Pricing strategies

"You get what you pay for." That's the common wisdom at least. I know I'm late to this particular fray, and unlike Joe Konrath, or Dean Wesley Smith, I haven't done exhaustive controlled studies as to the results of various pricing strategies. My initial instincts when I listed my currently four, and soon to be five, then six titles, was to price them low, earn a following, and raise the prices somewhat to reflect my feeling as to the quality of the work. Hell, just to reflect the actual work that went into them!

I have, after all, been writing professionally for decades. I don't like to give my work away any more than an electrician would want to give his work away. (If, by chance, you do know an electrician who will work for free, give me his number. There are a few things I'd like taken care of around here).

For writers who have an established conventional presence, perhaps giving books away even makes sense. I wasn't ready to go that far, so initially I priced my four full-length novels at 99 cents. I won't go into a detailed history of these books, but at one point or another, all of them have either been published (Echo Valley), made it to "editorial committee" at various publishers (InHuman), and/ or been taken on by major agents (Deadlines and Huttle the Hero). In other words, I'm not a hack. Or, if I am a hack, I've managed to fool a lot of people for a long time.

Well, maybe it's my inept marketing, but at 99 cents the titles didn't sell very well. I met the other night with my friend, Scott, who is in marketing. In his view, 99 cents was worse than free. "It just looks like something you shouldn't value." Free was better, he thought, because then people think they're, well, getting something for free. And to a reader, what's the difference, really, between 99 cents and $2.99? Yes, for the math-inclined, it's two bucks. What I mean is, is that two dollars an impediment to sale, when the product is something that the reader is going to spend several hours with? In my opinion, no.

As an aside, in my ill-fated tenure as a businessman, owning a photography studio, I did have the opportunity to experiment with price sensitivity. We had the "business package," that we sold for $39. It included a head shot, a business card, and a couple of other things, including the electronic file. We didn't sell many. Then, we raised the price to $49, and sales doubled. People perceived greater value.

So, as of today, I raised my prices! Hooray for me! Yes, it's more than a 200 percent increase, but in the grand scheme of things, it's the price of a latte. It also kicks the titles into the 70 percent royalty category, which I don't mind, either.

Now I'm going to go watch the Super Bowl.