The news today that an independent author managed to top the UK Kindle charts in 2011 by self-publishing his work on the Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing service seems to show that if you play it right, you can beat the big publishers at their own game.
No doubt the story has given hope and inspiration to aspiring authors everywhere, but the fact remains: no matter how you sell your book on a Kindle, Amazon is the real winner.
Kerry Wilkinson managed to top the UK charts with his self-published novelLocked In, with Amazon and his own site stating that hundreds of thousands of copies have been sold through the Kindle Store.
This is a fantastic achievement for an unknown author and shows that when you price something right, people will click on it and download it.
Because Locked In was sold on the Kindle Store for the bargain price of 99p – aside from being free, that's the most enticing offer you can have on any platform.
Emotional difference
There have even been studies into the allure of the 99p figure, with many a university paper published on the subject.
Robert Schindler, professor of marketing at Rutgers Business School in the US describes the '99' effect like this: "It is like when a 39-year-old turns 40, the birthday feels like a big deal. Or when 1999 ends and 2000 starts. It feels like an emotional difference."
And this is exactly what Amazon banks on with its 99p Kindle Daily Deals, much like iTunes with its micro-payment scheme. If it's under a quid then most people click and don't care because their bank account isn't exactly taking a beating.
But the 99p price has bigger repercussions for authors using Amazon to sell their books. If you go much higher, then the profit margin increases which is great news on the surface. But the problem is that users of the store usually dismiss books they haven't heard of before if they are over the 99p price point.......
http://www.techradar.com/news/portable-devices/kindle-self-publishing-free-but-at-what-cost-1061826?src=rss&attr=all
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