Word-of-mouth is the most influential form of book marketing. It influences sales more than advertisements, publicity, bestseller’s lists and endorsements combined. Yet traditional publishers often discourage WOM with their pricing strategies.
Most books begin life as hardcover editions at the highest price they will ever command. About a year later they transition to trade paperback at about two thirds the cost of the hardcover. Later still the publisher may release a mass market paperback at about half the original price. This approach encourages readers to delay their purchase as they wait for a lower price.
When fewer people buy and read a new title, there are also fewer of them to recommend it. Books that fail to achieve a critical mass of readers/recommenders early in their publication also fail to reach their full potential.
A Different Approach
The pricing for The Chaos Scenario is designed to correct this problem by introducing what we call, “Early Adopter Discounts.”
The book began its life on July 1, 2009 as an Amazon.com Kindle ebook at just $9.99–the lowest price it will ever command. At that same time people could pre-buy the paperback for $10.99. When the book releases on August 3 it will cost just $11.99 per individual copy for the first week. Each subsequent week we will increase the price by $1 until it reaches its regular retail price of $19.99 on September 28, 2009.
Here’s the pricing schedule
PreBuy $10.99
Aug 3-9 $11.99
Aug 10-16 $12.99
Aug 17-23 $13.99
Aug 24-30 $14.99
Aug 31-Sept 7 $15.99
Sept 8 - 13 $16.99
Sept 14-20 $17.99
Sept 21-27 $18.99
Sept 28+ $19.99
We can only offer these discounts through our online store where we control pricing. Retailers like Barnes and Noble, Borders, Amazon and others will set their own pricing.
We believe Early Adopter Discounts create an incentive to act by rewarding the earliest buyers with the deepest discounts. It also creates an incentive for people to tell their friends so they can money too. This, in turn, puts more copies of a great book into the hands of readers at the earliest possible moment thereby maximizing word-of-mouth and its related sales.
The digital revolution is shaking up more than the advertising world. It’s changing publishing too, as our Early Adopter Discount Pricing illustrates.
Greg Stielstra
Stielstra Publishing
Buy case quantities at a discount
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Jim Jusko has made a Comment
I purchased a copy weeks ago, gave it away with high recommendation. I’d like to buy another copy to give to someone else. Do you have any second copy purchase discount? Will be bought by me, sent to same address, same credit card, etc.
Can’t do the bulk purchase; we’re too small a company.
Thanks,
Jim