[ApK]

I have a couple comments.

99 cents is certainly the "why the heck not" price for many people, including me.
If something even nominally catches my interest, I'll click the buy button at 99 cents.

At $2.99, I'd have to REALLY like what I see to try an unknown, self-published author.
There are too many free (and 99 cent) books filling my reading list for me to give up the price of lunch at White Castle.

$2.99 is, however, the magic 70% number at KDP, of course, so I know it's allure for authors, and if you feel your book would be undervalued at 99 cents, then $2.99 is the logical number to try. I also know people who have upped their price from 99 cents to $2.99 because of the royalty boost, and indeed find that even though the sell fewer, the are netting more. If money is more important then volume and exposure, there is something to that...if the book is good.

I love the idea of the first book free, and the second book for $2.99, especially with a series. That way, not only do I have the chance to get hooked for free, and not only do I feel a debt of gratitude to that author, but I also immediately average out the cost of all the books in my head, so I never feel like I'm really paying $2.99.

I agree with HarryT and the others on the need for editing.
It's sad that so many people seem to fail to see the harm of skipping that, but, heck, according to a current thread here, many people also fail to see the value of a professionally produced encyclopedia over Wikipedia, so, there you go.
If you can't afford a professional editor (which is a reasonable situation to assume for a new, self-publishing writer) then you can see if a local college English class will help you out, or even try crowd-sourced editing (hey, even Wikipedia-esque quality is better than nothing!) like David Kitson did here on MR with "Turing Evolved."