Happy Monday, WG2E-Land!
Let’s talk…
99 Cent Ebook Sales Volume & Royalties
vs
$2.99 Ebook Sales Volume & Royalties
Take a look at my May and June Kindle Sales plus July to-date:
May
99 Cent Books Sold = 817
$2.99 Books Sold = 297
June
99 Cent Books Sold = 817
$2.99 Books Sold = 214
July (as of 7/9/11)
99 Cent Books Sold = 297
$2.99 Books Sold = 83
***Note: I’ve got two 99-Cent titles (Bootscootin’ Blahniks and Thug Guard) and three $2.99-titles (Stompin’ on Stetsons, Buckles Me Baby and Muse Therapy).
***Royalties for the 99-Cent titles = .35 per book sold
***Royalties for the $2.99 titles = $2.02 per book sold
Now then…let’s do the math regarding Kindle royalties I’ve earned each month…
May 2011
Total Royalties Earned = $885.89
99-Cent Royalties = $285.95
$2.99 Royalties = $599.94
June 2011
Total Royalties Earned = $718.23
99-Cent Royalties = $285.95
$2.99 Royalties = $432.28
July 2011 To-Date
Total Royalties Earned To-Date = $271.61
99-Cent Royalties = $103.95
$2.99 Royalties = $167.66
So…in two months and 9 days, I’ve made the following in Kindle Royalties:
99-Cent Royalties = $675.85 (with just two books at that price)
$2.99 Royalties = $1199.88 (with three books at this price)
Now is where it gets really interesting…
I’ve sold – in volume – in the same time period:
99 Cent Ebooks Sold = 1931 Books (in just two titles at that price)
$2.99 Ebooks Sold = 594 (in three books at this price)
What If I Had All Five of My Titles Available at The 99 Cent Price Point?!
At my current rate, I’m selling approx 409 of each 99-Cent Title each month.
Take that times 5 titles, I’d be selling approx. 2043 books per month
2043 books sold per month at 99 Cents Each Equals Monthly Royalties of
$714.88
If I dropped all of my titles to 99 Cents, I’d be at almost the same in total royalties earned each month and have a ton more readers and fans in my base!!!!!!!!!!
***Note: And that’s not accounting for any growth in sales at all…which, except for Sunshine Deal Months, does NOT seem to be the case. My sales are growing a ton each month. For example, I’m projecting July to be my highest month yet with a total of around 1500 books sold!!!
Now Y’All Know What I’m Seriously Considering…
Right now, my goal is to build my reader and fan base…that’s my goal. Not the money. But I can have both that goal met and about the same amount of money too if I take less on each book and simply rely on the volume sold to show me the money!!!
It’s Your Turn, WG2E-Land: What do you think I should do?
The Best of WG2E Wishes — D. D. Scott
I agree about the reader base! That’s exactly what you need to build before you can bring the long term $. BUT it’s not even about that….the money is just a bonus to me. I love, LOVE that readers take the time out of their busy day. Think about it….
Readers have lives. They get up, go to work, be moms, dads, siblings, grandparents, clean the house, stress over bills, grocery shop, laundry, keep the yard up, and at the end of a very busy day or when they have a minute or two, they pick up my book and read it?! WOW!! Gotta love readers!! I’m so honored to have them!
That’s exactly why I’m thinking of going with a 99 Cent Price across the board, T!
Nothin’ means more to me than treating readers to great books for great prices!
I don’t want them to have to feel like they have to penny pinch to save enough to read my books!
I want them to know when they need an instant lift for the cost of anything at their local dollar store, they can count on a D. D. Scott book to help ‘em LOL again!!!
Cheers to that!!!
I agree. It’s more important to generate a large fan base for the long term, than try for short term gain – which might never actually get off the ground. Most of my books are set at $0.99. I only have one that is $2.99, and the others outsell it, so I’m thinking of dropping it soon.
Good Mornin’, AJ!
I will have to keep my non-fiction book – Muse Therapy – at the $2.99 price because it has sooo many images that its download fee is expensive per book sold compared to my fiction books. Plus, it also cost me a ton more to produce, again because of all the images. In fact, it still hasn’t earned out and won’t for some time.
But for all my fiction books, I’m now earning out after just 6-weeks…even at the 99 Cent Price Point!
It’s all about the volume of sales that price point brings u, and, like u said, building that large fan base for the long term.
Hi D.D.!
What do you mean by the download fee being expensive per book if it has visual images?
And, if they are digital, why do they make it more expensive to produce?
I’d appreciate any enlightenment you could give me on this, as one of the books my sweetie is working on has visuals.
Great question, Alicia!
If your Ebook has images, it makes the file size of your book larger.
Kindle charges so much per download of each book you sell, based on the size of your book’s file.
For example, per sale, on each of my fiction books (which have no images in them), I pay between 5 and 6 cents per book sold for what Amazon calls a delivery cost. My non-fiction book – Muse Therapy – has over 60 images in it and costs approx 19 cents per download for that delivery fee. So over 3X as much per sale!
In addition, if you’re paying someone to format for you, he or she will likely charge so much per image they format. So you might want to get a quote on that from your format person too!
Thanks, D.D.!
I am soooo thankful for your expertise and the way you so generously share your experiences.
Well being I only have one book out so far I can’t relate to any of this yet. And sales on this one for the second month were awful so I’m rushing another book out in order to see if what everyone says is true: that you have to have more than one book out in order to generate a lot of sales. So we’ll see.
You’ll be sooo glad when your second book hits, Jamie!
Here’s what my first book’s sales looked like with only that one book out:
August 2010 = 20 sold
September 2010 = 7 sold
By October, with two books then out = 30 sold
By February, with four books out and my first 1/2 month at the 99 Cent Price = 126 sold
Last month (June) with five books out and two at the 99 Cent Price = 1058 sold
Every book you add to your cyber shelf can make a huge, huge difference in your sales!!!
Go for it, Jamie!!!
Abbey MacInnis
Congrats on having your first Indie Epubbed novella about ready to go, Abbey!
U Go, Girl!!!
I do see a ton of novellas at the 99 Cent Price Point! For example, my new, Cozy Cash Mysteries could be considered longer novellas at around the 45,000-50,000 word mark, and they’re doing awesome at 99 cents!!!
I’m sorry if this posts again. Blame it on the lack of coffee on my part.
It’s all there in black and white. 
I’m putting out my first self-published novella next month, and honestly, I’ve been struggling over how to price my story.
I’m going to price everything at $.99. Key thing is I’ll need to keep finishing and publishing books If all goes well, I’ll hopefully see my sales increase and the money eventually as well. 
I think it was Bob Mayer who said on his blog that we’re not running a race but we’re in a marathon instead. So steady progress is best. 
Thanks D.D. for again, providing your numbers.
I’ve been a lurker here at WG2E and I’ve read all the posts on pricing very thoroughly, but this one did it for me.
D.D., I think you should definitely drop all your books to $.99.
You nailed it right here, Abbey:
“Key thing is I’ll need to keep finishing and publishing books…”
Now that’s super savvy smart!!!
That’s how you keep on building your reader and fan base.
I agree the .99 can be used to build base. In the long run though, a .99 title has to sell almost 6 copies to earn the same as a $2.99 title. I did the math and when I reach 166,000 sold next month, I’ll have earned as much as John Locke and his million selling .99 cent titles.
I think .99 is great as a lead into a series, where you price the subsequent books at $2.99
Good Mornin’, Bob!!!
I can’t wait to catch-up on your ThrillerFest Posts!!!
Anyhoo…
Yeah, at first I thought I’d use the 99 Cent Price Point as a loss leader/lead-in of sorts, but now that my volume of 99 Centers is at the 3.7 times factor when compared to my $2.99 and continuing to grow, I think I might just reach that 6 times point very soon where the money will balance out.
And just like you said…I think we have to answer for ourselves do we want the same money as John Locke in dollars and cents with less volume sold or do we want his million volume sold and his huge fan base…
The best part…thanks to Indie Epubbing, we have that decision and choice to make for our careers!
I think you should try it!
You even made a whole post about it, so it means your mind is already set in it … you just need a little push =)
Perhaps you should announce as temporary price and see how it goes from there–so, if it doesn’t work out, you can raise the price back to 2.99 …
If the 99cent makes a huge difference and you get to reach out for more fans, you can always kept it at 99cent and delete the temporary price tag.
Like you said, fans are the most important part right now. And they do get encourage by the 99cent prince point as we already know.
Go for it!
Wavin’ atchya, Juliana! Good Mornin’!
LOL…I’m pushin’ myself all right…LOL again!
The temporary price point issue you bring up is one of the reasons I’m thinking long and hard about dropping all my books to the 99 Cent Price Point.
Experience shows – as cussed and discussed all over the Kindle Boards – that one thing that really turns readers off is if you drop your price to the 99 Cents then raise it back up.
That said, Konrath appears to be one of the few who can basically choose a couple of his titles per month to go “On Sale” for the 99 Cents then raise ‘em back up the following month and be okay. But I think he can do that ’cause he has sooo many books out there that he can keep rotating ‘em and readers have plenty to read ’til the next month when they can pick up the next two on sale and so forth til they have his entire backlist.
He’s doing this each month to bump a couple titles a month into the Kindle Top 100. That 99 Cent Price Point gets him there about every time!!!
So…yeah…when I make this change…it will be for a long, long time. Until perhaps when I get a backlist the size of say Konrath and our superfab WG2E Friend Bob Mayer.
It is so helpful to see the numbers and the breakdown, D.D. Thanks you for sharing.
I’ll be putting my first book out in September, the second one in December and the third in February or March, so it will be interesting to see how it goes. I write contemporary YA and I understand both the idea of building a fan base and making books affordable for readers, but it feels counter intuitive to me to set the price so low. My inner voice reminds me that “you get what you pay for” and I wonder if people see a .99 cent price tag and think they are getting a deal or that they are buying an inferior product. But then I see the books available at .99 cents and as writer know that some of them are fabulous books–as your’s are! I guess if it works for your goals, I say do what you gotta do.
I planned on starting the first release at 2.99, lowering to 1.99 as the second one comes out and dropping it to .99 cents when the third is released. I’ll let you know how it goes.
U betchya, Sharon!
I luuuvvv how you’re going to have three books out fairly quickly. That will really help to build your reader and fan base! Super savvy planning on your part!
I sooo don’t have an inner voice like yours though whispering “you get what you pay for”.
Perhaps in our old economy I did. But not in our new, very broken economy.
Now…that voice whispers you get what you can afford…and honestly, I’m learning that in our Indie Epub Book World, I’m discovering tons of superfab Indie Epub Authors at 99 Cents I enjoy reading more than or at least as much as the much higher-priced, TradiPub Authors I used to read.
I think now, more than ever before, readers are not just looking for, but expecting deals because of Ereaders. And they’ll take a chance on you for 99 Cents. They won’t for more than that or must choose less authors to try at the higher price.
Interesting note too on that darn $1.99 price point. There’s a ton of research and experience on Kindle Boards showing that price just doesn’t work at all. Although, no one can really figure out why…
Please do let us know how you do with your plan. That’s how we all learn…by sharing what works and what doesn’t for us.
In a business sense, I think that the .99 price point to build a ‘loyal’ fan base is a good idea. But it makes me cringe to leave the $2.99 price point. Each one of us has to make this decision…
Good Mornin’, Pepper!
I can tell u my heart rate – and my DH’s too – was skipping and missin’ a bit when we sat together and lowered our first book from $2.99 to 99 Cents.
Now…LOL…5 months later, based on our huge, huge, huge success at that price point, we’re chompin’ at the bit to lower ‘em all to that point.
I know The WG2E’s Tonya and her DH had the same nervous rush me and my DH did!
But, like me, Tonya will tell u that if she hadn’t done that, she would NOT have made the Movers & Shakers List as quickly as she did.
That 99 Cent Price Point gives you the visibility and the opportunities you need, as a debut Indie Epub Author, to be picked up by some of the big-time, Ereader-centric blogs and grogs and that’s what propels you onto those mega bestseller lists!
I guess if you’re doing so well @ 99 cents, you could try a temporary price break to see how it goes, as I know that you’re wanting to build your reader base. Otherwise, you could just go for it, & drop them to 99 cents, except for “Muse Therapy.”
You know mean, Jeanne…LOL!…and I might just go for it with gusto!!!
Ditto. Dropped my price from $4.99 to $0.99 for my Sci-Fi series “The Devolution Chronicles” – sales went from 7 a month to 70 a month and steadily climbing (90% on Kindle). Slightly more $ and 10X more readers.
Ohhh yeahhh!!!
Superfab scoop, Gary!
And congrats on making the 99 Cent Price Point work for you and your series!
Well done!!!
And thanks sooo much for sharing your real numbers and experiences with us here at The WG2E!!!
I’m not quite sure I agree with your math: you have to sell 6 books at $.99 to make the same return as 1 book sold at $2.99. You’ve sold 3.25 $.99 books for every $2.99 book during the 2-month period, so just over twice the number. If you dropped your $2.99 books to $.99 and their total sales jumped to match your current $.99 books, then you’d lose half the income from those $2.99 titles. So the income loss isn’t negligible. Then again, you’ve said higher volume is a priority, so losing a few hundred a month now may be worth it.
I hear ya on the math, Marion, and thanks for making this point!
A couple of comments back, I think to the superfab Bob Mayer’s comment, I mentioned that yes, right now, I’m at something like the 3.7X point (for the month of July to-date) not 6X the number I need to break even on the money end of the price differential.
But…I’m at that 3.7X and continuing to grow big-time. It won’t be long ’til I hit that 6X point!!!
And, I’ll get their faster, from my current data, with the increased visibility I’ll get by dropping the other books to 99 Cents too.
If I drop my other three books to 99 Cents and they each sell around 409 copies a month along with the other two books already at 99 Cents (without any growth), I’ll make, in dollars and cents $715.75…so yeah…about $169 less than leaving those three books at $2.99…but again, that’s without growth.
I grew my sales volume by over 800% once I began using the 99 Cent Price Point…so who knows what that growth percentage will be once all my books are at 99 Cents!!!
That will be the true measure…
Very true. Of course there’s no way to say how much growth you could experience on the $2.99 sales in the next few months, either. Probably growth would be slower, but how much slower? Nor are all books equal; the ones out the longest are probably growing the fastest, but the later releases probably got a boost from your previous titles, etc. And of course I’m sure that some of your books are just better–probably your later ones. It’s a messy problem. I just boosted Wearing the Cape from $.99 to $2.99, and am going to watch it for a week, but even that won’t give me the full picture (Friday, the last day at $.99, I sold only 4 copies. Saturday I sold 13 copies for $2.99, Sunday 4…) In the first week of July I averaged 11 sales/day; if my average drops below 5/sales a day… It’s a hard judgement call.
Great idea right here for another post topic, Marion:
“Of course there’s no way to say how much growth you could experience on the $2.99 sales in the next few months, either. Probably growth would be slower, but how much slower?”
I’ll get to work on it, and wow I can tell ya it’s a ton, ton slower growth rate at the $2.99 price point.
And oh boy a week is sooo not enough time to study any price point at all…I would suggest a couple months at least!!!
Hey D.D.
The only argument I could make outside of the money issue is that by keeping your books at both price ranges, you are reaching two different audiences. The research that I’ve read (reader surveys, and anecdotal) is that there are readers who only buy $.99 novels. There are readers who will not buy a $.99 novel because they perceive it to be low quality. It’s different segments of readers. I think with the $.99 lead, you are meeting the readers who ONLY buy a $.99 novel, and might convince them to buy your later works if they enjoy your writing. You are also reaching out to the $2.99 and up readers because they see the $.99 is a loss leader. There is also the consideration about how many people buying that $.99 novel are actually reading it? Readers are creatures of habit. If we plunk down serious money for a hardback, by golly, we’re going to start reading that sucker right away. But taking a chance on a bargain bin paperback that caught our interest for <$5? I have a good number of those, unread, on my shelf upstairs.
A good test might be lowering those prices for a few months and see if the later novels in your series stay at the same volume levels. I don't think your later novels are at a lower volume just because of the price. Later books in a series will ALWAYS have lower volume than the first one because there is always going to be a percentage of readers who read Bootscootin' Blahniks and decide the series isn't for them.
There just appears to be two camps of readers and the price point is the starting off position for the books they will consider. However, beyond that yes/no logic gate, other factors such as description, cover, and sample weigh into the ultimate decision to buy a book. Katie Kline for example has Cross My Heart priced at $3.99 and she moved more than 1,000 copies in June. It's a stand alone title from her series she is working on now.
I won't read a thriller book for $.99 no matter good it is. I get nightmares. I would be reluctant to read YA Paranormal (though I liked Twilight, it wasn't for the vampire aspect), or a fantasy book at $.99. I don't enjoy those genres. And if I did decide to read in those genres, it wouldn't be because of price, but other factors such as the description and sample. I would read books that I normally read for $.99, but I'd also read them for $2.99 or $3.99, too. Pride and prejudice continuations, historical fictions, and chick-lit. And books I *really* love, such as favorite authors, I pay even more for. I paid full hard cover price for Books 4-7 of the Harry Potter series, the night they came out. I will also buy the electronic versions. I also own the books in paperback. Same thing for Sophie Kinsella's/Madeleine Wickham.
I think you're doing everything right, and the audiences will grow as you continue promoting and writing new books. I think I'd rather have 1,000 new readers every month than thousands of readers for only one month or two. There is a quality factor to the readers you want to attract. You want readers who are excited to find your work, write about it or tell others, and maybe even re-read. A few hundred of those is worth far more than thousands who read and cast it aside, or buy and never read it at all.
These are all terrific points, Elizabeth, and thanks sooo much for sharing ‘em!!!
This was most interesting to me…when you said:
“…by keeping your books at both price ranges, you are reaching two different audiences. The research that I’ve read (reader surveys, and anecdotal) is that there are readers who only buy $.99 novels. There are readers who will not buy a $.99 novel because they perceive it to be low quality. It’s different segments of readers.”
I think, from the data I’m gathering, that this USED TO BE the case…but wow is this changing and superfab fast!!!
In fact, I’m doing a post soon where I call it “The TradiPub Syndrome” (LOL!). I say this because The Big Six had us all conditioned – like Pavlov’s Dog – to salivate only for the books they rang the bells for us on and at the price they placed on those bells. They conditioned us to think that only the best books were at the higher prices, and that if they didn’t have their price range and logo stamped on ‘em, they weren’t worth reading.
I truly can’t get over how many terrific books there are at the 99 Cent Price Point!!!
Now, I’m salivating for an entire new reason and to new bells too!!!
I wasn’t trying to say your books are poor quality. NEVER!
I was going from the Kindle Nation survey primarily where readers classified themselves as those who buy free-$.99 and an almost equally as large group selecting $2.99-$4.99. It was completed this past spring.
I don’t know that it’s only TRADI-PUB syndrome
It’s advertising in general. We are a consumerist nation (not excluding international readers here, but the majority of sales for U.S. author is typically U.S. residents). People buy luxury vehicles when the nuts and bolts are usually the same as the economy model, it’s just the inside that’s prettier. People buy name brand formula when it’s manufactured at the exact same plant as the generic.
But as indies, I think there is an issue at stake about remaining competitive. The Sunshine sales show that we can’t just beat traditional publishers on price alone. If they slash their prices, they cut into our sales. If making $200-$400 extra dollars a month lets you outsource editing or formatting so you can write more, or allows you to invest in enhanced ebooks before the big guys, that’s important, too.
But you’re one smart business woman. I know you have no fear to experiment, and no problems correcting any aspect not giving desired results. Go for it! Then tell us all about it (but I know you will). :::HUGS:::
LOL, Elizabeth…I didn’t take it that way at all, Girlfriend!
And yes, I’m a huge fan of the Kindle Nation Daily survey…did you submit any questions for the new one yet? They are taking questions to be included!
Anyhoo…
You nailed it on the brand name and label-centric society we have…but I do see huge changes where that’s concerned.
I think now, consumers care about primarily two things:
Price and Convenience
If, as an Indie Epub Author, you can deliver both (and the convenience is built-in to the entire Ereading system), then, on top of those two things, provide a value-added, terrific relationship with your readers and fans, using social networking avenues, you’ve got it made!!!
What about the $1.99 price point? Does anyone have any opinions on using that instead of .99 or 2.99?
Yeah, you know, I have been thinking about the $1.99 prince point too …
Like, in a series, have the price of books escalate: first for $0.99, second for $1.99, third for $2.99 — though I don’t know if I would go higher than $2.99 …
We’ve seen, read and hear that now readers expect to pay much lower than paperback prices for e-books …
Start a series with $1.99, though? I’m also not sure about that. Perhaps the first as $0.99 and all the others for $1.99? This calls for calculations in Excel LOL!
Hello, Sarah!
Some of the best numbers and experiences noted on the $1.99 price point I’ve found are on the Kindle Boards. Do a search for that topic…$1.99 Ebooks…and you’ll find a ton of discussions.
It appears, and no one seems to know why, but it seems that $1.99 does worse than either 99 Cents or $2.99.
I don’t care for the image of doing a stair-stepped like increase in a series of say Book One 99 Cents, Book Two $1.99 and Book Three $2.99…’cause, to me, that’s kind of punishing your readers for staying with you. Every time they go back and read your next book, instead of rewarding them, you’re makin ‘em pay more. See what I mean?
Ugh, yeah … never thought about it this way … punishing the reader LOL
I think I’m going to stay away from the escalating price =P
I’m with Tonya, when I say its about the readers and the process. The money is the bonus. It’s proven, that .99cents sells. I’ve read some great .99centers. I do think putting the book at $2.99 to start, and then lowering it to .99cents after the second comes out seems to be the way to work it. Often, though readers and fans will wait for the lower price, because they know its coming.
It’s all about “Great Books for Great Prices”, L.A.!
Cheers to that!!!
But, I would sooo not want to lose the momentum of debuting with a 99 Cent book!
Readers will try a new author for 99 Cents without thinking twice, but they think really hard about trying one for $2.99, when they can basically try three for the price of one at that price point.
Thanks for this great analysis. And thanks to Elizabeth Ann for the counter argument. I read another study recently that said in the UK market, .99 books (.69P) do better, but in the US, 2.99 books do better overall. (Americans suffer more from fear of crap, apparently.) I know one top seller who has some for .99 and others for 2.99 and switches them back and forth.
Welcome to The WG2E, Anne!
I sooo hear ya on what you said right here:
“(Americans suffer more from fear of crap, apparently.)”
LOL!!!
I was just reading, I believe on the superfab Mark Williams Intl Blog, that our UK readers across the pond are much more accepting at first of bargain basement prices.
I also learned this from my sister’s foreign exchange student from Germany! They scarf-up all our under a dollar treasures because they can’t get hardly anything for under a buck in Europe. And they think it’s terrific here…they never question the quality based on the price.
Interesting world we live in!!!
Konrath is doing the ‘ole switch-a-roo pricing experiment too!
Thanks for this great analysis. And thanks to Elizabeth Ann for the counter argument. I read another study recently that said in the UK market, .99 books (69P) do better, but in the US, 2.99 books do better overall. (Americans suffer more from fear of crap, apparently.) I know one top seller who has some for .99 and others for 2.99 and switches them back and forth.
You’re making me feel a lot better about my slow start. I uploaded my first book last week and only have 3 sales to date
Me too Cathy!
Mine is two weeks old now, and 11 sales – Most of them to friends and family of course!!! My next goal is to try and match that for next month…….only NOT to friends and family! That’s where it gets tricky – when your number 110,000 on the list, how the heck do they find you?
I have it on my facebook and twitter . I’m going to add it to my blog and to linkedin (it’s called Social Networking Your Way To a New Job) and this weekend I’m going to work on uploading to Nook.
I’m wondering if I should post it to fb and twitter weekly or if that will get on people’s nerves.
Well done, Cathy!
You can create a Note on your personal Facebook page all about your book so people can always access that.
And as far as posting about it weekly on both FB and Twitter, I would make use of Pixel of Ink’s Sample Sunday program, where every Sunday, you can link to a sample of your books. So, for example, you can put up a nice sample of your book on your blog then link to it on the Sample Sunday FB Page and hashtag the link #SampleSunday on Twitter.
Congrats to you both, Cathy and Tessa! Your first books…your first sales…woohooooooo!!!
Now then, to help readers find you, start workin’ those kindle and nook boards too (if you both also uploaded to B&N PubIt)!!!
Here’s the scoop on The Boards:
http://thewritersguidetoepublishing.com/must-read-then-participate-on-kindle-boards
Oh that’s really helpful. Thanks so much. I introduced myself on the kindle boards, but I havent really done anything beyond that yet.