One of my books is being discounted against my will. I'm trying to find a way to make them stop doing it. Amazon’s rules allow them to lower the e-book royalty when they are price-matching another store (which is not the case) or matching their own price for the physical copy--which IS what they are doing. Paperback AND e-book at $4.23
I normally would get $3.42 for the $4.99 e-book, but they’re paying $2.90. At this unexciting 76-cent discount, the e-book is selling at the same rate it would at its normal price, which means I’m earning less for the same number of sales, i.e. $52.00 less per hundred sales.
Perhaps they think this is a good strategy for them, because I sell a fair number of e-books on their site, but not many paperbacks. It’s not a good strategy for me. If I want to sell the e-book at a lower price, I’ll drop it to 99 cents for a week and promote it all over the place. $4.23 is not an incentivizing sort of price for an e-book.
But it’s a huge bargain for a paperback.
What would happen if hundreds of people ordered the $4.23 paperback? So far, Amazon is paying the full royalty on the paperback, $3.77 for the $4.23 book. The printing cost is $5.22. By their own choice, Amazon loses $4.76 for each paperback sale. If 100 people buy it at $4.23, Amazon will lose $476.00. Will they notice? If a thousand people buy it, they’ll lose a lot more. Will they put the price back to $14.99? If they do, their rules will require them to pay me the full royalty on the e-book.
I have no idea if promoting the $4.23 paperback to make Amazon lose money on it will work. I've promoted it on social media and to my mailing list. Is there a better way to get them to stop doing this discount? I'm getting underpaid on every Kindle sale.
I normally would get $3.42 for the $4.99 e-book, but they’re paying $2.90. At this unexciting 76-cent discount, the e-book is selling at the same rate it would at its normal price, which means I’m earning less for the same number of sales, i.e. $52.00 less per hundred sales.
Perhaps they think this is a good strategy for them, because I sell a fair number of e-books on their site, but not many paperbacks. It’s not a good strategy for me. If I want to sell the e-book at a lower price, I’ll drop it to 99 cents for a week and promote it all over the place. $4.23 is not an incentivizing sort of price for an e-book.
But it’s a huge bargain for a paperback.
What would happen if hundreds of people ordered the $4.23 paperback? So far, Amazon is paying the full royalty on the paperback, $3.77 for the $4.23 book. The printing cost is $5.22. By their own choice, Amazon loses $4.76 for each paperback sale. If 100 people buy it at $4.23, Amazon will lose $476.00. Will they notice? If a thousand people buy it, they’ll lose a lot more. Will they put the price back to $14.99? If they do, their rules will require them to pay me the full royalty on the e-book.
I have no idea if promoting the $4.23 paperback to make Amazon lose money on it will work. I've promoted it on social media and to my mailing list. Is there a better way to get them to stop doing this discount? I'm getting underpaid on every Kindle sale.