Indie Book Collective discussion

Traditional publishers can give their books away for free on Amazon, but indies have to find another way. I've read that if you can list it as free on some other site that doesn't impose this restriction you can use Amazon's "tell us about a lower price" link on a book's page to get them to drop the price. The catch is that it has to be submitted by someone other than you or they won't pay attention. And it may need 3 or 4 or even more reports to make them lower the price.

So here's another way we can help each other out. If you want to offer your book for free on Amazon, post it here in this thread with

A) A link to the free book on another site
B) A link to the Amazon page where we can report it

Then be sure to post back when your book goes free.

If I'm wrong and this method doesn't work, would anyone who has been successful in getting Amazon to lower their price please post what they did here?

I'm still waiting for my short story to show up on the iBookstore for free. But in the meantime, the paperback novel I am charging for has gone down on Barnes & Noble and I'd like for the Amazon paperback to go down as well. So could people please report on Amazon that my book Into the Vast
is being sold on Barnes & Noble for $11.48.

I cannot lower it to that amount myself because I have made the book available through retail channels on createspace. With all the fees involved, if I set it to the B&N price I would actually be making zero dollars in profit from each sale. I'm looking at other options to get around this (read: another publisher), but if this works it looks like the best way to lower it until I find another solution (assuming this works).

Thanks!

I'm trying to get my book "Fire - The Book of Fire Trilogy 1" free on Amazon. It's free at most other places but not there.

itunes link - https://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/book...

amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Fire-The-Book-T...

D.J., as one of the authors who Amazon chose to beta-test the introduction of free indie books in the Kindle store, I've been playing the free game on Amazon longer than most. Technically, using the method you have described in order to have Amazon price-match your book to free is a violation of the Terms of Service (if you're using the 70% royalty option plan). In the past, Amazon punished authors for setting their prices lower at a competing retailer by removing their books from their store. But they revised their policy (with carefully reworded language that doesn't omit the violation part) to state that they may price-match books they discover that are priced cheaper elsewhere.

However, with the introduction of KDP Select, it is becoming more difficult to have your book price-matched to free. In fact, there is speculation that eventually, Amazon may make free books exclusive to the books of authors who enroll in Select. The reason why I mention this is so authors who read this thread will be aware that Amazon has started to limit the number of books they price-match to free. So if you attempt to have them make your book "go free", you should know that they may or may not do so, no matter how many people report your book's lower price.

With that said, you don't necessarily have to get others to report your book to get your book's price changed to free in the Kindle store. Amazon has bots crawling the web to monitor the prices of the books at competing retailers that has automated this process. Keep in mind, Amazon won't price-match every retailer out there. For instance, Amazon never matches the prices of books at Smashwords. But they seem particularly keen on matching the prices of their biggest competitors like Barnesandnoble.com, Apple, and Sony. If you can set your books for free at any of those three stores, there's a good chance Amazon will make your book free. Hope that helps clear things up some.

David--I reported your book in case it actually does work.

Kevis, thanks for the detailed response. I was basing my information on a forum discussion so I realize it may not have been entirely accurate. Perhaps the authors there got their books offered for free merely from Amazon's web crawling as you say.

If you look at my original post, I actually wasn't trying to get Into the Vast listed for free, but merely reduced to the Barnes & Noble price of $11.48 (Which was actually set by Barnes & Noble and not by me, by the way). Since I was not trying to get it listed for free but only reduced, would that be against Amazon's policies? (I am unfamiliar with this aspect of them)

I do have a 28 page short story that I have since put on Amazon for $0.99 and on the iBookstore for free. Since that is not a 70% royalty, would that be okay?

But it sounds like you're saying it may not worth pursuing getting Amazon to lower the price? I certainly don't want to do anything that is against Amazon's policies either. It's actually not that important at the end of the day if I can't sell the books at the price I want. I'm willing to put them up at a whatever price the various stores dictate.

As for KDP Select. I am not entirely familiar with how it works but I will look into it.

D.J. wrote: "But it sounds like you're saying it's may not worth pursuing getting Amazon to lower the price?..."

Not at all. It's certainly worth it to get your book lowered to free (or any other price) if that's what you want. What I was trying to explain is Amazon's policy on price-matching. Just to make sure my information was still valid, I looked up Amazon's TOS and it looks like they've removed the language about violating their TOS when price matching. Now it says:

"From time to time your book may be made available through other sales channels as part of a free promotion. It is important that Digital Books made available through the Program have promotions that are on par with free promotions of the same book in another sales channel. Therefore, if your Digital Book is available through another sales channel for free, we may also make it available for free. If we match a free promotion of your Digital Book somewhere else, your Royalty during that promotion will be zero. (Unlike under the 70% Royalty Option, if we match a price for your Digital Book that is above zero, it won't change the calculation of your Royalties indicated in C. above.)


A. 35% Royalty Option.

i. Example:
• U.S. Dollar List Price = $0.99.
• We aren't matching a free promotion on another sales channel.
• Your Royalty per sale to a customer in any location from Amazon.com is:

0.35 x $0.99 = $0.35
Royalty Rate x List Price = Royalty

ii. Example:
• Same as above but we're matching a free promotion on another sales channel.
• Your Royalty is zero.

Link: https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishin...

Everything is consistent with what I explained except for the threatening language that existed before. But to answer your first question, Amazon does price-match books to prices that are above free as you can see from what I posted above. In addition to having one book price-matched to free, I also have two other books that are discounted. So you can indeed have your book's price matched to 11.48 if Amazon chooses to do so. Just be aware that the 70% royalty option doesn't allow books over $9.99. So if Into the Vast is enrolled in the 70% royalty option, Amazon will only pay you 35% of $11.48 as your royalty for each book sold.

Thanks for clearing that up.

By the way, the $11.48 version of Into the Vast is for the paperback version so the royalty model is different there. I didn't make that clear before.

In any case, I think this thread will probably help people who are in a similar situation to mine down the road. Thanks for your help, Kevis. All the best with your books.

No problem, D.J.. Much success to you as well!

I am looking for help in lowering my book's price to free on Amazon (it's free on Smashwords), and would like some help. I'm not sure if the above, "found at a lower price" works for free books, but just in case, if you all wouldn't mind giving me a hand with this, I'd be most grateful. :)

Here is the link to the book on amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Snowf...

Here is the Smashwords link:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/...

Thank you so much for your help! :)

I reported the lower price, Alexandra. They still haven't lowered my books, but be sure to post back here if they do so that we can show some evidence that this reporting really works.

D.J. wrote: "I reported the lower price, Alexandra. They still haven't lowered my books, but be sure to post back here if they do so that we can show some evidence that this reporting really works."

Thank you so much! I hope that they lower yours. I'll be sure to report your price as well. :)

Actually the Barnes & Noble paperback price for Into the Vast has gone back up to $16 something so I think I'll just let Amazon sort out how they want to price the book relative to the other stores.

But I do have a short story that I'd appreciate it if you could report the price on. It's on Amazon for $0.99:

The Artificer's Apprentice (Kindle)

And is available for free on the iBookstore with Apple:

The Artificer's Apprentice (iBookstore)

Thanks!

D.J. wrote: "Actually the Barnes & Noble paperback price for Into the Vast has gone back up to $16 something so I think I'll just let Amazon sort out how they want to price the book relative to the other stores..."

D.J., I've reported your book's free price to Amazon. Hope it helps!

Alexandra wrote: "D.J. wrote: "I reported the lower price, Alexandra. They still haven't lowered my books, but be sure to post back here if they do so that we can show some evidence that this reporting really works...."

Alexandra, you probably didn't get a chance to read my post at the beginning of thread. But one of the things I mentioned is that Amazon doesn't match the price of books sold at Smashwords. So if you are reporting your book as being free at Smashwords, you're not going to be successful at Amazon changing your book's price. However, if your book is available for free at one of the major ebook stores that I also mentioned in my aforementioned post, then let us know and provide the link and I'll be happy to report your book's lower price to Amazon.

Kevis, thanks for the reminder. Somehow that slipped past me as well.

As always, I'm glad I could help.

Kevis (and DJ and others), what do you think of the idea that "free" is dead as a marketing tool? The 99 cent ebooks are getting a fair amount of bashing so that, it seems to me, 99 cents is effective if you're an established "99 cent author" (eg., John Locke or E.L. James) but way overdone.
Uke Jackson

Hi there, Uke. Great question. To be honest, I personally think that every author has to, as Dean Wesley Smith says, decide what kind of publisher they want to be. IMHO, there is no such thing as a right or wrong price, just finding the optimal price for your market.

For example, I've noticed that many of the YA authors price their books relatively low to entice their base of younger readers who might be accustomed to paying 99 cents for iTunes songs or cellphone apps. On the other hand, authors who write historical or literary fiction tend to charge more for their book (4.99 and up). The readers of both genres seem to be resistant to prices outside of their preferred range.

As for free. I think it has replaced 99 cents as a bargain price because customers got burned out on cheap, poorly written/produced books. With free, they get to try out new books with no financial risk and have found that many free books tend to be better quality than the 99 cents ones. This is not necessarily always true. But since most authors use free as a promotional tool, rather than a permanent way to price their books, it seems to shake out that way.

The one caveat I would add is that now that we have passed the threshold of more than a million books being published every year, we are now at the point where supply seems to have exceeded demand. Because there is such a glut of free and cheap books, readers are very skeptical about what they download. This makes offering free books much less effective than a couple of years ago.

My experience has taught me that like all other kinds of human activity, there is a dark side to free and that's diminishing the impact of visibility one used to get through free. Free is still a powerful tool for marketing one's book. You simply have to find a way to convince people that your free book is worth their time. Incidentally, it's the very same task you face for selling your books at regular price.

ETA: I'm still trying to figure out this crazy game like everyone else. But I've priced my books a bit higher than most indies in order to chase the readers who are willing to pay more for well-written, professionally produced books. It's been a tough ride. Only time will tell if I'm barking up the wrong tree. But as a reader, I appreciate well-produced books and am willing to pay more for them than books that seem as if they were just thrown together and uploaded. So I'm betting the farm that I'm serving up exactly what like-minded readers will want to read and pay for. But I don't mind offering the occasional free read to expand my readership.

Kevis, Thanks for your thoughtful,as always, answer. I really have no idea what works or what doesn't. Whether or not I'll offer free ebooks again is an open question. The only thing I can guarantee readers is first class stories and writing. Beyond that . . .
Uke Jackson

Having test-drove a couple of your books, Uke, I can certainly testify that your writing is certainly first class. Thankfully, whatever price you choose to sell your books for won't change that. All I can say is that this is one crazy business and you never know what's going to happen next. The only thing authors can totally control is the quality of their books. And, like you, that's where my focus is.

Thank you for the reminder, Kevis! I completely missed that. I will definitely keep that in mind. :)

But I'd like to say that once, they did change the price of my ebook based off of Smashwords (I highly doubt this is a normal thing). There was actually an issue with it being free on Smashwords, and when I saw it was free on Amazon, I emailed them, and they explained why they'd lowered the price -- someone had put in the link (or perhaps a lot of someones) from Smashwords, and they had changed it. They actually sent me the link to where the information had come from, a.k.a. Smashwords, in their reply email to my inquiry. Like I said, I'm thinking that this is abnormal for them. My ebooks were also appearing on other major retailers, though not as free at that moment, so they may have done some research into where I was distributing through Smashwords as well.

As far as your thoughts, Uke, I have to agree with Kevis. I think that it really depends on the book, and on the author, and what type of publisher/author they want to be. I am definitely very focused on the quality of my books, and I think that my prices reflect that. In the case of the one I have free, I'm merely using it as a promotional tool for those who are not yet interested in the series, and as a fun, extremely short read (this is a short story, after all) for the fans.

It's really hard to say what a good price is for an ebook, because the market shifts all of the time. I really think you just have to do the best you can, and make sure that you have good work for readers to enjoy, no matter how they stumble upon it.

My book had just appeared on Kobo, if you wouldn't mind inputting the link. I'd be extremely grateful!

Kobo: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/The-Ch...

And here's the original Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Snowf...

Thank you! :)

Alexandra wrote: "My book had just appeared on Kobo, if you wouldn't mind inputting the link. I'd be extremely grateful!

Kobo: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/The-Ch......"

I've reported your book, Alexandra. If you can get a couple more reports, it might do the trick. Good luck!

I reported it as well.

Thank you, Kevis and D.J. Much appreciated! I'm hoping for the best. :)

Thank you all for your help! I really appreciate it. Amazon finally lowered the price, and made it free to match the other websites. :)

http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Snowf...

Alexandra wrote: "Thank you all for your help! I really appreciate it. Amazon finally lowered the price, and made it free to match the other websites. :)

http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Snowf......"

Happy to hear that, Alexandra. Let the downloads begin!

Kevis wrote: "Alexandra wrote: "Thank you all for your help! I really appreciate it. Amazon finally lowered the price, and made it free to match the other websites. :)

http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Snowf...-..."

Me, too! Thank you. :)

That's great news, Alexandra!

I'm bummed though. My short story, Artificer's Apprentice, has been out for almost a month now and Amazon hasn't lowered the price. (The links are above in an earlier post).

I'm wondering if anyone reported on that one? Or maybe Amazon is not so keen on price matching with iTunes as they are with Kobo...?

D.J. wrote: "That's great news, Alexandra!

I'm bummed though. My short story, Artificer's Apprentice, has been out for almost a month now and Amazon hasn't lowered the price. (The links are above in an earlier..."

I reported it, but I'll try again for you. I don't know. They seem very finicky about it. I sent them an email directly asking them to change it too, but I'm not sure it helped. I hope that they lower it for you!

Thanks, Alexandra. Much appreciated!

Hey, everyone.

The first episode of my series has been available for over 2 months and I'm still waiting on Amazon to price match.

I'll report anyone in this thread whose book hasn't already been price matched. Any help you all could give me in return I'd appreciate it.

Link to book on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Guided-Epis...

Free on:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-g...
http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/The-Gu...
https://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/ric...

Thanks so much!

Richard wrote: "Hey, everyone.

The first episode of my series has been available for over 2 months and I'm still waiting on Amazon to price match.

I'll report anyone in this thread whose book hasn't already bee..."

Sorry, sometimes Amazon can take forever. I "turned in" the lower price to Amazon for you. Best of luck. :)

What am I missing here? You as the author get to put whatever price you want on your own book. That's why it's called self-publishing. I have 12 books published on Amazon and I have always set my own price. Since they are on KDP Select, I put them for free whenever I want to.

Peggy wrote: "What am I missing here? "

Richard (and the other authors that have posted here) would like to offer select titles free on a permanent basis. Amazon does something called a free price match if you offer your book free on other sites. But it seems like it's a bit of a hit or miss to get them to do the price matching.

@Richard: I reported the price. Post back here if it gets set to free!

Thanks for explaining that to me, D.J. I didn't know about it. But I don't see why anyone would want their book to be free forever. I put mine free from time to time as a promo. If someone likes my books, they usually order others.

Thanks Alexandra & D.J. for reporting. Keeping my fingers crossed. I think Amazon just enjoys driving me crazy.

Peggy, the book I'm trying to get Amazon to price match is the first episode in a serialized story for which I'll be releasing new episodes every month. The future episodes won't be free, but I'd like to make the first one free permanently to hopefully get people interested in the series. At 60 pages, it's fairly short, and basically acts as an introduction to the story.

Richard wrote: "Thanks Alexandra & D.J. for reporting. Keeping my fingers crossed. I think Amazon just enjoys driving me crazy.

Peggy, the book I'm trying to get Amazon to price match is the first episode in a se..." That's a good idea. I have my first novel at $0.99 and keep it there for the same reason. You might want to think about $0.99 for your first book.

Richard wrote: "Thanks Alexandra & D.J. for reporting. Keeping my fingers crossed. I think Amazon just enjoys driving me crazy.

Peggy, the book I'm trying to get Amazon to price match is the first episode in a se..."

Hopefully they will work with you. They can be evil at times.

That is a good idea, I think. I know that readers definitely do enjoy a free book, and if you're a newer author, then it may be to your benefit. There is also the Amazon Select, where you can "promote" it free for a few days every three months, but it has to remain an Amazon-specific title for that time period.

Best of luck to you and your books!

Yeah, my short story is finally free for Kindle!

I just wanted to report back that it can happen! The Artificer's Apprentice was released in November so that's about four months that I have been hoping it would go free.

So hang in there and thanks to everyone who reported it. As a reward, be sure to pick up a copy of the short story as well!

The Artificer's Apprentice

I am again having a terrible time with this! Amazon, you are so annoying! :(

If anyone wouldn't mind helping, I'd be grateful.

is free on Kobo, iTunes, and Smashwords, but not on Amazon

Kobo link: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Break-...

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/brea...

Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Break-Exe-Lore-...

Thank you! :)

Hi everyone,

Great group and really great thread. I'm very happy to price match anyone's book. I'm set to get email updates about this thread or you can send me a message.

As for me, I'm going slightly bonkers trying to get my non-fiction book price matched.

Here's the amazon page - http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Fire-Use...

and here's where it's free. Any and all help much appreciated.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/kindl...

https://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/tom...

http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Kindle...

Alexandra and Jamie, reported both your books.

Hope you get the price lowered soon!

Thank you DJ. I price matched Alexandra's book too! Fingers crossed

Also, Peggy -- I personally am a nook user and *HATE* when books aren't available for me. I don't want to turn anyone with an alternative ereader away from reading my novel, so offering KDP select isn't an option for me.

Personally, I think it's cheap and dirty that Amazon gives such a priority to Select members. It makes me hate them just that much more.

I'm planning on offering my first book free when I release the second. Mine is a 12 book series, so my goal right now is just to get it in people's faces. Quantity over sales and all that.

Staci -- if someone publishes on KDP and doesn't choose DRM, then I'd think a purchaser could use a free program like Calibre to convert the book into .epub form. Has anyone tried this?

Great thread idea! I clicked through all the links but it looks like everyone's price has already been matched. Glad to see it works!

If anyone has time, can you please report my book?
Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Kydona-ebook/dp...
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...

Thank you!!

Reported T.K.'s!

Reported lower price on TK's book too.

I have a book that I'm trying to price match as well. Can you help me make my children's picture book free on Amazon?

Amazon US:
http://www.amazon.com/Silly-like-Book...

Amazon UK:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Silly-like-Bo...

Barnes and Noble (FREE HERE):
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/silly...

Thank you in advance! I'll make sure to report other future books on this thread as well.

-Eugene

Done!

I am trying to get my title, Zombie Dash, price matched on Amazon for free. Here is the link on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Zombie-Dash-ebo...

Once you click on 'tell us abotu a lower price' insert this link from B&N:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books...

and put the number zero in where it asks for the cost of the book and shipping.

Thanks! I'll be happy to reciprocate.