Girls have climbed up into the top 20 on Amazon's SciFi-Adventure New Release chart. 

Granted, in the grand scheme of things, I'm still buried under the ever growing mountain of pulp and slush, but that's okay. It's where I'm supposed to be. 

It's still been a wonderful thrill to see my book on the charts and rising. In a little over a week, I'll be gone from the New Release charts (I guess I'll be old hat, or something), but for now, I've really been enjoying the ride. 

Thank you so much to all of you who bought my story. You're all making my day.

Science-Fiction Fantasy Saturdays

Read snippets from other SFFS authors here: scififansat.blogspot.com


Snippet from The Girls From Alcyone II: 
The Gilded Age (WiP/Working Title)

I’m switching it up this week and moving on to book two. It’s raw and WiPpy, but, hey, that’s half the fun.

Winded, and still struggling to breathe, the young CEO stared up at Sigrid from where he lay sprawled on the ground. Smoke from the explosion still wafted about his head, inducing a new spasm of coughs. The detonation had knocked out the far wall to his office; half the ceiling was gone, and he’d very nearly been killed. Yet this girl stood before him, casual, calm, a hand resting on the curve of her hip.

Cameron George wiped at the grime in his eyes. “What...what are you?”

Sigrid blinked back at him.

He sat up straighter; his breathing had slowed and he was gathering his faculties. “You’re machine, aren’t you,” he said, at last. “Who manufactured you? I must know. Tell me!”

Sigrid sighed and reached out her hand to him, hefting him back to his feet in one easy tug. “I’m not a robot, if that’s what you mean.”

“Then...?”

“I’m a girl, Mr. George. I’m just a girl.”

The Girls From Alcyone is now available in eBook and Paperback.

Visit me for more info at carycaffrey.com