Am I thinking wrongly about launching my ebook sequel?

[Gregg Bell]

I'm trying to do the right thing before jumping in to launching the sequel to my legal thriller. I want to run a stacking promo of 99 cent ads for the sequel and then end with a Written Word Media one-day free stack. But so much of what I'm reading is saying to make the first book 99 cents and leave the sequel at full price (which for me would be $4.99). What do you guys think?

I've also heard of running the promos for the sequel at 99 cents and putting a line atop the sequel's blurb saying: "The first book in the series is also discounted." and pricing the first book at 99 cents or maybe 2.99 (the regular price is 4.99). Does this sound like a plan? Also is that first discount line atop the sequel blurb acceptable to KDP?

[alhawke]

You will get the best results by running the first book discounted. But you'll still see sales of the other book if you run the second one at a reduced price. That's been my experience. So 

I never run an advertisement on my blurb for fear that Amazon will consider this a violation. Way back when, I read that there are concerns with Amazon TOS regarding this. But I'm unsure.

[Bill Hiatt]

Yeah, Amazon doesn't want allusion to prices or sales in your product description. I assume this is because people forget to change them when the promotion is over.

I usually debut a book at a reduced price. Results vary. Sometimes, if the book is far into a series, people won't notice it if I don't do something like that. But with a book 2, it's much more likely people coming for the discount on book 1 will notice it.

[Gregg Bell]

Thanks a lot, A.L. and Bill.

[Jeff Tanyard]

Just out of curiosity, how many books are you planning to have in this series?

[Gregg Bell]

Just out of curiosity, how many books are you planning to have in this series?

Hi Jeff. I don't really know. I could see it going to five though.

[Gregg Bell]

You will get the best results by running the first book discounted. But you'll still see sales of the other book if you run the second one at a reduced price. That's been my experience. So 

I never run an advertisement on my blurb for fear that Amazon will consider this a violation. Way back when, I read that there are concerns with Amazon TOS regarding this. But I'm unsure.

Okay here's my latest thoughts. A string of 99 cent promos on the second book and have the first book priced at 99 cents too. Then after a month, run a Freebooksy/Fussy Written Word Media free thing on the first book. Then the next day, up the first book to $2.99 and make the second book $4.99.

I've been reading more and more of what you were saying about advertising the first book in a series. I know that's pretty conventional thinking, but I was hesitant to do that because it just worked well with my first book (making it free after the run of 99 cent promos) that it was hard to shift gears on the Book 2. But I figure, if I want, later, I could run a free day/promo on Book 2 as well.

And I'll run some sponsored product ads for Book 2. And maybe some keyword ads for Book 2 too, but sponsored product ads work better for me (despite having no idea how they work!).

[Bill Hiatt]

None of us know all the details of how AMS ads work. Amazon moves in mysterious ways...