My Book Pricing

I wanted to take a moment to address my book pricing. I have gotten so much awesome feedback from all of you that I wanted to say thank you. You might be wondering what for… that is easy.

Thank you for telling me my books are worth more than I price them at. That means the world to me. I know its hard to make a dollar last nowadays and I try as hard as I can to keep my books priced within reason. I am nearly totally self-published/indie now so that means ALL of the expense of creating a book, releasing a book and marketing a book fall squarely upon my shoulders.

I am not the type of author who writes a book in the morning and releases it in the afternoon. I take pride in my work. I take pride in my series, my worlds and my brand.

I pay for multiple editing stages. Proofing (this is the step that happens as soon as I finish a book–I often have 2-3 proofers on one project alone). Editing (Content) the next step. Editing 2nd Round (Line Editing). Final Line Editing.

I have started outsourcing the cover art and ad creation because of time restraints and trust me this cost ads up.

I pay for formatting assistance and assistance uploading to vendors.

None of this includes the marketing that goes into each book and the ad creation. This has cost me as much as $14,000 for one title and as little as $2,000 for one (that did not sell well I’d like to add here).

Audio books cost me a LOT to have made and to market.

Print book creation has costs involved as well.

Setting aside all of the costs, let’s talk about the time I put into each book. I do this full-time. I often work 10-14 hour days, forgoing family time and any time I’d have with friends. I have worked through every single vacation the Roths have taken in the past 12 years.

I am ashamed to admit I often spend time I should be exercising or getting out and living life, writing and engaging with my reader base online to be sure I keep up on all the titles readers want to see more of. I LOVE writing. I LOVE my job. I LOVE my readers. I love staying in contact with them. I have no complaints in this area. I’m doing what I love to do.

That being said, I’m going to start the process of raising my prices slightly. I do still offer amazing box set deals, limited time specials, pre-order savings, but overall my prices will see a slight increase.

I wanted to reach out and thank you all for your understanding and encouragement in this area. I struggled for nearly two years with do I or don’t I and the deciding factor was all of you stressing that my work is quality work and doesn’t need to be discounted to rock bottom basement clear-out pricing.

So, again, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

With love,

Mandy