What happens when the rulers of a country ban a book?
Haha!
A sales explosion, that is what.
Once the government of South Africa said they were going to ban this book, its ranking on the Amazon Kindle Paid Books list jumped to #23.
“The President’s Keepers” was released on October 29, 2017. It is about the dirty politics of South Africa and a corrupt government, written by a person who has a ringside seat to the action.
The sub-title of the book is “Those Keeping Zuma in power and out of prison”.
On the first print run, the publisher printed 20,000 copies. When it hit store shelves in South Africa today, it sold out on day one.
The South African government, more specifically the National Security Agency in South Africa, knee-jerked and made a public declaration that it was going to ban the book.
This book that had been doing reasonably well on Amazon shot up to #23 in the Amazon Paid Kindle Books Ranking on Friday (November 3rd, 2017).
If you love stories filled with political intrigue, you are going to love this book. Do check it out.
What can we learn from this as book authors?
If the desire to read the book is strong enough, consumers don’t think $15.49 is not too much to pay for an ebook.
The perceived value of the book has to be higher than the perceived value of the money asked in exchange for the book. If the perceived value is there, the price does not matter.
Bill Platt
Ponca City, Oklahoma USA