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Permalink Reply by Cynthia Townley on June 24, 2011 at 3:26am

I seem to be rather chatty today.  I vote for keeping the cost of print books reasonable.  The only reason I didn't choose to put my book in print was because I had to price it around $8.99 + to make any money.  I myself have puchased hundreds of mystery/suspense paperback novels and have never spent more than $5.99, nor would I - but that's just me.  I do understand though that you need to price it to cover expenses and make money. 

Ask yourself these questions?  Will I sell "more" books at $8.99 or say...$5.99 or $6.99.  Am I trying to make as much money as I can, or build a name for myself and gain recognition and readership?  If you already have recognition as a published author, and readers are biting at the bit for your next novel to be released, you can probably charge as much as you want...and your readers will pay because you have established a following.  Would you rather make royalties selling 50 books at $8.99, or 300 at $5.99?  These are questions only you can answer.  I read an interview online about an author who is already known for his books in his genre (although honestly I hadn't heard of him)...he had paperback books for sale for $7.99, and hardcover for $18.99 for years and made a very good living.  His publisher had his ebooks priced at $5.99 and they were doing...okay.  He compared prices of other writers books at online retail sites to see what books were selling and did some savvy marketing.   He lowered the price of his ebook from $5.99 to $.99 and sold 1 million ebooks in 5 months.  Consequently, his print books sales rose as well.  He made more money, sold more books, by pricing them low.  I can't think of his name, but his book is at Amazon's website. Hope this helps.  

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Permalink Reply by scribbler on June 25, 2011 at 3:43am

Great answer, Cynthia! I'd add that to set a price you want to figure out how much your book cost you to manufacture and the profit margin you want to make on that too. From there as Cynthia said you can decide whether you want to sell them at a very discounted price for promotional purposes to get things rolling or not. With your books being a series, I would discount the very first one in the hopes they would purchase the others at a higher price point. 

There are numerous writing sites that are happy to run a giveaway contest too on your behalf if you're willing to offer up a book or two and send it to the winner.  Goodreads has them all the time and do several book bloggers. 

Cynthia Townley said:

I seem to be rather chatty today.  I vote for keeping the cost of print books reasonable.  The only reason I didn't choose to put my book in print was because I had to price it around $8.99 + to make any money.  I myself have puchased hundreds of mystery/suspense paperback novels and have never spent more than $5.99, nor would I - but that's just me.  I do understand though that you need to price it to cover expenses and make money. 

Ask yourself these questions?  Will I sell "more" books at $8.99 or say...$5.99 or $6.99.  Am I trying to make as much money as I can, or build a name for myself and gain recognition and readership?  If you already have recognition as a published author, and readers are biting at the bit for your next novel to be released, you can probably charge as much as you want...and your readers will pay because you have established a following.  Would you rather make royalties selling 50 books at $8.99, or 300 at $5.99?  These are questions only you can answer.  I read an interview online about an author who is already known for his books in his genre (although honestly I hadn't heard of him)...he had paperback books for sale for $7.99, and hardcover for $18.99 for years and made a very good living.  His publisher had his ebooks priced at $5.99 and they were doing...okay.  He compared prices of other writers books at online retail sites to see what books were selling and did some savvy marketing.   He lowered the price of his ebook from $5.99 to $.99 and sold 1 million ebooks in 5 months.  Consequently, his print books sales rose as well.  He made more money, sold more books, by pricing them low.  I can't think of his name, but his book is at Amazon's website. Hope this helps.  

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Permalink Reply by Drue "Dee" Miller on June 25, 2011 at 8:09am

Cynthia and Scribbler:

Thank you soooooooooo much for your advice.  I am not the kind of person who doesn't listen to what other people say and then go out and never do anything that you wouldn't advise.  I understand  and appreciate your input on this subject. 

eBooks are something that Theophenie and I have talked about, amoung other things.  I just "old fashioned" enough to want my books on the shelves of bookshelves as well as eBooks.  But I am willing to do everything that is possible to get my books into everything out there to sell them at whatever price they will sell.

Who will do the publishng if I go and pull out of PA's contract? This is another question that I will run into if I lwave PA?  I just don't know all the amswers yet but all of you are so helpful.

 

Thank  you again.

 

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Matt T. Schott on June 25, 2011 at 12:09pm

Greetings Drue Miller,

I set up shop with lulu.com.  I wanted a paperback to hold too.  It cost them around 9 bucks to make and I only wanted a dollar per book.  Then I brought their publishing package.  I agreed on a price that it would be at, at all online stores.  It sells for 14 and change on 33 online book stores including Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  Then I also had it converted to kindle for free with Amazon.  It sells for $5 a download there as well as 14 for the paperback.  I had my book formatted by Angel editing for my 6x9 paperback and for the kindle.  I am not that computer smart. 

 Good luck and remember sometimes you have to take 3 steps forward and one step back to move ahead.

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Permalink Reply by Drue "Dee" Miller on June 25, 2011 at 12:09pm

Cynthia and Scribbler:

I agree with both of you ... but ... where do you get the books printed and how do you get the big store chains to buy the books for their stores?  This seems to be a tall order for me to get "things" done.  Where would you go ... or have gone?

I've got to go and smoke a cig. ...  don't do it in the house.  I go out and sit on the back steps.  Allan quit several years ago so I try to keep him happy and go outside.  I only smoke like 7 or 8 a day but, it is still too much for him.

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Permalink Reply by Drue "Dee" Miller on June 25, 2011 at 12:23pm

Matt T. Schott said:

Greetings Drue Miller,

I set up shop with lulu.com.  I wanted a paperback to hold too.  It cost them around 9 bucks to make and I only wanted a dollar per book.  Then I brought their publishing package.  I agreed on a price that it would be at, at all online stores.  It sells for 14 and change on 33 online book stores including Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  Then I also had it converted to kindle for free with Amazon.  It sells for $5 a download there as well as 14 for the paperback.  I had my book formatted by Angel editing for my 6x9 paperback and for the kindle.  I am not that computer smart. 

 Good luck and remember sometimes you have to take 3 steps forward and one step back to move ahead.

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Permalink Reply by Drue "Dee" Miller on June 25, 2011 at 12:27pm

Hi Matt:

Thank you for replying to my "website question".  I'll get Theophenie (my daughter) to look into Lulu.  She is the computer brainy ... I'm certainly not.  She does all of my covers and, sometimes, the last word on what I do.  So, I'll get her on it today.

Again, thank you

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Permalink Reply by Matt T. Schott on June 25, 2011 at 12:28pm

Lulu is one of many print on demand online book publishers types.  Its basically free.  I set up an account, download my book to my account, I made my own cover and downloaded that.  I emailed my book to Angel editing(they advertise on lulu) at the time they charge me $100 to format my book.  Then I ordered a copy for proof reading.  Lulu prints up one copy for $9 and sends it to me.  I found a lot of mistakes, spelling, extra words near an end of a chapter, Angel editing fixed it for free, part of the deal.  I down load Angel revised version and order another copy to make sure its good. 

Then there is marketing, writing the book was the easy part.

I enter my book in 2 contest. Lord Skyler and The Earth Defense Force won Honorable mention in the "Teen" category and it won best scifi/horror novel at the 2010 DIY Book Festival in NYC.  I got my award at the Algonquin Hotel, a real nice place. but I still wasn't selling books.

I found a marketing plan,

You can use a PR firm, they are good and know what they are doing but I couldn't afford that, just over a grand.  Instead I open 4 or 5 profiles, FB,twitter,Authors.com,Dystenium, writer's group, linkedin and one on blogspot.  I blog about one paragraph on writing or my book at least twice a week.  The idea is to get seen by as much people in the buisness as possible.

As far as a traditional publishing house goes, sell about 1,000 books before you start sending quiries for an agent.  I've won 2 awards with my book and never got a reply.

Drue "Dee" Miller said:

Cynthia and Scribbler:

I agree with both of you ... but ... where do you get the books printed and how do you get the big store chains to buy the books for their stores?  This seems to be a tall order for me to get "things" done.  Where would you go ... or have gone?

I've got to go and smoke a cig. ...  don't do it in the house.  I go out and sit on the back steps.

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Permalink Reply by Drue "Dee" Miller on June 27, 2011 at 1:52am

Thank you ... all-together:

Does anyone have any advise on how to get your books... my books ... onto the actual shelves of the bookstores as well as their websites?  (I am "old fashioned" that I like to see my books on the shelves of a store)  Since I am going into the self publishing field on my own, I do not know how to do this, or if it is even possible to do without an agent or someone who knows how to get your books into this.  I am knew at this and, you are right, Matt, the writing of the book is the easy part.  I am at a loss on what to do next. I am no teenager ... I am 66 and am doing what I love!!!  My daughter, Theophenie, is my rock and I don't know what I would do without her (and her covers) to make it through all of this.  I, also, am relying on all of you, who have given me such good ideas, to help me through this "hump"of all of this.

Thank you, one and all for your advise and support.  I really do want to thank you.  This is the best forum of writers and readers that I have ever been assoicated with (I've tried a lot of them, including Authorsden ... as an example) but have found Authors.com to be one of the best.

I've won a lot of awards for my poetry (been writing since I was seven) (my first poem start out "When all is quiet and deathly still ... I creep up on my windowsill"  I do not remember the rest of it as it was so long ago) but hope to do more as I put a poem at the beginning and the end of every book I write.  It's just a different way to begin and end a novel than I have ever seen anyone do before ... and I enjoy doing it.

Again, thank you, all of you, for your advise.  I really appreciate it.

 

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