Temporary price drop, otherwise known as a sale

Rosemary

For clever marketing reasons, The Steerswoman is currently priced at $0.99.

Obviously, it’s a ploy to tempt new readers, on the assumption that if they read the first book, they’ll be hooked, and snap up the rest.

Of course, you’re here, reading this blog, because you’ve already read the Steerswoman series — so, actually, this information is not all that useful to you…

Unless — aha!  Perhaps you have friends, who you know would love reading about Rowan’s adventures, but who have so far been reluctant to shell out hard-earned bucks merely on your say-so.  But at less than one dollar, what have they got to lose?

Perhaps you might mention it to them?  That’d be swell!

But actually, the main way people are going to hear about the sale is through an email marketing service called BookBub.  They have a huge list of subscribers who get daily emails about discounted ebooks.   Many of the ebooks on BookBub are self-published, but you’ll also find books that were previously on the New York Times bestseller list, and lesser-known works by established writers, as the publishers try to squeeze out one last bit of income on behalf of their authors (and themselves).

BookBub is no fly-by-night operation; it’s well-known and has a great track record.  I heard about it first from SF writer and pal Jeff Carver.   Apparently it’s not easy to get your book listed by them — they do have standards!  But they let me in first try… So I guess I meet the standards.

The price drop is in effect on Amazon, iBooks Smashwords and Kobo.  Barnes & Noble are lagging behind, so if you’re a dedicated Nooker, you might not see the lowered price until later in the week.

Also: I slightly lowered the price on other books in the series.  Just to make things even more enticing.

So, there you go: my foray into email marketing, which started today, and runs for a week.  I’ll keep you posted on the results…

(By the way, sometimes publishers and authors use BookBub to offer their ebooks for free, and this has led some people to think that the books are pirated!  This is not true!  If a book is offered free through BookBub, it’s because the publisher or writer decided to do that.   Nothing on BookBub is stolen or pirated!)

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This entry was posted on Sunday, September 13th, 2015 at 11:50 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

13 Responses to “Temporary price drop, otherwise known as a sale”

  • Andrew Barton (MadLogician) Says:
    September 13th, 2015 at 1:01 pm

    I’ve taken the opportunity to rebuy the first two as ebooks. I got them when they first came out and that’s long enough ago that I don’t know where they’ve got to in the house.

  • Margaret Says:
    September 13th, 2015 at 5:37 pm

    The Canadian price (at Kobo) is 1.31 plus .17 HST. Very good deal indeed and always happy to have a copy that I can take with me anywhere (joy of my life is that I can load books on my phone.)

  • Ben Says:
    September 14th, 2015 at 4:39 am

    I still prefer dead trees for reading, but ebooks lately have been crazy cheap … well, except some. Still, I sometimes wonder whether it’s the best commercial strategy ^^;

  • Jasper janssen Says:
    September 14th, 2015 at 11:22 am

    As a data point, I bought book 1 in a sale sometime before (possibly 99 cents on Amazon?), and I took this opportunity to get the other three for 11 bucks on my Kindle.

  • Krishna Says:
    September 14th, 2015 at 12:59 pm

    Hi,
    I am one of the persons who got the bookbub invite. Read Jo Walton’s review and since I have found her recommendations excellent bought Steerswoman and devoured it. Now on to book 2.

    I found this blog and found a post dated 2010 talking about book 5 and 6 but they are still not out!!
    7 books and a prequel planned eeeep

    I love the books so I wish you all the best in completing them early. (selfishly of course)

    • Rosemary Says:
      September 16th, 2015 at 12:11 pm

      Jo’s review has done me a lot of good — but I also turn to her reviews whenever I’m looking for something new to read. I don’t think I’ve ever been disappointed in something she’s recommended.

  • Kaitlin Says:
    September 14th, 2015 at 11:16 pm

    The clever marketing strategy worked on me. Bought The Steerswoman last year, figuring I’d only be out $.99 if it turned out to be a waste of time.

    Turns out I’d discovered one of my new favorite series. In fact, I’ve intentionally dragged out my readings to make the experience last longer, something I’ve never done with any other series except for Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast novels.

    • Rosemary Says:
      September 16th, 2015 at 12:09 pm

      One of the good things about ebooks is that the lower price (of most of them!) encourages people to take a chance on an unknown. Ages ago, paperback books served that purpose pretty well — until the price on those climbed too high to worth risking on an unfamiliar author. Also, ebooks: always available! Thanks for taking the chance on Rowan!