 One of the characteristics of e-book publication in 2014 was the appearance of new marketing tricks. For example, KDP Select now offers an option to do a "Countdown" sale. In
this promotion, your book starts out at a low price of $0.99 and then the price gradually increases until it reaches the book's list price. Amazon promotes these countdowns heavily, but I fail to
see the point. If customers won't buy the book for 99 cents, why would
they be more likely to by it when the price increases by one dollar, and then
by two dollars? Still, I was willing to give it a try. I listed a countdown for a book that had been out for two years and had
sold regularly although in small quantities.
I was encouraged to help the countdown along by posting frequent
reminders that "there are only x-number of hours left before the price
goes up." How annoying is that -- not just for readers and potential
customers, but also for the author who has to keep track of the hours
and post the warnings? There was not a single sale
during the countdown promotion. I received no feedback on why readers did not purchase the book at a lower price, but the message was clear. Potential customers were simply ignoring it. The countdown did not produce any sense of urgency. They knew the book would still be around if they needed it, because E-books never die. Readers who needed this particular "how-to" book were willing to buy it at regular price; those who didn't need it were not swayed by the promise of a bargain that was due to expire "in just one hour!" Sorry, Amazon. I rate this promotion as a huge miscalculation. |
