#124: The Author Readthrough Puzzle

Read Time: 2 Minutes

I've been having several conversations with different clients over the past few months about pricing and readthrough.

And one of my clients shared something that's been rattling around in my head ever since.

They were pricing their series with Book 1 at $0.99 and Book 2 at $2.99. Pretty standard stuff.

And their readthrough from Book 1 to Book 2 was sitting at 23%.

Not abysmal. But not great either.

Then they tried something.

Bumped Book 1 up to $2.99 and Book 2 up to $3.99.

Same books. Same covers. Same blurbs.

Readthrough? 52 (that's not a typo – readthrough more than doubled).

Book 2 to Book 3 (both at $3.99) hit 80% readthrough. And it stayed in the 75-85% range for the rest of the series.

Now, here's what I found fascinating.

In Kindle Unlimited (KU), the story was completely different.

Book 1 to Book 2 readthrough? 92%. Didn't matter what the purchase price was; $0.99, $2.99, the readthrough remained at the 90% mark.

Book 2 to Book 3? 85% readthrough. And Kindle Unlimited readthrough stayed around 90% for the whole series.

So what's going on?

I don't think it's that $0.99 is bad. It works brilliantly for a lot of authors—especially in certain genres or with longer series.

A $0.99 Book 1 can get you better rankings, more algorithmic love from Amazon, and stronger visibility in KU.

But it does change who picks up your book.

At $0.99, you're casting a wider net. Some readers are genuinely interested. Others are just browsing, grabbing anything cheap. They're less invested from the start.

And in fact, $0.99 readers may never even read your book; it will just sit on their TBR (To Be Read) shelf for months or years to come.

At $2.99 or $3.99, you're filtering for intent. The person buying has made a deliberate choice. They're more likely to finish.

KU readers? They've already committed with their subscription. They're there to read, not bargain hunt. So readthrough stays high regardless of your pricing strategy outside of KU.

Now, let's talk money for a second.

You will likely know this already, but it's worth repeating: below $2.99, you earn 35% royalties with zero delivery fees. At $2.99 or higher, you get 70% royalties minus delivery fees.

That's not a small difference.

A $0.99 book nets you about 35 cents. A $2.99 book? Around $2.04 (depending on your delivery fee).

If you're permanently priced at $0.99, you need to sell nearly six times as many copies to match the revenue of a $2.99 book. And that's before we even talk about readthrough.

But what I love about the $2.99+ strategy is the flexibility it gives you.

You're not locked in.

You can run occasional $0.99 Kindle Countdown Deals. Bring in a wave of new readers. Get that visibility boost and ranking spike. Then return to your regular price.

Those $0.99 readers? Some will be bargain hunters who never finish. But some will fall in love with your series and buy through at full price.

You get the best of both worlds—the visibility of $0.99 when you need it, and the reader quality and royalty rate of higher pricing the rest of the time.

Neither approach is wrong.

But understanding the trade-offs matter.

If you're optimizing for volume, visibility, and rankings, $0.99 can be powerful.

If you're optimizing for engaged readers who finish and readthrough, higher pricing might serve you better. Plus, you keep the option to drop the price strategically when you want that visibility surge.

The point isn't that one strategy beats the other.

It's that price isn't just about revenue per sale. It shapes who shows up, what they do next, and how much you earn along the way.

Some authors are highly profitable at $0.99.

Other authors struggle to make any sort of profit at $2.99+ because they're just not getting the volume of readers they need through the front door (Book 1).

There's no one-size-fits-all with any of this..

It's about knowing what you're optimizing for—and having the flexibility to adjust when the data tells you something isn't working.

And if your readthrough feels low, it's worth asking: am I attracting readers who actually want to finish this series?

Sometimes a small shift in price answers that question.

To Your Success
– Matt