Ebook Pricing Strategy for a Stand Alone Novel?

Every now and then someone asks me what I think about such-and-such price for an ebook. I’ve talked a lot about how I like free or 99 cents for a Book 1 in a series, thus to let people try the first adventure at low (or no) risk and perhaps find themselves interested enough to purchase more. This has worked well for me with my Emperor’s Edge series.

But what if you’ve just published your first novel and don’t have any others out? Or what if you’re not doing a series, and all of your ebooks are unrelated? I had to consider this with my stand-alone fantasy adventure, Encrypted.

Long-time author Dean Wesley Smith suggests $6.99 to $7.99 for full-length novels, saying that this price range is a bargain when compared to most ebooks put out by traditional publishers. I haven’t come across too many self-published authors pricing their ebooks that highly yet, but that doesn’t mean you can’t try it. I’m certainly all for authors making a living wage from their work (though it’s important to be realistic and not expect to make a living wage from one book — as we’ve discussed before, most successful indies have multiple books and often multiple series out).

I started out selling Encrypted for $2.99 (to earn the 70% royalty) and later raised it to $3.95 when I increased the prices of my Emperor’s Edge novels to $4.95. Could I make more if I raised the price further? Perhaps, perhaps not.

One thing to remember is that your earnings aren’t a result of price alone. Units sold must be considered. X * Y = Z, right? Raise either X (price) or Y (units sold), and your earnings go up. But raising X might cause Y to drop to such a point that Z is lower.

A common mistake authors make when choosing price

A lot of authors get hung up on their own perceptions of the value of the novel. I put a year’s work into this, and I know it’s an awesome read, so it has to be worth at least $X.XX per book. But what if it turned out that you could make more money each month by selling the ebook at 99 cents instead of the $6.99 or whatever you thought it was worth?

There’s no guarantee that this would be the case (and we’ve seen evidence that Amazon is making it harder for the 99-cent titles to rank well on the popularity lists), but I believe, if increasing income is your main motivation, it’s best to experiment and not let your own beliefs dictate price. Why adamantly say that you sell all novels for $X.XX when it may turn out that X novel in one genre earns more when it’s selling for $4.95 whereas Y novel in a different genre pulls in a greater income at $2.99? Or even $9.99?

As authors and creators, it’s hard for us to be dispassionate about our work, but it’s best not to be married to any one particular number. Try one price, see how well the novel sells, then try other prices, higher and lower to find the sweet spot. (Keep in mind that if sales are dismal, price is only one factor — get an outside opinion on the cover art, blurb, and sample pages. Also having some reviews on the book’s sales page is crucial.)

In the end, of course, it’s up to you and what’s important to you as a writer. I honestly haven’t experimented with > $5 price tags because I’m making a nice income right where I’m at. I like that the reader gets a deal and that I make enough to pay the bills and cover my chocolate and latte addictions.

What do you guys think? Have you found a sweet spot for your stand alone novels? Did you try 99 cents, and did it do anything for you? Is anyone selling well at $6.99 or above?

 

Related Posts:

How to Sell Advanced Reader Copies as a Self-Published Author
How to Upload Ebooks Directly to Apple/iTunes with Danielle Bourdon
Beyond Smashwords — My Plans to Upload Ebooks Directly to Apple & Kobo