For my three books that sell for $2.99, I did a Valentine’s sale that started February 14 and ran through the rest of the month. Those three books were available for .99. So, how did the sale work out for me? Let’s just say, I’ll probably never put my books on sale for .99 again (I have some that have always been .99). Let’s look at the numbers. I might have sold 4 or 5 more of the books that were on sale than I usually do. But it takes 6 books at .99 at a 35% royalty to equal what I would make on a $2.99 book at a 70% royalty. Do the math. I probably LOST money. Or at least didn’t make any more than I would have made. I thought the reason one of my older books (and a different older book in the UK) was still selling better than my newer ones was the price. Haunted Lake is still my best seller in the US on Amazon. Guardian Vampire is still my best seller in the UK. Since those are .99 books, I really did suspect it was the price. But I think I was wrong. There is SOMETHING about those two books that keeps them selling better than any of the others. Guardian Vampire is still in the lead on B & N. I JUST DON’T GET IT. Why do those two books still perform the best? Are they more searchable? Or maybe because they are older, there are more books out there where they are listed as “customers who bought this also bought…”. I will admit, I didn’t really publicize this sale as much as I should have. I was really busy here at work and was just trying to keep my head above water. Two or three of my friends mentioned it on Facebook and/or Twitter, so I really appreciate that. I really need a good marketing plan. I know people say “just write a good book”, but people have to FIND your book before you can sell it. I took out an ad in Indtale magazine this month. That’s a start. We’ll see if that helps.
Anyway, I think the experiment was a flop. I do plan on doing a free giveaway on one of my books soon, but that will be where readers get a free coupon code from Smashwords. And there will be an extra gift for the grand prize winner. When I do the free stuff, though, I do it mostly for fun, especially since I like to give gifts. I think the grand prize is pretty cool, and it’s something we actually sell here at my day job. 🙂 I’ll probably do it mid-March because the prize is kind of an out-doorsy thing, and maybe it will be a little warmer then. Piqued your interest yet???
lauralynnelliott.com 
Sorry it wasn’t what you expected. I don’t generally do sales and marketing might as well be another language to me, so I don’t have any advice.
Maybe the words vampire and haunted in the bestselling titles are good search terms?
All I know for sure is that nothing in publishing is a guarantee. 🙂
I have the word “vampire” in all of my vampire books. It’s just so strange. People emailed me after reading Guardian Vampire wanting a sequel. I told them there was no sequel but that I was writing another trilogy because it seemed everyone was all about series. But my series didn’t sell well. And those books are much better written than Guardian Vampire. So weird. You’re right, nothing is a guarantee.
My guess is the plot or title for Guardian Vampire and Haunted Lake entices most people. I’ve noticed that the same books do well over the long term and tend to do better in different places. For me, it’s An Inconvenient Marriage. That book came out in 2009 and still out sells most of my other books. It is constantly slammed for not having an authentic historical feel, but it continues to be the one that sells best (over all). I can only conclude that the description and title probably intrigue a lot of people. I think the same might be true for your books. I’ve noticed with Regencies, if you can throw in a “scandal” somewhere in the description and keyword search, then it sells better. Two of my Regencies that I did that. The third one I didn’t do that for and it wasn’t a good seller at all. Even with making the first book free in the series, it still isn’t where the “scandal” one is. So I think people look for a certain type of plot when they look at a certain genre. I’ve started looking at top selling books in the genre I’m writing and seeing if there’s a similar theme in those books.
However, I don’t think we should spend all our time writing what we think appeals to people. Sometimes you need to write what is burning at you to write. It’s hard to know what will take off or not. Books I thought for sure would appeal to people ended up bombing when I hit the “publish” button (and these were books that I had people emailing me about). Sometimes i feel like writing books is like playing the roulette wheel.
I don’t blame you for not wanting to go to $0.99. You have books at that price anyway. I don’t know if you’re up for trying to write a book with a theme that best matches what you write with what is bestselling out there. It wouldn’t be a copy of what others have done but it would contain similar elements. Does that make sense?
I don’t know what else I would try. It’s harder to gain traction like it used to be (as you know). I’m sorry the $0.99 experiment failed. It would have been nice to get a good amount of exposure from it.
There’s no rhyme or reason, it seems. I wrote Guardian Vampire right at the peak of the vampire craze, so I know that was part of the appeal back then. I was lucky because I’ve always loved vampires and I got to write what was popular AND what I loved. But I think I’m still partial to ghost stories. Haunted Lake is still my favorite of all my books. The book I’m writing now has a ghost, but it’s ending up being a little more sinister than what I originally planned. It might end up being more of a horror than a paranormal romance. We’ll see. And we’ll see how THAT one sells. LOL
I love horror. 😀
But I am interested in finding out how this one does since Haunted Lake features a ghost and is one of your best selling ones.
Your post is very timely for me. I have 2 self-published books out there for .99. Neither one sells very well, but the zombie apocalypse novel published by Permuted Press sells better at 5.99. (I realize that might be a market/popularity issue, but it is telling that avid readers will pay more than .99 nowadays.) I been have considering raising the price of my indie books for a couple of reasons. There is a perspective that .99 = good deal but cheap writing. A higher priced book may not sell as many copies, but will attract readers looking for a quality story that they will actually read which leads me to reason #2. A lot of people (me included) tend to collect free and .99 cent stories on their e-reader but never get around to reading them. When that’s the case, you aren’t building a following, because the buyer will never read your next book if they haven’t read the first! It really is interesting that Guardian Vampire continues to be such a big hit compared to your other stories. I’m reading Starfane right now and I’m surprised that it isn’t top o’ the heap. But then…no one searched for ‘starfane’, so the title (cool as it is) doesn’t bring in readers on its own.
I know sometimes .99 is considered “good deal but cheap writing”. But I’ve found some really good books at .99. And I would never have found Stephanie Bond if I hadn’t downloaded a couple of free ones by her. I really like her style. I will admit, though, I have a lot of books on my Kindle that I’ve downloaded because they were free, but I’ve put my purchased books ahead of them on my reading list. There are no easy answers.
So you’re liking Starfane? That’s my mother’s favorite. It’s also probably my “steamiest” one when it comes to love scenes. It’s actually my third best seller in the Amazon US store. But not in the UK. They still like vampires better. And not in B & N. I tried to use keywords that would interest readers, like “fantasy romance”, “wizard”, “elf”, etc. I still think titles make the big difference in searching, though.
Thank you for sharing that Lauralynn, that is interesting food for thought. I have reduced my book prices in the past, and like you, it achieved zip.
And another bad thing is that two of them are still at .99 on Amazon even though I’ve changed them. I suspect it’s because Sony and others haven’t changed them back yet, so Amazon won’t chang them if they’re lower priced somewhere else.