Sunday, March 20, 2011

Pricing experiment sales rank update: after 20 days

Twenty days after dropping the price of my novel Dead Dwarves Don’t Dance from $2.99 to $0.99, my rankings continue to drop.

Before the price drop, my best overall Amazon sales rank was #6407. Ten days after the price drop, my best overall Amazon sales rank was #3249. Today, twenty days after the price drop, my best overall Amazon sales rank is #2490.

While the rate of decline is slowing, it is still dropping.
I’m also dropping lower in the category lists:
#23 Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction > High Tech
#23 Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > High Tech
#44 Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction > Adventure
What does this mean for me?
My rankings continue to drop, so I see no reason to discontinue this experiment. I’ll keep the price at 99 cents at least until the end of the month.
What does this mean for you, the ebook author?
The 99 cent price point looks to be a good way to inch down the sales charts and break the top #20 of some category lists. But, you have to be patient. Commit to at least 30 days before deciding if the experiment is a success.
Other reports on the pricing experiment:

11 comments:

  1. What about the business model? Are you making up in volume what you've given away in price?

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  2. When you say drop, you mean your rankings have actually improved?

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  3. Adoyle, net royalties for the novel are about 1/3 what they were before.
    PJ, yes, a decrease in rankings means I'm doing better.

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  4. It's like playing the Stockmarket. You can't just pull out without giving it enough time to get meaningful data.

    But so far, the $.99 price point looks like it could be a way of increasing sales volume, but it does cut net profit. However, I'm curious if the increased volume here has any effect on the volume of your other titles.

    More readers = buy more of your other books.

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  5. Jay, at the end of the month I'll provide an analysis of possible coattails for the price decrease.

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  6. Yeah - it's like Jay said - more readers is what you're after. You capture those low price adopters and you pull in follow on sales on your higher cost offerings.

    I've read Zoe Winters thoughts on the 99 cent e-book and why she doesn't "want" that kind of reader anymore and I totally get it. You get a certain kind of entitled buyer out there that will take you to task over every cent they spend. I think in many cases (particularly for those of us that need the exposure) - the 99 cent book is a path worth taking.

    Looking forward to your next report.

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  7. Update: My best sales rank is now down to #1873! Woot!

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  8. As a new (haven't started it yet) reader I have to tell you that I would not have purchased the DDDD novel if the price had been $2.99. There are too many writers struggling to get into the business and too many opportunities to get reading material cheaply to spend $2.99 simply too see if you enjoy a writer. Having said that, the first thing I did after spending my hard earned $.99 was to research "Derek Canyon" to see what else was available.

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  9. Brass Monkey, thanks for trying out my book! Don't forget, though, that you can download a free sample of any ebook to see if you like it.

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  10. Thanks for sharing, I will bookmark and be back again


    EPublishing

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