I’ve heard people use the term “price point,” and I’m pretty sure they only meant “price,” but thought “price point” sounded professional or something.
I’m sure there’s a proper way to use “price point,” but I’m not sure what it is.
In any case, the price point for my self-published novels has been adjusted to $2.99. This does not affect the price points for my Baen or Nordskog novels.
Try Death’s Doors, here.
Price points reflect the perceived value.
Back when I was operations manager for a gift manufacturer a couple of lifetimes ago, we had to design all our products around a handful of price points, so we made $7, $10, $15, $20, and $25 items. Though the larger items had a higher perceived value, they only used a few pennies more material and took about the same labor to assemble, so we made a much better margin on them.
Books, on the other hand, base their perceived value on different factors. I would guess that name recognition is the biggest, with page count a distant second. However page count does matter. Back in the 70’s British author James Herriot started publishing stories about his life as a rural veterinary surgeon. According to the biography written by his son, his U.S. publisher insisted on combining his first two books into one volume for U.S. publication, saying that Americans wouldn’t buy thin books.
Unfortunately, even though I bragged up your books at the All Boards and Pastor’s Conference I attended last week, your name recognition as an author is rather limited. Nobody I talked to knew you were an author, although many knew of you from other contexts. Most of your books are also minimal length for novels. I was disappointed that Death’s Doors ended so quickly. So the lower price point is likely closer to the perceived value for a larger audience.
“Price point” is the point at which I am willing to pay the price for something. Or equally, the price at which the owner is willing to sell.
People whose price point for your books is below 2.99 won’t buy them at that price, people whose price point is above will.
Then, there are dopes like me who will say, “Man! That’s expensive, but I’ll buy it anyway.” I think of that every time I see the Teavana tin in our cupboard.