Books cannot just come out in a vacuum. Well, they can...but you then face the prospect of no sales because no one knows a new and potentially interesting book is out. Like it or not, you have to be a businessperson too, and that means marketing your work.
I've been doing this for a while, and I've got a fairly robust email distro list to show for it. My readers get regular updates about Akeldama and other things, so they know I'm still around. As a bonus for signing up, I also promise them a discount on the book(in hardcover format). However, as production has demonstrated, one needs to be careful when promising things.
I originally started out by thinking that a discount of around 25% would be fair. When I first did my numbers, a 25% discount would still leave a couple of buck as a profit margin, so it didn't seem like a big deal. Then inflation happened, as well as my own inability to get things out in the current price market.
You see, the list price of $15.95 was originally compared to a print price of around $7 or $8 per book, so three bucks or so off wasn't going to do me in. However, once prices went up in production, not only did the after-discount profit margin decrease, it went past the point of profitability at all. In that vein, the POD wouldn't even let me offer this discount since it would mean selling at a loss.
Yes, I could raise the price to around $17.95 and still offer the discount at 25%, but that seemed stupid to me - why raise the price just to lower it to what you originally were going to make? So I decided to keep the original $15.95 print price and reduce the discount to 15%. I will still make a little off each book sold to my subscribers, and they'll still be able to get it at a lower price than the general public.
This could cost me some customers. I recognize that. However, I said at first the discount would be 25-ish%, so I never locked in on a hard number due to the unknowns in terms of capital production. And while I hope everyone will still stick with me, the right to buy or not to buy still rests with the customer. I think that most will still be thrilled with getting it at a lower price, but some may get upset enough to go elsewhere, and that's their prerogative.
The lesson has been to better evaluate promises before making them. I want to serve my audience, but I need to be more in tune with the numbers before I say something. If nothing else, I've definitely learned this for the next time.
I've been doing this for a while, and I've got a fairly robust email distro list to show for it. My readers get regular updates about Akeldama and other things, so they know I'm still around. As a bonus for signing up, I also promise them a discount on the book(in hardcover format). However, as production has demonstrated, one needs to be careful when promising things.
I originally started out by thinking that a discount of around 25% would be fair. When I first did my numbers, a 25% discount would still leave a couple of buck as a profit margin, so it didn't seem like a big deal. Then inflation happened, as well as my own inability to get things out in the current price market.
You see, the list price of $15.95 was originally compared to a print price of around $7 or $8 per book, so three bucks or so off wasn't going to do me in. However, once prices went up in production, not only did the after-discount profit margin decrease, it went past the point of profitability at all. In that vein, the POD wouldn't even let me offer this discount since it would mean selling at a loss.
Yes, I could raise the price to around $17.95 and still offer the discount at 25%, but that seemed stupid to me - why raise the price just to lower it to what you originally were going to make? So I decided to keep the original $15.95 print price and reduce the discount to 15%. I will still make a little off each book sold to my subscribers, and they'll still be able to get it at a lower price than the general public.
This could cost me some customers. I recognize that. However, I said at first the discount would be 25-ish%, so I never locked in on a hard number due to the unknowns in terms of capital production. And while I hope everyone will still stick with me, the right to buy or not to buy still rests with the customer. I think that most will still be thrilled with getting it at a lower price, but some may get upset enough to go elsewhere, and that's their prerogative.
The lesson has been to better evaluate promises before making them. I want to serve my audience, but I need to be more in tune with the numbers before I say something. If nothing else, I've definitely learned this for the next time.
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