| 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
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