BTS Book Reviews Issue 18 | Page 12

| Lowdown with Laurie | who only download free books, that will add up to $41,600 a year that you, the authors, are losing. Wow! Again, remember bookstores are losing too because you’re giving away so many books for free. Look, I totally get it, you think by offering your book for free that you will gain readers as they read your book, but here is the key—they have to read that book first, and when they are already so overloaded with free books, they will never get to your book. I know I have tons of books I can’t get to. Yes, I do see a need to give some away every now and then because your readers do deserve this. But do it randomly, so they’re not expecting it. I have seen some readers wait because they know the author will give out a book for free. Giveaways and free books are a good thing and a bad thing, so be cautious about doing this. My suggestion is to giveaway other things like swag, mugs, etc., instead of books. We can also do it this way. A reader will read on average one book a week, so let’s take your averagepriced book at $7.99 and multiply this by four; that is $31.96. But with you pricing your eight-book box set at $0.99, they can buy one set and only spend $0.99, and heck, they have seven more books for free. Therefore, they don’t have to buy any more that month or the next month, making you, the authors, lose $62.93. I know you’re thinking they will buy more than just one because they are only paying $0.99. But you have to keep in mind, some won’t because of the simple fact they don’t like having more than they can read. I know I am one of them. Look at it this way, if you’re in a store with over twenty different options of chips to buy, you can get too overwhelmed looking at all of the different brands and leave without buying one. So you have to keep in mind, some people like to keep it simple. professionally done right. To any authors out there who think they can only sell their books for $0.99, you really need to look at the older authors who are selling for more. You can say well they are already established, and yes, I agree they are, but they didn’t give away or discount their books at crazy prices to get there. Nope, they got out there by working their butts off, selling themselves to the bloggers and readers. It all comes down to marketing the right way. During our 2013 Indie Romance Convention, I asked my friend/editor WildAboutBones to host a workshop on pricing e-books. I have to admit I, myself, was shocked at how many $0.99 books Indie authors have to sell to make their money back on novels or box sets. I highly recommend all authors read the short version of WildAboutBones pricing at our website, indieromancecon.com, under Resources. It’s time you set the market straight and start making some money back. I saw an author post on Facebook that no reader will pay more than $0.99 for a book. I am here to tell that author and others like her: that is a lie. I, as a reader, will pay more than $0.99 for a book that I know is Hello, my name is Laurie. I’m a mom who found the love for reading again late in life. I opened a book review blog a few years back and have been nonstop since. My review blog has led me to do different things in the writing world, such as the opening of the Indie Romance Convention and this column. I live in Tennessee with my hubby, daughter, and lots of fur babies. bittenbyparanormalromance.com 12 | www.BTSeMag.com