Okay, here are the results of my 24hrs experiment of giving away "Spoils of War" for free, if readers choose to take it for free.
Checking my "dashboard" at www.smashwords.com, in the last 24hrs:
- 37 people downloaded the free sample (30% of the story).
- out of these 17 people bought it
In this case, "buying" only means they downloaded the complete story and made the decision how much they are willing to pay for it, which includes "nothing".
So, 37 people were happy to check the stuff out, and 17 were interested enough to want the whole thing. Brilliant.
I think that's a roaring success for 24hrs in the e-book space, for authors whom hardly anybody knows yet. :)
Let's look at the 17 people who "bought" the story.
I have to admit I was a little nervous again here. The first several emails were people taking stuff for free. At email number 5 I thought "fuck this shit, I'm changing the option to fixed price and charge $0.99, that would have been $4.95, demnit!"). Then I had the first sale. Somebody paid $5.00 for the story. That's the price for an ebook novel. And that person paid enough that, had I charged $0.99 and HAD those "free downloaders" paid $0.99, I would have been $0.05 worse off. Now, that was weird.
I agreed with my skeptical voice (and my number-crunching partner) that 5 people is a tiny sample, so I let the sales roll and watched and did nothing.
End result after 24hrs: 17 people bought it; out of these, 10 people took it for free, 7 people paid.
I repeat: seven people choose to pay without being forced or controlled. Wow.
Let's look at what they were willing to pay. Interestingly, my seven paying customers chose one of three prices:
1) $0.99 (the absolute mininum, paid by 2)
2) $3.00 (hefty price for a short story, and WELL above what I thought I could charge for a short story, paid by 3)
3) $5.00 (that's about the price of a novel, and humbled me. Five dollars? To read a short story? Paid by 2)
Nothing in between. Interestingly, not ONE chose a price like $1.29 or $1.79 or even $1.99 that I had calculated with.
It tells me also I have at least five "fans" out there that pay well more than I would have expected, and those five people deserve my love and gratitude. Same with the $0.99 people. They paid even though they don't have to, out of an appreciation for writing, the hard work that went into the story and cover, and as a gesture of goodwill.
Thank you, guys. Thank you so much. You warmed my cynical little heart.
How does this translate into "profit"?
From this, we made $20.98 - in one day, mind you, by giving away 30 free samples and getting 7 paying customers. Now, minus what Smashwords takes as a cut, we have $15.52 in the pocket. Out of this, we'll have to split 50/50, and I have to pay 20% UK tax on royalties.
In the logic of "the free market forces", 17 people paid $21 dollars for it, which equals an average of $1.23. If I take out the "free downloaders" (EDIT to say: "freeloader" was a pun on "free downloaders" but I've been told it's demeaning, so I'm changing the term), the price these supporters were willing to pay is $3.00. One is my "earnings per customer", the other is "earnings per sale".
Consequently, the "fair value" for my story is somewhere between $1.23 and $3.
(Now, this posits that people would have been willing to be charged that much - meaning, were they more generous out of generosity, like somebody buying an overpriced Christmas card because 20% of the sales go to Oxfam? But those factors make the whole calculation more difficult, and I have no way of veryfying this)
What do I learn from this?
That there are readers/fans who appreciate us/our work more than I thought. I can only explain those prices they paid with maybe them feeling they don't pay so much for goods but show their support to their writers and love for a good, quality story.
That there are people who are happy supporting their writers.
That a surprising amount of people are willing to pay even though nobody controlls them.
Why then will I introduce a "fixed price" for "Spoils of War" in the mid-term?
Because I firmly believe in global distribution. The story needs to be able to get out there and reach as many people as possible (yes, Kindle and Amazon and Apple and iTunes and iBook and whatever). But that distribution model doesn't support "choose your own price". In fact, were I not to charge a fixed amount on that distribution model, the system would set the price for "Spoils of War" to $4.95, which, we can agree, is pretty damn steep for a short story.
In the meantime, if you would like to read "Spoils of War", go ahead and download it. It's free. Unless you choose to make it not free, but I'm not controlling you or forcing you. I put it out there, that's my job done.
But a dollar in the hat would be very much appreciated.
Thank you.
Yours, truly,
Aleksandr Voinov
I didn't get the chance to pay properly because I got called away in the middle of my order. I had earlier paid 0.99 (for the admin fees) just to check how the system works. After that, I was going back to make a proper purchase but got interrupted.
ReplyDeleteI'll go do that now.
Hello Aleksandr,
ReplyDeleteLet me start by saying how interesting this experiment is. I run a digital publishing house, and pricing is one of those topics that is - as you know - highly intriguing. With all the press on what ebooks should be priced at, your experiment is well-timed.
I am wondering - of those 7 folks who bought your book (i.e. paid money for it), how many of them do you know personally - either via your blog, social networking or otherwise? I find our authors can expect a certain number of sales simply because they have friends who support them and would pay whatever the book was priced. If these sales are by people who you do not know, then that tells a whole different story.
I also think that 7 sales in 24 hours on Smashwords is very good - and likely indicative of the marketing and word that you put out about your book being available there. Do you also have your book available in other ebook stores? If so, did those translate into sales too?
Again, thanks so much for this post, it's very interesting, and I look forward to following you!
Michelle
(ireadiwrite Publishing)
@Elaine: Thank you. I'm chuffed you loved this one. :)
ReplyDelete@Michelle: Excellent question. I'm planning to monitor the sales and post an update soon (maybe a "week update"). I do have a fairly large network (it comes natural - I love going out there and meeting people, whether virtual or real doesn't matter). The thing with Smashwords is that I can't track who bought what. I can read somebody's email ("YAY, I just bought it!") and can assume that the sale a couple minutes ago was them.
I'm doing a staggered roll-out, I guess. Yes, first my friends and "close fans", hoping to strike a spark (with reviews at Goodreads) that gets people who have been curious about my/our writing to give it a go. I know that some people who have been reading my free stuff ("Special Forces") have bought "Spoils of War".
I'll see how the sales here compare to the sales of "Forbidden Love" and again when I have more visibility.
I believe in quality above all else. Books where the quality is right - cover, editing, writing - will turn into long-sellers. Bad books (crappy editing, bad-looking cover, bad writing) can spike and then level off. In my experience, the ones that last have staying power - for a reason, usually.
But it's one big experiment. In the meantime, I had several more paid downloads. I'd be happy to discuss matters by email, too.
Good luck with your publishing house. I'll check you out and re-followed you on Twitter. :)
@Michelle: And interestingly, two people have already come back to me, told me they paid $0.99, read the story, and felt they'd ripped me off. So they returned and bought another copy for more money.
ReplyDeleteIt's...kinda fantastic.
@Michelle: Last one (I didn't answer one of your question) - no, Smashwords is the only venue to get "Spoils of War".
ReplyDeleteFeel free to link the post and check out the story. It's free. :)
Hi again, and thanks for all your comments. I for one am against ebooks or any book being priced low. It think it devalues the work that we all put into it. From cover design to editing and back to the emptying of one's soul, there's a lot that goes into the writing of a book. I recently saw someone tweet that $15.00 was too much to pay for an ebook. But let's think about what enjoyment comes from that book vs going to concert? People pay way more than that to go to a 2 hour concert, but for several hours of reading enjoyment they think they're ripped off? Sure there's the argument for lower over head costs on an ebook, but that should be taken and passed on to the writer and the reader (which we do). When I see prices of 2.99 - I think that's what the book is worth, and I'm less likely to buy it. Like you said, when I see a quality book with a fair price of around $10 (for new authors), I'm totally fine with that.
ReplyDeleteAh well, chacun son gout - and those are my tastes. The industry is changing so much and we're all poised and ready to watch and partake - all the best to you and your endeavours, I'll be watching!
I'm broke, or I'd buy.
ReplyDeleteBut since I can't, I just read the sample, which I liked. :)
I won't 'buy' the pay-what-you-like titles unless I can pay at least the .99 minimum. I'm weird that way. :)
But your experiment's has had some interesting results so far. Hope it continues going well for you, and I'll buy a copy when I can.
Hi Michelle:
ReplyDeleteFunnily enough, I agree with you. Looking at your website, you're serving the premium customers. Literary fiction commands its price, and rightly so. (And I really like your covers).
"Spoils of War" is an experiment, and one where I didn't lose anything, because the story is a donation anyway. I do believe my writing has a price and I'm not ashamed to ask for it to be paid (see the print cost "Test of Faith" - I do make a profit on that).
And I agree that reading, however it's priced, is excellent value for money. What people really want is emotion, and if you can give them that, reliably, you can charge them more than your peers.
The genre I'm currently active in, gay romance or "m/m literature" has kind of agreed on a "cheap and cheerful" model - with heavy discounting going on. Nobody goes there and asks for the same things they ask from in a literary novel.
The low cost of production doesn't "bite" - it just means faster break even, and since ebooks are only 2% of the market, you *need* the faster break even.
This was a price-finding experiment - I wouldn't "deep discount" my books. I just wondered if people pay if they don't have to (it's more an e-piracy-related experiment than a pricefinding excercise).
I'd be happy to pay $10 for a write I know who can write. (But I get paid in UK pound sterling...)
@Scath: Take one, please. I understand broke. Call it a gift, from me, to you. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm fascinated by this experiment, especially as I'm poking and prodding the pricing models for my publishing house. I've been trying to come up with a way to offer a small selection of shorts as "pay what you will," through that, perhaps as teasers/promos for authors with longer works. Seems to me, based on your experiment, that it might just work!
ReplyDeleteThis has of course been famously done before by Radiohead with the release of the album 'In Rainbows'.
ReplyDeleteAt the time Forbes wrote:
'In a study that examined traffic to Radiohead's In Rainbows Web site during the first 29 days of October, 38% of those who downloaded the album at the site paid something to get the album, while 62% paid nothing.
'Of those who paid, 17% paid $4 or less, 6% paid between $4.01 and $8, 12% paid between $8.01 and $12, and 4% paid more than $12. Put another way, those who paid more than $8 accounted for about 79% of the revenue generated from the site.'
This doesn't count the number of peeps who acquired the recording from P2P sites, nor does it indicate that the entire gimmick was an excellently executed marketing stunt to sell physical format discs (which worked extremely well).
Music, books, pricing: all the same issue/s and the music biz has created a well worn path for the book biz to follow, or perhaps avoid.
Anyhow, thought you might find the stats interesting vis your experiment.
just very shortly..
ReplyDeletei believe that any writing effort from any writer deserves soem reward, it is the least we owe people who give their talent to us. interesting experiment you did, but i guess it shows that most people do appreciate good writing and are ready to pay for it.
@Kate: You can always put in a "donate" button. :) Or a subscription model - send a group of supporters free text if they sign up. There are many possibilities.
ReplyDelete@Robert: Great example, thank you. I wish I was Radiohead and had that kind of visibility. :) I mean, I can't just hire a PR company that makes this experiment widely known. There are some other writers who give the electronic text away (Cory Doctorow), but he's giving it away for free and is a major writing celebrity. I was curious whether it works with a writer who isn't a celebrity and doesn't have that kind of marketing sway. It seems it does, at least for short stories. (I have yet to give a novel away - maybe I'm a bit reluctant there because a novel represents months of work - much higher stakes).
@Tizi: It's not most, but "enough" from a writer's perspective. :) And there are many reasons why people "freeload" - they might be genuinely broke, for example, and urgently in need of some perking up.
I'd like to see a follow up to this article after the story has been available for a while. This is fascinating.
ReplyDelete@Bonnie: I just posted a "one week later" post. I'll keep my eyes open and was planning to report quarterly. (Sales have levelled out somewhat now, but I definitely keep an eye on the ball).
ReplyDeleteThis is a fascinating little experiment you did. I was shocked at the $5 results especially. I don't know of anyone who even charges that high for a short story. Usually I pay around $2.99-$3.99 for a short story. I didn't even know SW had the customer selects the price function. You learn something new every day.
ReplyDelete