Marketing Question Kindle Unlimited

[JWT]

A marketing question for KU readers. Would you be more likely to download a KU book, from an unknown author, that had a purchase price of say $9.99 than one with a purchase price of say $2.99 because it feels like you are getting more money for your monthly KU dollar?
Thanks
John Westley Turnbull

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by JWT

A marketing question for KU readers. Would you be more likely to download a KU book, from an unknown author, that had a purchase price of say $9.99 than one with a purchase price of say $2.99 because it feels like you are getting more money for your monthly KU dollar?
Thanks
John Westley Turnbull

First off, the cover has to look good, not like a Photoshop or AI fail. Then the description has to be interesting. Do not make the description start off with for fans of ABC or DEF. Leave out reviews from the description. Also do not let Amazon add a stupid description to the title. finally, do not make it a romance.

Then I might have a look at it on KU.

[Quoth]

KU ought to be illegal. Invades reader's privacy with Amazon surveillance. Unlink real libraries, Amazon gets the content free and decides the pot to share to content providers, and does it per page read. UK & Irish libraries have to buy the book and then also pay a per loan royalty, no matter how much is read.

Amazon introduced the surveillance because they created a system that was inherently broken from the beginning and could be exploited by bots to make money for unscrupulous content providers.

Also unless you are a big publisher being on KU, rather than just Kindle builds Amazon's monopoly. No-one else can sell the book. The author can't even give it away. It's a con.

An artificial $9.99 to make KU look good value cheats actual purchasers and also means they can only buy on Amazon.

[Sirtel]

I'd not even look at the purchase price if I wanted to borrow a book via KU (or Kobo Plus etc). What I'd look at are the synopsis, the cover and the number of pages.

[Deskisamess]

Cover, number of pages, blurb, these are what I look at. I don't usually notice the selling price.

[DNSB]

I don't remember looking at the purchase price for a book in Kobo Plus or Kindle Unlimited. As mentioned above, the cover and synopsis are a lot more important. And please don't give me a laundry list of perfect for readers of <author name>.

I really don't care about the number of pages. Too often in KU books, those are artificially inflated by the ebook formatter. You mean most books are not published double-spaced and with margins that take up way too much of the page width?

[John F]

I'm not looking at price for KU.

The most likely way I would consider a KU book is by word of mouth. After that cover. Then Synopsis.

[JSWolf]

If it's a series and fits my criteria of a good cover, good description that is not full of crap, and the genre is one I'd read, I'd give it a go since I'd not be paying anything extra. Then if I like it, I can read the others in the series.

The saying don't judge a book by it's cover is wrong. We do judge a book by it's cover. There are so many books, why would we take a change on a new author where the cover is not good? So if the cover is good then I can read the description. If the description starts off for fans or if you like, I leave. If the description starts off with review blurbs, I leave. So as long as the book is a genre I'd read and not a romance disguised as a different genre and the description is good. I'd take a chance. As for the price, I don't care as I'm not buying it.

I really dislike a romance disguised as a fantasy or science fiction. Think woman and half naked man painted green on the cover.

[Smitmiller]

As others have said, I don't look at the price of a KU book when thinking about reading it. Price only comes to the fore if I'm thinking about buying it after reading it. Then I will add it to my eReaderIQ list and wait for the price to drop to $1-3. So then the $2.99 price point gains the advantage--I might buy it immediately.

If enough quality KU books were $10, then I'd be a little more likely to keep KU, but that strategy helps Amazon more than it helps the author.

Best of luck!

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I really don't care about the number of pages. Too often in KU books, those are artificially inflated by the ebook formatter. You mean most books are not published double-spaced and with margins that take up way too much of the page width?

For me the number of pages is important because I don't read short stories or novellas. So I'd want to be sure it's a novel I borrow, not something less than 200 pages.

[JWT]

Thanks to everyone who replied to my KU pricing question. The overwhelming impression I have is that readers don’t even notice the purchase price when borrowing through KU. Cover, blurb, reviews and the sample matter far more. It wasn’t the answer I expected, but it was feally helpful and interesting.

John Westley Turnbull

[Readirect]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

.... Do not make the description start off with for fans of ABC or DEF. Leave out reviews from the description ....

Then I might have a look at it on KU.

The FIRST thing a literary agent will ask a prospective author/client is for comparables ... which author/book your book is like ... AND they do that because THAT'S what they pitch to publishers AND THAT'S LITERALLY the whole "For fans of" thing. Anyone who tells you NOT to do that is someone who thinks they know more than they do.

In fact, when an author with a distinct style ... like Robert B. Parker, for instance ... dies/retires then one strong opportunity is to write a similar type of book with his/her style; telling readers what they will be getting (e.g. for fans of Robert B. Parker.)

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Readirect

The FIRST thing a literary agent will ask a prospective author/client is for comparables ... which author/book your book is like ... AND they do that because THAT'S what they pitch to publishers AND THAT'S LITERALLY the whole "For fans of" thing. Anyone who tells you NOT to do that is someone who thinks they know more than they do.

In fact, when an author with a distinct style ... like Robert B. Parker, for instance ... dies/retires then one strong opportunity is to write a similar type of book with his/her style; telling readers what they will be getting (e.g. for fans of Robert B. Parker.)

The problem is that more often than not these names are completely random - there just because they're famous/well known and the genre is the same, the book itself has no similarities whatsoever in style, plot or characters. So they don't help the reader at all.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Readirect

The FIRST thing a literary agent will ask a prospective author/client is for comparables ... which author/book your book is like ... AND they do that because THAT'S what they pitch to publishers AND THAT'S LITERALLY the whole "For fans of" thing. Anyone who tells you NOT to do that is someone who thinks they know more than they do.

In fact, when an author with a distinct style ... like Robert B. Parker, for instance ... dies/retires then one strong opportunity is to write a similar type of book with his/her style; telling readers what they will be getting (e.g. for fans of Robert B. Parker.)

And they are wrong!

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Readirect

The FIRST thing a literary agent will ask a prospective author/client is for comparables ... which author/book your book is like ... AND they do that because THAT'S what they pitch to publishers AND THAT'S LITERALLY the whole "For fans of" thing. Anyone who tells you NOT to do that is someone who thinks they know more than they do.

In fact, when an author with a distinct style ... like Robert B. Parker, for instance ... dies/retires then one strong opportunity is to write a similar type of book with his/her style; telling readers what they will be getting (e.g. for fans of Robert B. Parker.)

Robert B. Parker died in 2010, so I guess he's retired.