I decided to offer the books in another form on Amazon.com to see if I could get more quantities going on, and to offer something to people who weren’t comfortable sending me a check personally. I wanted to offer brand spanking new books with the option for an autograph to the customers.

That was my intention, because when you order books from createspace as an author, you get a bit of a discount. I thought it would be enough to offer the book for $5.99 (plus shipping, which is what I’m offering it for direct from me) with an option for the autograph, but Amazon charges a bit for listing in the marketplace.

I found out all said and done that with their percentage taken away, I would actually be losing money by selling new copies for a dollar cheaper than amazon’s new price. When all is said and done, and the extra hassle of shipping the book is taken into account with an authograph, I had to list it at the same price as a new book (which essentially it is, with an autograph). If I listed it lower on Amazon, taking into account their cut, I’d make approximately negative money when all was said and done.

That’s an important lesson for trying to open up new options for the customers: it’s very difficult to know how much things will cost, and how much you can take it down when dealing with online marketplaces such as amazon. However, that shouldn’t mean you should not list things with the offers like the one I have listed.

Because the more options that people have when purchasing your books, the more chances you have to sell. And it always is important to take a gander at the bottom line on pricing so you are getting at least your time’s worth out of it. I think that’s the most important advice I can give you when it comes to new options for your books: check the bottom line to make sure two things: A. you’re not losing money by opening up a new venue, and B. you’re getting your time’s worth out of it.

Keep on writing!

Now, as I mentioned earlier today, in the last three weeks I have sold more books than in the last year and a half. Some may see this statement as bragging, but when the sum total of books you’ve sold is sitting at a number less than ten in the last year and a half, it’s just a statement of fact.

Anyway, what did I do differently between then and three weeks ago? Three things: pricing, advertising, availability.

The first thing I want to talk about is pricing. I had set it at 10.99 when I first published it. The first couple months sold a few copies, but then I ran out of friends with available funds. I also then promptly got caught up in dissertation writing and few things garnered my attention, but more on that in tomorrow’s post. I want to focus on pricing.

First things first: why was it set at 10.99? That is expensive for a paperback, even now, and especially (in my mind, anyway) for one that was only 160 pages. However, when createspace started up, there was very little other option for me if I wanted to sell it on amazon and make more than a nickel a copy (which would not make it very much worth my time). When all was said and done, I seem to remember the 10.99 giving me a royalty payment of $1.

Now, of course, the plan was never to get rich on this book. It was to raise awareness, to try something new, and to pave the way for a sequel (THAT’S where I’ll get rich, heh heh heh!). So a dollar royalty struck me as relatively reasonable. Of course, at that time the price that they were charging was a bit astronomical per copy of book and 10.99 is where it sat.

Then in class in December, one of my students noticed the book and told me he was going to order it. I told him to hold off, because I wanted to see if I could lower the price a bit (hey, I remember being broke). So, for the first time in about a year, I went in to check the options.

Now, I knew createspace and pumped me up to the pro-plan, but I didn’t realize how much had changed in the pricing options since I had first heard they did that. I went in and noticed that I could lower the price of the book to 8.99 (about an 18% decrease). Since then, I’ve sold three books.

Now, it may be too early to assume that the drop in price was the reason for all three of those sales, but it certainly contributed. This is something to think about for self-publishing: measure how much the author thinks his/her time is worth versus how much the author thinks people will pay for the book. For me, it’s always been about the one dollar mark for this book. I think that is a good return for the work I’ve done on the book, and a good way to get into the market. I could be wrong, and to try and sell more, I may be forced to lose even more if I crunch the numbers again (which I will be doing monthly now).

And that’s just me. I worry about some people who think “hey I can make money!” with their writing, but then overprice the book and nothing sells…then they stop writing. This is a mistake. I’ve been writing for the last 6 years on a blog for free. Actually for negative numbers, since I’ve paid hosting on the thing. That may also inform my thoughts on getting paid for writing, and the fact I’m sharing my advice for relatively free: I’m used to it.

But that’s the long and short of it on pricing: balance the concept of what the work is worth against the concept of what the readers will pay for it. And honestly, maybe I haven’t found the magic balance point yet…but that’s the plus of what Createspace is giving me: a control over things like that where I can keep trying to find it with minimal loss of cash on either their end or on mine.

Something to ponder for your own writing.

That’s all for now, you keep on writing!

The basic difference between Amazon.com and Createspace is amount of money that I, Sean Froyd, the author get. I believe there is a fifty cent difference, Createspace pays more.

BUT

when it comes down to it, I’d prefer you order from Amazon.com

Why, if I don’t get as much money? Several reasons:

Amazon.com offers returns…if there is something wrong with the book, amazon will take it back. Createspace will not.

Amazon has several different shipping options, you can even get shipping for free if you order other books for a total order greater than $25. They also have other ways to ship…createspace does not.

Amazon is better for you as the customer than createspace. They have more possible ways to help you out. Even though createspace is owned by amazon, it doesn’t have as much help for you as the customer.

For these reasons, I’d prefer you order from Amazon. And I really appreciate all of your orders! If you have any other questions, please email me at froyd@inanisthehooded.com

That’s all for now, you keep on writing!