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Little-Known Pricing Strategies That Boost Your Kindle Book Sales
Imagine this … You work hard to create a book for the Kindle marketplace.
Maybe it ' s even a book that ' s selling well in other formats, such as a hard copy book or even a PDF ebook that you sell directly on your website. But then you load it to Kindle, set the price … And nothing happens. You don ' t get the flood of sales you expected. You don ' t even get a trickle. And you might even have the disappointment of being unable to make even one sale!
Now, if you know your content is solid – if you know this is the type of book that ' s already selling well elsewhere – then don ' t scrap your book just yet. All you may need to do is tweak your pricing strategy a bit in order to kick start your sales. Let me explain …
If you ' ve looked at the Kindle pricing requirements( some of which are listed here), you ' ll notice that you actually get to choose between a 35 % royalty rate and a 70 % royalty rate.
If you choose the 30 % rate, then your book must be priced between $ 0.99 and $ 200( provided your book meets the other requirements, such as file size). If you choose the 70 % royalty option, then your book must be priced between $ 2.99 and $ 9.99.
Since a lot of Kindle authors are looking to sell a book for less than $ 10, many of them choose the 70 % option. And then in order to get the highest possible profit per sale, they set the book price at $ 9.99.
That might work for authors who have household names, like Stephen King or John Grisham. But if you ' re just breaking into a market, this pricing strategy likely will produce a disappointing trickle of sales for you.
You see, people are willing to spend $ 10 on a hard copy book, simply because they realize there are printing costs involved. Indeed, most hard copy books cost at least $ 9.99, so the market is used to paying that much.
But take a look at the Kindle marketplace and you ' ll quickly discover that there are a lot of books going for cheap – such as 99 cents. Some are even free. And the Kindle marketplace readers sort of expect to get deals like this.
Indeed, if you ' re a new author, a buyer may not be willing to“ bet” $ 10 on you. But he will“ bet” 99 cents, because he figures he can get at least one dollar ' s worth of value out of your book.
Now you can see where this is all leading. Here ' s a pricing strategy I ' d like you to consider:
Step 1: Set the Price to 99 Cents. This is temporary. And no, this won ' t make you rich. But this is a strategic move.
Step 2: Market Your Book Like Crazy. Now advertise your 99 cent book everywhere and anywhere that your target market congregates. You want to get a flood of sales, good reviews and buzz.
Step 3: Adjust the Price to $ 2.99. Once your 99 cent book is selling well, consistently, then raise the price to $ 2.99( and take advantage of the 70 % royalty rate). Readers will happily pay this amount, because their friends and your book reviews say it ' s well worth the price.
Step 4: Put Out Additional Books at $ 2.99. The last step is to cash in on the momentum by publishing other books in the same niche. Now that your readers know you, they ' ll happily pay $ 2.99 – and even more! – for all other books you load to the Kindle marketplace. In Summary … If you want to make money in the Kindle marketplace, then look at the long-term picture.
Price your first book low, establish a great reputation and then raise the price to enjoy the 70 % royalties.
Don ' t forget to publish other books in the niche to further cash-in on your great reputation!