Got a book under a dollar? Front it here.

[Edward C. Patterson]

I've given up on changing the price as it seems to be stuck across the board. So I reset The Academician to $3.99 which discounts to $ 3.19. I'll try in a week again. This also means that all Kindle book price changes are probably stuck, so I'm leaving my 5 novels at $.99 at that price for a while. I'm afraid that all eBook prices are pretty muc frozen at this point.

Edward C. Patterson

[Kevis 'The Berserker' Hendrickson]

2 Books for less than 2 dollars!

Amazon is temporarily offering an 84% discount on The Legend of Witch Bane. If you love a great fantasy adventure, then I invite you to take advantage of this excellent sale and download your copy of The Legend of Witch Bane (The Witch Bane Saga) for ($4.99) $0.80.

"The Legend of Witch Bane is classic literature for a modern audience."-- Sabrina Williams --Front Street Reviews



As a bonus, Amazon is also offering a 75% discount on my new science fiction novel Rogue Hunter. Rogue Hunter (Chronicles of the Rogue Hunter) is now available to Kindle owners for the low price of ($3.99) $0.99.



Thanks for your support, everyone. Please enjoy the books!

[William Woodall]

I have an 80-cent book of poetry for the Kindle.  It's of the classic "truth and beauty" type, with flowing rhymes and beautiful words, mostly dealing with love.

No one expects to make money from poetry, and I would have offered it free if Amazon would let me, but as it stands 80 cents is the cheapest we're allowed to go.  But if by chance anyone would like a free copy, I'll be glad to email you one.  Reviews are appreciated but not required.

[Edward C. Patterson]

Bluearkansascowboy:

I have 2 poetry books, but they are prices at $3.19, so I can't mention them here. But I bought your book. Please let me know whether the sale was reported, because I think the DTP system is sproadically stuck. but if you see it, it'll help me pinpoint my own problem.

Edward C. Patterson

[William Woodall]

Thanks, Edward, I hope you enjoy it.

I did go to the DTP website and check, and yes, it shows up that a copy was sold today, so apparently it's working now.

[Edward C. Patterson]

I guess my selling streak is over, alas. (at least 1 sale a day since March 5th). Oh well. I'm unloved. boohoo. 

Edward C. Patterboohoo

[Kevis 'The Berserker' Hendrickson]

I guess my selling streak is over, alas. (at least 1 sale a day since March 5th). Oh well. I'm unloved. boohoo.  

Edward C. Patterboohoo

Ed,

It seems that most of the authors I know are suffering from a lack of book sales right now. I am curious to know exactly what has caused our book sales to slow down so much other than the fact that since it is summertime people are engaging in activities that take them away from home and book-related pursuits. I do have a theory that the market isn't able to bear the influx of several hundred to thousands of new books being published every month in addition to a market that is saturated with free or cheap books. It's tough to sell books even at bargain prices when readers are able to download thousands of free books faster than they can read them.

I think we are reaching the saturation point with the cheap and free books and the industry as a whole is suffering for it. According to Amazon and the mainstream publishers, they are preparing to hike up the prices on most of their kindle books. I am not surprised by this. If you recall, long before indie authors started selling their titles at bargain book prices, I had warned that the big publishing houses were playing with fire trying to ice the independent publishing industry by flooding the market with cheap books. Well, it seems the chickens have come home to roost. The big pubs are losing millions of dollars by giving their books away. By overpricing their flagship kindle books to make up for loss sales from the free books they have created a no-win situation for themselves. Unfortunately, this brave new world that the big pubs created hurts us indie authors because we don't have the marketing power nor the brand name to withstand a market saturated with cheap books.

Still, I am hopeful that as the summer rolls along that our sales will pick up and we will live to fight another day.

[Edward C. Patterson]

Kevis:

Don;t get me wrong. I'm kvetching over a 1-sale a day streak since March 5th. I havent suffered from a lack of sles of new readers. I have 190 sales this month across all titles. The streak is a lucky thing for me, because I remember the days when I got 1 sale a week. No, I'm not moaning - or as my Auntie Mae would say, rest her soul, "Crying poverty with a loaf of bread under each arm." 

Edward C. Patterson

[Kevis 'The Berserker' Hendrickson]

Kevis:

Don;t get me wrong. I'm kvetching over a 1-sale a day streak since March 5th. I havent suffered from a lack of sles of new readers. I have 190 sales this month across all titles. The streak is a lucky thing for me, because I remember the days when I got 1 sale a week. No, I'm not moaning - or as my Auntie Mae would say, rest her soul, "Crying poverty with a loaf of bread under each arm."  

Edward C. Patterson

Maybe it's a little easier to maintain daily sales (notice I said maybe) when you have several books under your belt (a wonderful accomplishment on both fronts! ). But I believe that, overall, sales have been stagnant for many indie authors as of recently. I visit Amazon everyday to check the sales rankings of as many books as I can, and have noticed that even some indie books that are popular in DTB form are not selling very well on Kindle.

I am convinced that marketing for Kindle is a different beast to master than DTB. Kindle owners are indeed voracious readers. But I always wonder just how many books do they have stored on their Kindles just waiting to be read? If my guess is right, the sheer number of books that are stored on the average Kindle is what accounts for a large percentage of why many authors are not selling as many copies of their books as they used to. I've noticed a decline in my book sales for months. When I published my first book on Kindle, I was one of the very few authors who dared to sell their Kindle books for under a $1.00. Needless to say, my books thrived in that environment. Most indie authors had not yet caught on to the fact that the mainstream publishers were waging a war against the self-publishing industry. It isn't a surprise that we are not allowed to sell our books for free on DTP. However, the big pubs can. I even asked Amazon several times about this unfair practice as did many other authors, but they have refused to comment on the matter.

Now that the big pubs have put the squeeze on indie authors, it is now common practice for a new author to sell their books at bargain prices. It's one of the few weapons we indies have with which to compete with the big pubs. But the question remains: How can an indie author think he's going to sell copies of his unknown Kindle book at $9.99 when Kindle owners can download such masterpieces as Treasure Island or The Island of Dr. Moreau for free?

I still believe that this all comes down to the fact that the industry overall has low balled itself into a situation where readers expect to pay no more than $5.00 for a book. Unfortunately, the sheer volume of cheap Kindle books is causing many books to be overlooked. I don't see this situation changing until something happens to shake things up.  

[Kevis 'The Berserker' Hendrickson]

2 Books for less than 2 dollars!

Amazon is temporarily offering an 84% discount on The Legend of Witch Bane. If you love a great fantasy adventure, then I invite you to take advantage of this excellent sale and download your copy of The Legend of Witch Bane (The Witch Bane Saga) for ($4.99) $0.80.

"The Legend of Witch Bane is a finely tuned, explosive page-turning fantasy story that will hold any reader's interest to the last page.”—Crystal Reviews



As a bonus, Amazon is also offering a 75% discount on my new science fiction novel Rogue Hunter. Rogue Hunter (Chronicles of the Rogue Hunter) is now available to Kindle owners for the low price of ($3.99) $0.99.



Thanks for your support, everyone. Please enjoy the books!

[Edward C. Patterson]

Finally Amazon fixed its price changing problem. The Acadeician is now on sale for $ .99




Edward C. Patterson

[CS]

Finally Amazon fixed its price changing problem.

VERY glad to hear that. I hope it's fixed for everyone.

[Edward C. Patterson]

It's funny. I had a DTP-feedback request while I was changing the price 2 weeks ago. I finally gave up and resigned that the price would need to stay at $3.19. Then I got an email this morning telling me that the problems were fixed. So I changed the price and it went through in 2 hours. So I guess they fixed it across the board.

Edward C. Patterson

[Brendan Carroll]

It's funny. I had a DTP-feedback request while I was changing the price 2 weeks ago. I finally gave up and resigned that the price would need to stay at $3.19. Then I got an email this morning telling me that the problems were fixed. So I changed the price and it went through in 2 hours. So I guess they fixed it across the board.

Edward C. Patterson

Hey, Edward, same thing happened to me.  Last time I changed a price, it took almost a week.  Today, I changed a price and it was up and running in an hour.  Yippee!!  I guess they did fix it.

[Edward C. Patterson]

Yep, Brendan, and in the long run the reader suffers. I mean I can sell a book at 3.99 or .99 or 9.99 (less at 9.99) but why should the reader be given barriers to our wares, and ultimately they are the one's penalized when we an't get rid of that little thing called a price.

Edward C. Patterson

[DarrenGBurton]

I have a few Kindle books for sale at 99 cents if anyone wants to check them out:

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002F5G1VU