Dear O'Abby: Should I discount my books

 Dear O'Abby,

Lots of people have told me that the reason I'm not selling more books is because I don't discount them, but it seems counter-intuitive to discount something when you want to make money from them.  As it is, I'm selling my novels at $3.99, which seems incredibly cheap to me.  Do I really need to discount them further to sell more?

Best wishes,

Discountless

Dear Discountless,

I understand that when you're selling books at an already low rate, the idea of discounting further is kind of appalling.  But there are reasons to do it.  

Given the price-point you've mentioned, I'm assuming you're referring to e-books here, not print, so I'll focus on e-book discounts in this newsletter. If you're interested in print discounts, let me know in the comments and I'll cover that in a future post.  I'm also assuming from your email that you have more than one book published.

When you have a new book out, especially if it's the second, third or subsequent book in a series, it is often a good idea to discount the earlier books just ahead of publication to encourage people to start reading the series.  If it's compelling enough, they'll be gagging for the next installment and more than willing to pay full price for the new one just to find out what happens next.

If you don't write series, offering a discount on your new title can help sell that new book and generate reviews which are so, so valuable in getting your work discovered by readers.  None of these discounts need to be long-term - you can discount for a period, then bump the price back up to normal.

It can also be great for sales to offer a discount when you're doing a campaign.  If people see your ads, but don't know you as an author, they are more likely to take a punt on a book if it's .99c than $3.99.  Then, if they like it, they're likely not to balk at the full price for other books in your catalogue. 

Other times it might be worth offering a discounted price is if you have a book that takes place during a particular time - say, Christmas.  Offering a discount over that period can help generate sales.  Or if your book is set against the high octane world behind the scenes of an election campaign, it is probably worth offering a discount over the election period to capitalise on the current event.  I would be cautious about this when it comes to some topics though...  Be sensitive.  Just because a school shooting or horrific natural disaster is in the news, doesn't mean it's the time to try and sell your book about that subject.  You could look ghoulish or risk traumatising people.

On the whole, discounting is just one of the many tools you have to sell books, and it might take time to figure out exactly when works best of you to use it to its best advantage.  Don't be afraid to experiment.  even if discounting only results in a handful more sales, if those readers love our work, they're likely to become loyal to you and may tell others about your books.  It all helps...

X O'Abby