How do I price a book promotion?
- Promo pricing usually means free or a deep discount (often 99 cents).
- Free maximizes downloads and reach; 99 cents earns some revenue and rank.
- The right choice depends on your goal (reach, rank, or read-through).
- A price drop alone does little without visibility behind it.
- Series first-in-series promos drive sales of later books.
Price a book promotion to your goal. Free maximizes downloads and reach — strong for first-in-series read-through or list-building — while 99 cents earns some revenue and ranking signals while still being an easy-yes price. Match the choice to whether you want reach, rank, or series read-through. Crucially, a promo price does almost nothing on its own; pair it with visibility (a featured deal, newsletter, ads) so people actually see the discount.
Chapter i·Why it matters
Authors often drop a price and expect sales to follow, then wonder why nothing happens — a discount with no promotion behind it is invisible. The price is only half the lever; the other half is visibility. And the right price depends on the goal: free and 99 cents serve different ends. Understanding how to match promo pricing to your objective and pair it with reach is what turns a promotion into results instead of lost revenue.
Chapter ii·What to include
- A goal: reach, rank, revenue, or read-through.
- Free for maximum reach and series read-through.
- 99 cents for some revenue plus rank.
- Visibility (deals, newsletter, ads) behind the price.
- First-in-series promos to sell later books.
- A measure of results to refine next time.
Chapter iii·Example
An author sets book one of her series to free for a week, backed by a featured deal and her newsletter. Thousands download it, and read-through drives full-price sales of books two and three. For a standalone later, she chooses 99 cents instead, paired with ads — pricing each promo to its goal and supporting it with visibility.
Chapter iv·Related questions
WriteLoom's Market studio keeps your promo pricing and visibility plan together, so a discount always has reach behind it.
See the Market studio