The rapidly approaching sequel has forced me to think about the pricing of my books. I’ve been told that it’s smartest to make the first book free and price the preceding books at $2.99. It has also been pointed out that people who bought the first book for .99 cents might be angry if it goes free.
I want to eventually make Beginning of a Hero free once I get more books up there, but I never thought that people would be annoyed. Maybe I’m too sensitive and over-thinking this. Maybe I should wait until the third book comes out before I drop the first one to a free ebook.
Has anybody worked with something like this or know somebody who has talked/posted about pricing books in a series?
Legends of Windemere 
My opinion would be that your over thinking it. I wouldn’t have a hissy fit if book one went to free. There are books constantly changing price and unless the buyers are sitting there staring it down everyday, it shouldn’t be a huge deal. I’ve also heard that making your first book free is a good idea but usually for like holidays (Christmas, etc) usually the rules state that the plan you mentioned in your earlier posts were right on the money (0.99 cents, $1.99 and then $2.99). Most books go that route and are really productive…or at least it seems that way. Hope that helps!
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I was thinking of the original plan too, but I was introduced to another one that dealt with series. The first book becomes the risk-free introduction and I use the .99 cent, $1.99 and then $2.99 for the later books. It’s hard to figure out.
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With my own work, (I have mostly individual titles but do have one series) I found it worked well to have the first book, or leader book if you will; priced lower and the remainder of the series priced slightly higher, a dollar or two more. For those that loved the first book the others were available reasonably and for those who didn’t, it was only 99 cents and offered them an inexpensive glance at my writing. I also used free promotion days for the first book and price reduction days to correspond for the other two books. It has worked pretty well.
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Thanks. So, it works better to keep the first book at .99 cents instead of free?
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I figure I worked too hard on my book to give it away for free. Maybe if it was a short story or something, but not a full book. Just my opinion.
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I agree and I just found out that I can’t drop my book to free on Amazon unless I make it Amazon exclusive. So, I’ll be keeping the first one at .99 cents and doing a gradual climb for the later books up to $2.99. I think my big thing was that I have enough finished books to give the first one away. A free book that leads to two sales seems like a deal. I’m not that great a businessman, so I could be entirely wrong here. Either way, it’s become a moot point.
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Agreed, book prices naturally shift, and a $1 shift really isn’t that much. I’d be pretty surprised if people started rioting in the street over the change. Aside from which, dropping the first book to ‘free’ is a great way to get more people interested in the series, as you say. I think it’s a great idea. 🙂
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Thanks. I definitely have a lot to think about. I’ve been given some good advice and considerations for all of my plans. I’m still surprised that I might only have a month to figure this out. When my cover artist said the later covers would take less time I didn’t think he meant this quickly.
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As a general rule of thumb when it comes to any form of business (this counts), never give anything for absolutely free. Feel free to drop it to free for a special occasion but make sure to put it back up afterwards.
People often think that if they put it for free indefinitely, it’s a constant way to market your entire series. Yes, it is, but not in a positive way. You’re essentially saying “Buy my book, but don’t give me anything, it’s not worth your money.” And then you ask them to buy the other ones at a cost. Don’t get me wrong, it still works. But if you want to maximize your productivity, make it cost.
I’m not sure how flexible the cost is where you’re selling them, but ideally I would do it like this:
Book 1 released at .99.
Book 2 released at 2.99, Book 1 temporarily reduced to free.
Book 3 released at 2.99, Book 1 temporarily reduced to .49 and Book 2 reduced to 1.99.
Book 4 released at 2.99, Book 1 reduced to .49, Book 2 reduced to 1.49, Book 3 reduced to 1.99. Book 5 released at 2.99, Book 1 reduced to .49, Book 2 released to 1.49, Book 3 reduced to 1.99, Book 4 reduced to 1.99.
That’s the format I plan on using if I ever end up self-publishing a series. I worked it out one night when bored. Once you hit Book 5 you reach your stabilizing point where everything from Book 3 and higher stick at 1.99, the newest one at 2.99.
As for how long the reductions last, do it for 1/6 of the time until your next piece. So if you’re releasing one every six months, have the reductions for a month and then bump them up again to 2.99 each, with Book 1 at .99.
Like I said, I don’t actually know the flexibility for your pricing, but that would be my thorough advice.
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I can’t drop my book to free unless I go exclusively with Amazon, which I’m not interested in doing just yet. I’m thinking of keeping my first book at .99 cents for a cheap introductory like a few people suggested. I can’t go any lower than that. I was thinking of doing a slow growth, but it’s hard right now because I could very well have the first three books up by the middle of May. The 4th won’t be far behind. I think the tight time-frame is making it more confusing for me.
Right now, I’m thinking of starting new books at $1.99 and have it go to $2.99 after a month. I like the idea of dropping the previous books by a dollar when a new one comes out and bringing it back up after a month.
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