Support for Indie Authors discussion

Hi, all. I was wondering if any of you have experienced this. For the first time, my first book price has been lowered almost $2 from its listed price. I actually don’t mind, but I’m wondering if this is a new thing? It’s never happened before, and I self published this book in 2016.

Hi Leah, thanks for asking this question. Two of my books published in 2019 were lowered, too. I've always sold more ebooks than paperback and I wondered if their decision to do this had to do with sales?

Hi, Gail. Ya, I have no idea. Since it’s never happened before, I’m guessing it’s a new policy of some sort?

Are you publishing it through a platform that then distributes it to many retailers, or a direct upload? And if yes, can you check the prices on each retailer - Amazon matches the lowest price for "wide" books, so maybe the conditions changed somewhere beyond your direct reach.

Amazon has done this to my novel, as well. I think it is based on the market for the genre, or their estimation of it. It didn't happen right away after publishing, but only after some (?) months.

Tomas, I think you’re right. Amazon must be matching the price of one of the distributors because I did allow other distribution, or whatever it’s called. This must be new if they’ve never done it before.

Eileen, I don’t think that’s it, because Amazon wouldn’t even allow me to lower the price of my paperback based on the length of the novel. I think, as Tomas noted, they have started matching the lowest price listed by other distributors. But I did try lowering my paperback price from $11 to $9.99 (somewhere around there), and they wouldn’t let me, and they lowered the price to a little under $9, so who knows what’s going on lol.

It's definitely not new.
Amazon can match the lowest world-wide price anytime, but I doubt they manually check every single book out there. They may actively check "the big fish" but, most of the time, they do it when someone reports a lower price.

Okay, but my two books are on KDP Select? They are not being sold elsewhere. Hmmmm.

Ohhhh that makes sense, especially because I’m a little baby fish haha.

Gail wrote: "Okay, but my two books are on KDP Select? They are not being sold elsewhere. Hmmmm."

Aha! A mystery! A plot for a book, Gail?

I love it, Anna!! Every mystery tells a story:)

Mystery solved!! I heard back from Amazon - I just had to ask them about this. Their reply: Per Terms & Conditions, they reserve the right to discount paperbacks based upon different factors, which they did not elaborate. BUT (most interesting), the lower price does not alter author royalties for the book on any of the their sites, including international sales.

Thanks, Gail! That’s super interesting and great to hear! I’m in the process of buying a home and haven’t had much energy to reach out to Amazon. All I’ve had energy for the last 2 months is fighting with my bank lol! So thanks for reaching out to them! Great news.

You're welcome, Leah. Good luck with your new home!!! It's a lot of work (and money), so I hope the rest goes much more smoothly.

So true! Thanks

Gail wrote: "Mystery solved!! I heard back from Amazon - I just had to ask them about this. Their reply: Per Terms & Conditions, they reserve the right to discount paperbacks based upon different factors, which they did not elaborate. BUT (most interesting), the lower price does not alter author royalties for the book on any of the their sites, including international sales."

Maybe they got a cheaper deal on paper or ink? :D

I wouldn't be surprised if the production costs were set up at some failsafe number to account for price fluctuations, and if the related commodities are cheaper due to lower demand (blame COVID for everything!), it may be an option.