Last October I reduced the price of the first e-book in my Jackson series to $.99 to draw readers in. It was the best move I ever made. Now I’ve dropped the price of The Suicide Effect, a standalone thriller, to draw in new readers who focus more on suspense or thrillers than on mystery/police procedural. It’s been 24 hours, but the effect is evident.

I sometimes worry about readers’ perception and don’t want to be thought of as a discount author, but so many big publishers are offering bestselling author’s e-books at the 99-cent price, I think it’s becoming rather mainstream.

Here’s the back cover copy for The Suicide Effect:
When Sula overhears a shocking revelation about a drug being developed by her employer, she’s paralyzed with indecision. She desperately needs her job to gain the judge’s favor in a custody hearing for her son. Yet hundreds of patient lives could be at stake. Two days later when the drug’s lead scientist disappears, Sula is compelled to search for the incriminating data. But Prolabs’ CEO is a desperate man determined to stop her. Can Sula get the proof and expose the drug’s fatal flaw before the CEO risks everything to silence her?

I wrote this novel while I was a senior editor for a pharmaceutical magazine. For less than a dollar, why not check it out?

Authors: What is your pricing strategy?
Readers: Does the 99-cent price tag make you question the value of the novel?

7 Comments
  1. I’ve read enough high-quality 99c books to know not to judge a book by its price 🙂 I bought The Sex Club when it went down to 99c, then later I bought all the other books when they were $2.39 for a while, so I think the strategy was a sound one.

  2. Loosheesh: Thanks for your support. I hope you’re reading and enjoying the books too!

  3. I always struggle with pricing. Lowest is best, and all my books are between $0.99 and $1.99.

  4. I’ve had open heart surgerey in Nov bought Kindle and 40 ebooks so far. Liked Sex in the city and will get the other books. Being retired and on a fixed income price does matter

  5. While I have been intrigued by the book “The Suicide Effect” and it has been a page-turner, I have noticed several grammatical and/or spelling errors. It made me think you were either an english as a second language writer or you wrote in a foreign language and it was translated poorly. When I read your bio though, it turns out that neither is the case. Then I also read that you were an editor yourself. I found it ironic and laughed a little. I was surprised to find so many mistakes in a piece of work that should have been caught by the editor. Overall, though, the book has been really good and I can’t wait to go read some more of your work!

  6. Lindsay, I paid to have that book edited and proofread, but clearly, neither person did a good job for me. When I have the money, I’ll have it edited again. I’m glad you enjoyed the story though. 🙂

  7. I’m really excited to read more of your work. If the others are as good as the Suicide Effect than I’m in for a treat. The spelling/grammatical errors are no big deal, I just thought it was funny based on your background of being an editor. But alas, when one relinquishes control it opens the door to things we would like to avoid like letting others touch our work! 🙂

    I’m glad I found your books! Part of me started reading them because my initials are LJ too. I looked up “if you like this book, then you’ll love this one” and I typed in the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and your books popped up and the initials thing drew me in. I also like to find writers that have a series or more than one book because if I like their style, I’ll want to keep reading more. Therefore, I was happy to find you had multiple books to read!

    What authors do you suggest to read their books if we like what you write? Do you know of any that have the same style/genres as you? I’d love to find some other writers that I can move to once I finish all of your books and I think you would have good taste!

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