Monday, October 8, 2012

Undercutting the competition doesn't sell e-books

The average price of e-book best-seller rises nearly $2 in four weeks.
Just to clarify: Free book giveaways are the best way to build a market for a new book, especially one by an unknown author. But 99 cent or even $2.99 price points (where most indie authors flock) aren't a long-term sales strategy.

As I've written before, Amazon now takes a dim view of lower-priced books. Their algorithms now assume that a book below a certain price point is, well, likely to actually be worth less than a higher-priced offering. After all, it's the indie author setting his/her own price, and who would know better regarding their book's relative value? Amazon's not about to argue with an author's first-hand expertise.

From the top link:

The top ten best selling books in the $10 and above e-book best-seller list are all in the top 25 overall. Meanwhile, only two of the top ten books priced $0 to $2.99 are on the top 25 list. This ratio has been fairly consistent since we launched the list.

While this is good news in terms of the vitality of the e-book market, many indie authors are threatened by this, assuming it means a 'takeover of their turf' by 'big publishing'. And in fact it does represent a change – a maturing of the e-book.

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