If you are a writer or author you know who J.A. Konrath and Blake Crouch are. They work together on some books and have been on the front end of the wake up process for the world of publishing. Last year I remember watching them and the blogs and it seemed like they were making some good money and building fans but all at the .99 price point.
Over the last year people, blogs, and all over the web there are rants, speculation about eBook pricing and what might make the book world fall into a heap of ruin. “All these indie authors are driving the price down!” “They are going to ruin books!”
So here we are, one year later. If you had a book at .99 you all but guaranteed a spot in the top 100 and maybe in the top 10 on Amazon. But as that price point became more of the norm and now we have all these Free promotions it seems like all the talking heads were right! The sky is falling and we are all going too die!
Oh, wait…uh… what is this? Crouch got into the top 10 with his book “Run?” Allan leverone got to #15, Creston Mapes got to #14, and the list goes on and on. Why is this news? Because they all did it at 2.99 price point, not free, not .99 but at 3 bucks!
Not to mention that last year if you were in the top 10 you were selling around 3500 copies a day where now because of more readers and titles you will sell 10k a day or more. This is HUGE! Did I say Huge? Do the math… 3500 @ .35 per copy = $1,225.00 a day in the top ten. Now if you hit the top 10 @ 2.99 meaning you make 2.04 per copy @ 10,000 copies = $20,400.00 per day.
Is it me or are we doing better? Are authors making more or less? Are we driving the price down or reaching more people? Granted the run may not last as long but the price difference is crazy. This is a numbers game and the numbers are getting better. Free giveaways tend to bring you some press and after the book is done with the free thing you can ride the wave.
Will you make the top 10? No, a few will, and they are the ones with a good fan base. Can you make it one day? Yes, build, build, build! This is not the time to sit back or drop your price. This is the time to gain some readers, if you do the money will come.
If you are not selling or what you are doing is not working I bet one or more of these things are not lining up. Give yourself a year working this and making your platform tight and let the numbers work. This is one big game, learn the rules and play to win!
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