And here... we... go.

ASeiple

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As of this morning, I'm now a self-published author with a novella out on Amazon's Kindle store.

It was easier than I thought, when all was said and done.

My e-book

I won't be going with Kindle Select for this one. Some of the other things I'll put out there in the months to come will be, but this one won't be.

Man, I feel so weird right now. Worried, satisified, eager. Even though my brain's telling me that it'll probably be a good long while before I see a review or any sales worth mentioning, I'm still giddy...
 

Corsairs

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Way to go, Andrew! That's got to be extremely exciting. :D
 

ASeiple

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More at 2.99 than 1.99? Odd. I suppose I could do that easily, raise the price after opening weekend is done.

Seems a bit much to ask for a novella, but on the other hand, it IS pretty fun.
 

Dhewco

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Personally, I think you should leave it at 1.99. However, I've not yet published. I have no author experience at pricing. I'm talking as a reader. There's no way I'd pay 3 bucks for 61 pages, no matter how well written.

ETA: Read the sample. It's a decent enough read. good action. I'd probably buy it, if I had any money (read my other posts to find out why.) Thanks again for sharing.
 
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Dragonwriter

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Congrats.

But 1.99 is a pricing dead zone. Pick either .99 or 2.99. You'll sell more at either.

Congrats, ASeiple! Best of luck to you!

izanobu, why do you say $1.99 is a "dead zone"? I'm curious, because I dropped the price of the first book in my series to $1.99 when I released the second one, and I'm toying with moving it back up to $2.99 but I'm afraid sales will drop off. Do you have any evidence backing this up? Thanks!
 

Abderian

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I recall seeing an Amazon sales chart that showed low sales figures at the 1.99 mark and higher figures on either side. Sorry, I don't have a link.
 

izanobu

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I don't know why it is. I just know that I've tested it and I know a lot of other people who have, and we all sold more copies at either .99 or 2.99. (.99 usually gives about two to three times the sales as 2.99, btw, but 2.99 is the 70% threshold so you'll make more money there, but gain fewer readers most likely).

For a novella, personally, I'd drop to .99 and aim to use it to collect readers for your next thing (get emails for your mailing list etc). I'm all about reader acquisition though, since it pays off way better in the long term. :)
 

ASeiple

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Those are good suggestions, but I think I'll keep it where it is. See, I've got a master plan... I'm going to write up a fair amount of short stories, novellas, and novels set in the same universe. The short stories will be .99, and a few of them will be out on kindle select. Thus, when someone samples one of them and likes them enough to go looking for more, the 1.99 novellas will be there. And the 4.99 novels will be out there too, eventually.

So this one's not designed for an initial payoff, it's there to help reinforce and flesh out later work. I'm in this for the long haul!

And part of that long haul is not cheating your fans. Really can't see bumping it to 2.99 for 60 pages, but it's definitely more than a .99 read. So it's right about where it needs to be... The price of a decent cup of coffee.

Now if I ever do something in the 40K-50K word range, I could see that as 2.99.
 

izanobu

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If that's your goal, I highly recommend .99 price point. It'll bring in the most readership, if readership is to be brought in. Length has little to do with worth. Divorce the idea of "worth" as something other than "what the market will pay for this" and you'll have better luck in this business, in my opinion. :)

Anyway, good luck. It all depends what your goals are, I suppose. If you want to maximize readership and profit though... your plan could use work. That's all I'm saying. 1.99 is not a good price point for those things, from all the evidence of my own experience and that of many others I know.
 

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I agree, most have better sells at .99 or 2.99, they found that extra dollar really doesn't effect sales that much. Hell some people I know raised their price from 2.99/3.99 to 4.99 and sales didn't drop off. I don't suggest as high as 4.99 as it's a novella. But I think 2.99 or .99 will work a lot better. When I release my next novella I'm going to release it at 2.99. There is a reason why you don't see that many books priced at 1.99
 
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Dhewco

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I'd suggest going with everyone else's advice, as they have more experience than I do. I must be an ornery contrarian or something. I can't see paying 3 bucks for 61 pages. I need to accept that I'm way in the minority on this, or something.
 
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ASeiple

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Well, I admit I'm a newbie at this whole business. And I do appreciate the advice! I'll give it a week, see how it goes, then adjust accordingly.
 

ASeiple

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Huh, weird! Can't argue with capitalism, though...

Well, 4-6 days to go, then I'll make a choice.
 

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I think it's a value-judgement on the book/novella. $2.99 says it's good.

Erotica books at 12 pages long go for $2.99!
 

ASeiple

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I think it's a value-judgement on the book/novella. $2.99 says it's good.

When you put it that way... Yeah, okay, I can see it. I might as well, it IS good. I'll give friends and family another day to pick it up cheaper, then up the price. This won't hurt my master plan any.

Erotica books at 12 pages long go for $2.99!

Seriously? Holy fudge. Man, I chose the wrong genre, didn't I? :D
 

kenpochick

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That sounds very entertaining. I may have to get a copy. It kills me when it's only kindle though. I read on a Nook!
 

ASeiple

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That sounds very entertaining. I may have to get a copy. It kills me when it's only kindle though. I read on a Nook!

Ah, sorry compadre. From the research I did I figured I was better off releasing on Kindle. At least the PC Kindle Reader's a free download!

If there's enough demand down the road, I might look into other e-book formats. Have to check Amazon's policies on that, though. And figure out how much hassle it is on different platforms...

@Dragonwriter: Yeah, I know! And when I figure my relatives are gonna be reading my stuff... yeaaaaahhhhh.
 

JalexM

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Ah, sorry compadre. From the research I did I figured I was better off releasing on Kindle. At least the PC Kindle Reader's a free download!

If there's enough demand down the road, I might look into other e-book formats. Have to check Amazon's policies on that, though. And figure out how much hassle it is on different platforms...

@Dragonwriter: Yeah, I know! And when I figure my relatives are gonna be reading my stuff... yeaaaaahhhhh.

A fyi it's mostly better if you enroll it in kindle select.