Two days ago I set the list price for the Kindle, Apple, Nook, and Kobo editions of the first book in my new dystopian science fiction series, Novum, to zero dollars and zero cents. That's right, I am giving the book away for free.
Why would I, or any author, do this? Some people call it a "loss leader" for a series, where you give the first book away, then hope it will lead to sales of the rest of the series. However, my reasons are even simpler. I want to save my readers money. That's right; I care about my readers.
So here is the deal. If I charge what Amazon thinks I should be charging, which is $2.99 per book (anything lower and the author is penalized %50 in royalties) then it will cost you $6 for the first two books. If I sold each book for a more reasonable $1.99, it would cost you about $4 for the first two books, which isn't bad, but due to the penalties mentioned above, I would earn only $1.40 in royalties. However, by making the first book free, and leaving the second book at $2.99, you will get two books for $3, and I make about $2 in royalties.
So in a nutshell, you save 25% on your 2-book purchase and I make 30% more in royalties. That's what I call a win-win scenario. The additional benefit for you, is by giving you the first book for free, in a real sense you get to "try it before you buy it." So now we are up to a win-win-win scenario, and I'd better stop there, before reality implodes. ;)
If you are interested in trying out a new dystopian science fiction series that has no zombies (sorry) then go to my website for the book links. www.JosephRhea.com
My thanks to the several thousand people who have already taken me up on this deal, and also the several hundred who have purchased the second book, Novum: Exile already. Maybe this is working as a loss-leader after all, which makes it a win-win-win-win...(stopping now!) ;)
