Regardless of price point, every product (reward tiers are also products) requires a positive value proposition, be it a Ferrari or a box of mints. That price is determined by the market, which has nothing to do with what everyone else is doing, but with how consumers evaluate your specific products. Ferrari doesn't set their pricing based upon what Porsche is doing. (This concept is known as differentiation.) So, it doesn't matter that I can get product X cheaper, if I only want product Y. (This concept is known as fungibility, or how interchangeable products are with one another.) And yes, books obey the same basic set of business/market theories as sports cars and mints.
This type of brand loyalty (fan support) happens all the time; sports teams, be it Manchester United, the New England Patriots or Alabama football, are an extreme example, but it’s also true of books (King, Grisham, Clancy, Nora). The linchpin is trust, and that takes time to earn – but only seconds to lose, so let that be a warning/reminder about the dangers of social media and unrealistic expectations.
Try different stuff and experiment, but above all - have patience. The cliché that this is a marathon and not a sprint is demonstrably true. The ditches along the self-publishing road are full up with Indies that washed out along the way. Good luck and remember to have fun!
