Kindle Book Price Strategy

    I just raised the price on my Kindle book. It had been .99 cents since February, when I first published it on Amazon. I went up to $2.99, but not because I’m greedy (although I do think it deserves this price), but because I think I can sell more at this price.

    For me, this was a strategy move.  When I peruse books on Amazon, I’ve noticed I look at several factors that form my opinion very quickly:

    First, the cover. I can’t help it, any more than you can. A good-looking, professional cover makes the book look good. I knew this was important when I published The Dead Peasants File, so I hired a professional to make the cover. It’s the first impression and we all know it.

    Next, I look at the price. As much as I don’t want to think this way, I can’t help but think a book must be good if it demands a higher price. I read early on that unknown authors like me must keep our prices low in order to move any books since our initial goal is to get our name out there. I read that we need to keep our books at .99 cents (the lowest price Amazon will let you sell them) because no one is going to purchase a book from an unknown for any higher. That made sense and I followed this advice until now.

    Then I look at the number of stars in the rating scale. We all look at this, even though we all know not everyone is going to like everything. If the book has enough good reviews, I figure it must be pretty good. A few bad reviews may even give a book some street cred – because that means enough strangers bothered to read it that it received a couple of clunker reviews. Some of my favorite movies have not gotten great reviews either, and I think we all understand this. Not every book is going to appeal to everyone, but true reviews come from strangers.

    Then, and only then, I look to see what the book is about.

    So, I left my book at the lowest price until I got enough reviews that I felt it was ready to move up. Now, it looks like something people are interested in. Good cover, good number of stars, and yes, a respectable price. I also know people are interested in it by the number of downloads I get when I offer it for free as part of the Amazon KDP promotional tools.

    I think buyers may reason they would rather risk three dollars on something that looks really intriguing – and that others have stated they really enjoyed, than risk a dollar on something that may waste their time and their dollar. I read recently that $3 is still an impulse buy and I tend to agree.

    I went up on the price at the beginning of this month. True I have not sold as many books as I had at this time last month, but I am only a few short and I get 70% of the royalty instead of 35%, so I am doing better financially this way. In fact, I get $2 per book now as opposed to .35 cents, so I am doing much better.