Struggling with decisions about launching new series

[Second Dawn]

Hi all! Long time lurker here, first time poster I'm hoping to glean some wisdom from all you veterans!

So far, I have two historical standalones published, which do decently well (better than I expected them to when I started this whole indie thing). I'm jumping ship to fantasy though, and plan to stay within that genre forever (hahaha famous last words).

Anyway, I'm launching a new gaslamp fantasy series of at least four books later this year. I have a book 1, book 2, book 3 and a shorter prequel novel (which can be read at any point). I plan to use the prequel novel as a reader magnet and advertise in Books 1, 2 and 3. HOWEVER, I have the idea to publish it first, wide and permafree, in an effort to garner some visibility for this series and maybe/hopefully land a Bookbub feature on it. I've had zero success getting Bookbubs on my historical novels (despite really good reviews), but they are in KU which I think makes things tough. So I'm hoping if I have a wide permafree, my chances would go up. The plan is to publish the prequel 3 months before book 1, then unpublish it once Book 1 comes out so that I can then use it as a reader magnet exclusively available to my subscribers.

I would put the series itself (Books 1, 2, 3, etc.) in KU and release them all 3 weeks apart, priced at 99 cents for book 1, 3.99 for book 2 and 4.99 for book 3. There will probably be a book 4 at some point, but I wouldn't write that until next year.

Mainly, is this insane? Am I going about this all wrong? I've cobbled together this strategy in my head after reading a million different posts and books but can't say I've found anyone who's done this exact thing before, so I'd LOVE to hear from someone who has, or at least something close to it.

My short-term goals include getting as many readers into the series as possible, hence the free and 99c intro points.

My long-term goal is to make bank authoring, but I understand that's probably a few years down the road. For now, I'm willing to sink cash into this as an investment in the future in order to build a reader base that will eventually sustain me.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[MonkeyWithAPen]

I don't recommend trying for a free Bookbub unless the series is complete, and I also don't think it's a great strategy to have your series in KU if you're promoting a prequel that's wide. I believe Bookbub subscribers tend to be buyers more than KU borrowers to begin with, so even if you did wait until the series was complete to try for the BBFD, you're leaving money on the table by not having a wide series to sell through from that wide freebie.

What you *should* do, I can't say. I just spent a year in KU after being wide and regret it because my wide visibility eroded. I'm back 100% wide again and it's a struggle to gain traction on the non-Amazon retailers but I did land my first BBFD in over a year just a month after being wide again. But I firmly believe you need to be all in one way or the other, it doesn't really pay to straddle both worlds (KU vs wide).

[TimothyEllis]

Being wide doesn't really help with Bookbub if you've never had one before. If their pickers decide they don't like the way you write, nothing will change their minds.

The prequel wide will only have the wrong effect wide, because when your book 1 goes into KU, they won't be able to get it. It's like promising a banquet after nibbles, and then telling people its invitation only. It doesn't go down well.

Be in KU, or not, and be consistent about it.

Your pricing probably won't work. The prequel should be 99c, and the 3 books 2.99 each. As a new author with only 2 books, you can't command a higher price until you have enough fans willing to pay it.

If you upscale each book, you risk people thinking the next higher priced book is not going to be worth it, and increasing your drop off rate for no good reason.

What you do is price the same at 2.99, and get a group of fans from them. The next 3 also get priced at 2.99. Then with the 3rd trilogy, you up all except book 1 to 3.99. A year later if you get feedback its ok from fans, you can up them to 4.99.

This is assuming you are writing decent length novels, and people want to read them.

Pricing can kill you if you get it wrong. Early on, authors need to balance price with sales numbers.

And remember, until you get that third book out, people will hold off getting the first one. If book 3 is 4.99, and they've not read book 1 yet, they may decide not to. So instead of 3 x 2.99, you get nothing, because 4.99 scared them off.

I'd also release 30 days apart rather than 3 weeks. Use the new release lists to the maximum.