Curiosity Forces Me to Try Something Different

I am curious about something. Amazon used to discount my Kindle books by 20% and sales were adequate. After the discount disappeared, sales dwindled.

I recently read an article from a self-published author who suspects that Amazon has decided not to offer the discount on self-pubbed titles anymore. This would be truly sad and a bit short-sighted on Amazon's part, but fairly typical of many these days. (I am self-pubbed, as well, just FYI.) At first, I thought she was probably right. Until I noticed my title Heartless.

Amazon took the discount from only three of my four titles. Heartless continued to enjoy its 20% discount. I don't know if this had something to do with Heartless having far better sales than the other three or not. When one is dealing with Amazon, one never knows what is actually going on.

I am participating in a sale at Smashwords.com. My books can be purchased for 50% off the list price of $4.95. This is accomplished with an easy-to-use coupon code which is displayed prominently on the pages of all the books participating. With Amazon, they do not offer the publisher/author a coupon or discount option. Discounting a title is something Amazon decides at their own discretion. To their credit, the author/publisher's "royalty" is based on the list price no matter how much Amazon decides to discount the product. Honestly, it's about the only positive thing I can say about Amazon lately. They are not the most author-friendly online bookstore.

That being said, I have decided to drop the price of my eBooks in Amazon's Kindle Store for a limited time. I want to see what happens. From now (July 15) until October 31, my books can be purchased from the Kindle Store for $2.95. If Amazon decides to discount them further, all the better for everyone. :o)