I’ve always been a proponent of higher ebook prices.
Not
the crazy $12.99 more-than-the-paperback prices that legacy publishing
is so fond of so they can continue to pay Manhattan rents—but higher
than $0.99, certainly. Even for a short story.
That’s right, once upon a time, my short stories were selling for $2.99. And yes, they were selling.
But
things changed. The indie market got more crowded. Authors started
selling their full-length novels for $0.99 and some even gave them away
for free. Blogs popped up everywhere telling Kindle owners where to
find free and cheap ebooks.
So
I decided to experiment with my prices. I lowered the prices on all my
stories to $0.99—that was everything from 3K-15K. Everything else
(some of which was priced as high as $5.99) I lowered to $3.99. And I
left them that way for three months. A full quarter of ebook sales.
What did I discover?
At first, I found that lowering my price to $0.99 shot me up on a few bestseller lists. That increased my exposure,
which was great. And I also found that my sales of those $0.99 titles
doubled. Stories that had previously been selling 50 a month were now
selling 100.
Sounds good, right?
But,
of course, at $0.99 I was getting a 35% instead of the 70% royalty I’d
been making when I was selling them at $2.99. I was now making roughly
$35 a month on a story that had previously been taking in about $100 a
month—a loss of $65 a month in income. Multiply that by twenty-five
short stories (which is about what I have out there) and that’s a $1650
a month loss.
Worth it?
At
first, I thought it might be, given the exposure. The higher you are
in the rankings, the more people see your name, the more sales you
make, right? But over time, more and more (and more!) indie authors
started selling their stuff at $0.99 too, and those lists became
overrun with cheap books.
I’d
pretty much decided to quit the experiment when I read a comment from Konrath on his blog confirming my suspicion—that authors don’t make
money at anything less than $2.99. Which meant, and I’ll quote Joe here:
“My data also shows
that novels outsell short stories, even though I've priced my shorts
at 99 cents. It stands to reason that if I switch shorts to $2.99, I'll
sell fewer, but I bet I make more money. So the next step is to raise
novels to $3.99-$4.99 and short stories to $2.99 and see what happens.
Assuming I have the guts to do so...”
I’ve
now changed all my short story prices back to $2.99, and raised my
novel prices to $4.99. I imagine I’ll run this experiment for another
three months and see what happens. If logic prevails, I’ll sell fewer
books, but make more money.
But
as Joe pointed out, doing this takes guts. Moving beyond the magical
$2.99 price-point for novels, pushing those higher, to make room for
short stories at that price, is a risky proposition. Will the market
bear it?
Honestly,
I think it will. And here’s why—Kindle readers are tired of $0.99
cheapies. The shine is off the new toy, people have stopped loading
their Kindles up with freebies and cheapies, and have started getting
more discerning about what they download. Many Kindle readers are
starting to shy away from the $0.99 price point because they’ve read
some stinkers and don’t want to travel down that road again. What was
once a huge draw for Kindle readers—oooh, look, cheap books for my new
toy!—has now become the opposite.
Of course, I could be wrong.
Which is why it’s a scary experiment!
Apropos for Halloween, don’t you think?
So let’s kick off this frightening new price point with a $2.99 story very fitting for the season, shall we?
For
those of you scratching your heads, wondering how in the heck the pair
of us ending up writing together, given that our genres are so vastly
different, I’ll explain. Back at the beginning of the year, I’d posted
some of my sales numbers on Joe’s blog, which at the time were
astronomical (I was making $30,000 a month at Barnes and Noble alone!)
and Joe jokingly said, “If you ever want to collaborate, let me know!”
I’d just finished reading and reviewing DRACULAS
– and being the huge horror fan that I am, how could I resist? I
emailed him to say, “I know you were kidding, but I’d love to
collaborate with you guys.” And to my surprise, Joe Konrath and Blake
Crouch actually took me up on the offer! They were planning a sequel to
DRACULAS called WOLFMEN, and wanted me on board, along with a fourth
writer (who has yet to be disclosed).
It made perfect marketing sense to cross-pollinate their audience and mine, which were both large, but vastly different.
Of course, no one knew if this great idea would work in practice…
So
Blake Crouch agreed to take me out for a test run, and that’s how this
story was born. The collaboration process was, I must say, an amazing
success, and I couldn’t be prouder of the result. I really think this
story is something special—but I’m probably a little biased!
If you want to know more about how HUNTING SEASON: A Love
Blood Story was written, what the process was and how things
developed, there’s an interview between myself and Blake included as
bonus material at the end.
It’s available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble for… you guessed it.
$2.99.
Is it worth it?
You be the judge!
HUNTING SEASON – A Love Blood Story by Blake Crouch and Selena Kitt
This
8,000 (approx) word collaboration by thriller/suspense/horror writer
Blake Crouch and erotic romance author Selena Kitt includes bonus
interview material with the authors about the upcoming sequel to the
Konrath, Crouch, Strand and Wilson bestseller DRACULAS.
-------------
He’s a butcher.
She’s the trophy wife of a trophy hunter.
They used to be high school sweethearts, but that was two decades ago, and times have changed.
Meet Ariana Plano...40 years old, miserable, stuck in a loveless marriage to the worst mistake of her life.
Meet Ray Koski...40 years old, miserable, a lonely butcher who can do nothing but immerse himself in the drudgery of his work.
Once
a week during hunting season, she brings her old teenage flame game
meat for processing.
They do not speak. They rarely make eye contact.
Some histories are just too painful.
But this week will be different.
This week—a shocking encounter twenty-two years in the making—will change everything.
Erotic Fiction You Won't Forget
