[Ancient Awakenings Publications] VoFT now $5.00 / Observations of PDF prices...

[philreed]

We're hovering around 5-7% purchases to views. I think this is unusually high.

That's a fantastic percentage!

Per Phil's thinking, we're toying with the idea of runing shorter publications that won't cost our normal $10 per file.

Good luck with it!

 

[johnsemlak]

Originally Posted by philreed

A subscription model is also something I expect to see gain popularity.

Not really. Look at direkobold.com

What ever happened to direkobold.com?

 

[mroberon1972]

I do not have VoFT but my guess is that you made a mistake by lowering the price. You just released it, it has been in the news, you are pimping it like a $2-hooker, and now you drop the price, what is a consumer gonna think? I would think that no one is buying it. Then I would wonder why and go somewhere else with my money.

Really? because that is not the way I have seen people's reactions to be overall.

Generally, It seems that people are less willing to pay 6.95 than the 5.00. This goes beyond the differance in price, it sees to be enhanced by people's perceptions of PDFs and what value they hold in general. This seems to go beyond the quality or density of a PDF. Also, keep in mind, many PDFs are priced in a wide range. There does not seem to be a defined pricing system for them since they have no manufacturing costs (yes, they have design costs, but people seem to ignore that for some reason...).

I had been thinking that half the cost for the print book was a good price, but it seems that may have been off by a bit.

 

[tensen]

Completely new publishers trying to run a subscription service will have a much harder time doing so. The customers have no way of knowing if this is a serious outfit with the skills and financing to do what they claim or if it's just a guy with an idea who will get bored with it in a month.

Yes... but what about d20 weekly? That didn't seem to work out, even though it had quality work, and known authors... and supported by a well known company.

 

[tensen]

Getting back on topic here...

Based on the little bit shared by other publishers and our own experiences, a conversion rate of 1.6% (sales / visits) is about average. I'd be very interested to hear other publishers come forward with their own sales conversion percentages demonstrating otherwise.

Well that would be hard to say for sure, because over time the number of views per sales seems to change....sometimes more views per sales, sometimes less, depending on the product and the niche. Extremely niche products that are obvious in name as niche products get a higher sell through later on, because people already know what they are intending to look at.

But I'd say for conversion rates, here are some of my products.
6.2% is the latest one, and it is getting a lot less sales than I hoped for... but less views to. All-time best seller for us still has 4.2%. Everything else ranges from 3% at the worst, to 7% at the best.

 

[philreed]

Yes... but what about d20 weekly? That didn't seem to work out, even though it had quality work, and known authors... and supported by a well known company.

I'm not sure what happened there and don't feel it proper for me to discuss the matter in too much detail (considering my position with the publisher of D20 Weekly). I think part of the problem is that the zine wasn't given the time necessary to attract new customers. I feel any successful subscription service will need to operate at a loss for at least 2 years.

PDF subscription services, such as one in which you receive a new 10-page PDF each week, should also be prepared to operate at a loss.