What is your work really worth?

I've read posts by other creators and artist who say "You have to value your own work, or no one else will..."

When I first pushed 'Publish' on KDP and allowed Amazon to make my first book available to the world (literally), I was nervous. Words are so personal, even in fiction. How will the world receive them? I did a little research on how to price my book and ended up pricing it at the lowest possible price where I could still benefit from the 70% royalties. $2.99. There wasn't any kind of strategy in this. I was simply afraid that if I priced it any higher, no one would buy it.

Over the last couple months, I have uploaded the book again, correcting minor grammatical errors I had missed (self-publishing with no budget also mean self-editing until you have a team of beta readers who agree to do that for you...). My very first review was a 5-star from someone I'd never met. That's when it started to hit me, that perhaps I needed to start believing in my talent and trusting I was on the right path. It was exciting!!!

In June my sales started to plummet. The longest stretch without a single sale happen near the middle of the month. 9 painstaking days without a single sale.

I couldn't figure out what was going on. I had earned 12 reviews (nothing monumental but a great start!), all of which were 4 or 5 stars. I knew people were enjoying the book. So why the drop in sales?

Then I read a blog from a successful KDP author. He did an experiment, slowly raising the price of his book and what he found was a turning point for both him and me.

When you price your work too low, be it books or photography or paintings, people will see how much you value it and will do the same. Just like enthusiasm is contagious, so it the value you place in your art. This author saw an immediate increase in sales simply by pricing his books at the value he believe they deserved.

I did this. I only took a small step, raising my price by $1 to the grand total of $3.99/book. The result was surprising. Where as I only ever had POSSIBLY one book sale a day, now I have multiple sales a day!

Don't be afraid to place a higher value on the work you are doing. Don't sell yourself short because of fear! Be confident in your work and allow others to be as well.

Love always,
L