I'm Starting to Rethink Book Discounting

I'd vowed that I wouldn't discount my new novel, because, dammit, it's good and authors deserve compensation for good work. Plus, I was tired of undercutting my writing. Good grief, all my published books are priced at $1.99!

The kink in my thinking is that no one is going to find my book online, much less buy it. I've got enough experience by now to know how it works. I publish a book, it doesn't even hit the first page of results when it's brand new, and it quickly sinks to page 657. I don't know how authors in my circumstance even continue to write; it's so disheartening. And knowing that this is my last book, I felt defiant, which is why I priced it at $6.99 initially, then awoke from my dream state and lowered the price to $4.99. But for promotional purposes, $4.99 is still too much.

Thus, when the email from The Fussy Librarian landed in my in-box, offering a 25% discount on promos, I would have been a fool not to grab it. So I did. For $16.50 I'll get a one-day newsletter placement, but I also needed to be practical about it, so I'll be discounting the book to $2.99. My ad is due to run on March 6, which also means that I can peruse my list of promo sites and run a couple more ads at the same time for my discounted price. 

Of course, KDP only offers two promotional opportunities ~ either a Kindle Countdown Deal (which is, truthfully, silly) or a free price promotion. Since my book isn't even live yet, I couldn't do either, so on March 1, when the book is published, its price will be $2.99 until I change it back. Thinking this through and recalling David Gaughran's advice about spreading out (not his term) my promos, or what I'll call "layering", I've got eight days during which I can schedule promotions with other sites. Whether that's successful or not, it will at least allow me to gauge each site's effectiveness. So, I can run a promo with one site on March 1, another on the 3rd or 4th, etc. And I won't be dumping all my eggs into one losing basket.

Since I like BookRaid (maybe just for personal reasons), I've scheduled a promo for publication date, plus Google provided me with a 20% discount. (Thanks, Google!) 

On a whim, I submitted to BookCave. It's probably a longshot, since a book needs five reviews and there is no exception noted for new releases (stupid). But I won't be charged unless they accept my book, so no harm done. I asked for March 3 and they'll charge me $43.00 if I'm accepted. They do seem really nitpicky, though.

I also sent a query to eReaderIQ (which David Gaughran recommends), asking if reviews are absolutely required. (new book ~ hello?)

That's all for now. I'm going to hold off on any social media-only sites until I'm firm on the other promos that are in limbo.

So, I've begun! You gotta start somewhere.