This document summarizes Amazon's e-book promotion strategies and evaluates their effectiveness. It discusses promotions like the Sunshine Deal, The Big Deal, and monthly deals that lowered e-book prices to $0.99-$2.99 for periods. Analysis found these promotions significantly increased e-book sales by 3000% during the promotion but also had longer term benefits by exposing more readers to titles and series. However, promotions could cannibalize print sales. The document aims to determine how promotions impact sales of different title types and whether benefits are sustained over time.

1. Cheap and Free: Evaluating
Amazon’s E-book Promotions
Krista Coulson
University of Chicago Press
AAUP Annual Meeting
New Orleans, Louisiana
June 23, 2014

2. Amazon Promotions: (That we’ve done)
 Sunshine Deal &The Big Deal
◦ 2-week promotion, $0.99-$2.99
 Monthly Deal
◦ 1-month promotion, $0.99-$2.99
 Custom Promotions
◦ Organized by UCP across multiple e-
booksellers
 1-Day Promotions
◦ 1-day promotion, $0.99-$2.99

3. Our Questions
 Will super cheap e-book
promos suck (more
valuable) sales away from
the print versions?
 If we have to fund a
promo by creating a
promotional price, are
we saturating our
market with the promo
sale and hurting
ourselves in the long
run?
 How do promos work
for different kinds of
titles?
 Is a promo just a ‘flash in
the pan’ in attention or
revenue, or does it have
a longer benefit for a
title overall?
 Is there meaning in the
universe? What existed
before the Big Bang?

4. Sunshine Deal June 2011
much tall
3000%
Increase!!!
very sales
wow

5. Sunshine Deal June 2011

6. Sunshine Deal June 2011
-4 Wks -2 Wks Promo +2 Wks +4 Wks +6 Wks +8 Wks
E-book Unit Sales E-book

7. E- and Print Unit Sales
-4 Wks -2 Wks Promo +2 Wks +4 Wks +6 Wks +8 Wks
Print E-book

8. E- and Print Unit Sales with Revenue
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
140%
-4 Wks -2 Wks Promo +2 Wks +4 Wks +6 Wks +8 Wks
Print E-book % Rev over Baseline

9. Sunshine Deal 2011
Literature
Biology
History
History/GLBTQ Studies
Fiction
Popular Science
Film Studies
History/Women's Studies
Education
Ethnography
Travel
Political Science
Revenue Change Before and After the Promotion
0

10. The Big Deal
Amazon rolls out a bunch of promotions:
 The Big Deal
 The Monthly Deal
 The Amazon 100
 The Daily Deal
 1-day Promotions

11. Big Deal 2012
-40%
-20%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
140%
160%
180%
E-book Print % Rev Change

12. Big Deal 2013
-50%
0%
50%
100%
150%
200%
250%
-6 Wks -4 Wks -2 Wks Promo +2 Wks +4 Wks +6 Wks
E-books Print % Rev Change

13. COMPLETELY
DIFFERENT!
And now for something

14. Chicago Shorts Experiment
 From Nov 4- Dec 9th 2013 we made 17
of our 18 Chicago Shorts free on every
platform.
 We didn’t publicize or announce it, and to
my knowledge neither did Amazon or any
of our other e-booksellers.

15. 5 weeks of Free Period
11/3-11/9 11/10-11/16 11/17-11/23 11/24-11/30 12/1-12/7
Total Shorts Units on Amazon

16. Total Units of 17 Shorts (Sept –May)9/1-9/7
9/8-9/14
9/15-9/21
9/22-9/28
9/29-10/5
10/6-10/12
10/13-10/19
10/20-10/26
10/27-11/2
11/3-11/9
11/10-11/16
11/17-11/23
11/24-11/30
12/1-12/7
12/9-12/15
12/16-12/22
12/23-12/29
12/30-1/5/14
1/6-1/12
1/13-1/19
1/20-1/26
1/27-2/2
2/3-2/9
2/10-2/16
2/17-2/23
2/24-3/2
3/3-3/9
3/10-3/16
3/17-3/23
3/24-3/30
3/31-4/6
4/7-4//13
4/14-4/20
4/21-4/27
4-28-5/4
5/5-5/11
5/12-5/18
Free Period

17. Shorts Source Titles by Binding
1-Sep
8-Sep
15-Sep
22-Sep
29-Sep
6-Oct
13-Oct
20-Oct
27-Oct
3-Nov
10-Nov
17-Nov
24-Nov
1-Dec
8-Dec
15-Dec
22-Dec
29-Dec
5-Jan
12-Jan
19-Jan
26-Jan
2-Feb
9-Feb
16-Feb
23-Feb
2-Mar
9-Mar
16-Mar
23-Mar
30-Mar
6-Apr
13-Apr
20-Apr
27-Apr
4-May
11-May
E-book Total Cloth Total Paper TotalFree Period

18. All titles compared to Shorts Source Titles
1-Sep
8-Sep
15-Sep
22-Sep
29-Sep
6-Oct
13-Oct
20-Oct
27-Oct
3-Nov
10-Nov
17-Nov
24-Nov
1-Dec
8-Dec
15-Dec
22-Dec
29-Dec
5-Jan
12-Jan
19-Jan
26-Jan
2-Feb
9-Feb
16-Feb
23-Feb
2-Mar
9-Mar
16-Mar
23-Mar
30-Mar
6-Apr
13-Apr
20-Apr
27-Apr
4-May
11-May
E-book Total Cloth Total Paper Total Total Units NOT Including Shorts and Shorts-Related Titles
Free Period

19. SOME OTHER LESSONS
WE LEARNED
Promotions:

20. Promo Impact on Author Royalties
Pre-Promo During Promo Post-Promo >6wks after
E-book Royalties Print Royalties

21. 1-Week Custom Promo
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
140%
All 19 Other Bk 1 Promo Movie Tie-in % Rev Over Baseline

22. Big Deal:The Series Effect
-6 Wks -4 Wks -2 Wks Promo +2 Wks +4 Wks +6 Wks
Promo Units Bk2 Units Bk3 Units Bk 4 Units

23. Monthly Deal: Series Effect
Promo Bk 1 Bk 2 Bk 3 Bk 4 Non-Series Book by Author
Promo Period

24. Revenue for the Series
0%
50%
100%
150%
200%
250%
300%
350%
400%
P-6 Avg P Average P+6 Avg P+10 Avg
E-books P-Books Total % over Pre-Promo