World, Writing, Wealth discussion
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Price of eBooks ??? Outrageous ?
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So far that book has not been written lol. Pricing is an oddity, however. There were times I was unable to sell things on ebay until I raised the price.
Hm, I might pay $10 for an ebook I REALLY wanted, but I would still be cringing ha.
Some simply buy a name regardless of the quality of either the writing or the content, others buy a promising story.My Ripper Hunting Days
I attribute the rising prices of paperback and hardcover books to the ever increasing cost of paper. I've actually seen a few famous authors charge $19.99 for an ebook. I have a few thoughts on this, besides Yikes!I don't have the shelf space for the books I've read and want to keep, so ebooks have come in quite handy. I've noticed some authors charging the same for the electronic and paperback versions of their book. I have no problem with that. Personally, I guess I won't pay more than $10 for an ebook.
Now, from an aspiring indie author standpoint, I worry about the stigma attached. People seem to expect indies to offer ebooks cheaply or free, like the product is second quality. Also, some readers concentrate on an ebook being just an electronic file, forgetting the talent and workmanship of the author in creating a quality product, no matter the format.
I've never used my indie status as a factor in decifing on pricing. If I've put in the work of a more well known trad author i will price my books accordingly. I think it's best to price your books according to genre and the subsequent market. If other books in your genre are selling for $8.99 and you price yours at $1.99 there are some readers who will jump at the chance to give your book a try but most will assume it is somehow inferior to the other books in that category. A $2-3 difference seems okay, in my opinion but people judge quality on such subjective measures sometimes. Pricing will also vary depending on whether or not you have a series going or not. The first in a series is usually less expensive than subsequent books because it is a funnel to your series. Another school of thought centers around the size of your market. If your fanbase is large enough and you have a fairly deep back catalog you can ostensibly afford to charge a little less per book because you will make it up in volume. I am not nearly successful enough to test these theories but I am pretty satisfied with my pricing. My ebook is $4.99 while most books in my genre go for around $8.99. My book is less than 200 pages so I am very comfortable with this. The paperback is $9.99 and the Audible version is $14.99. None of these price points have been an issue and I've even been surprised at how many of my Audible sales have been full price as opposed to the sales that come from Audible members who pay a fraction of the full price. If people really want a book they will pay.
Subjective is the right word for it, Tara. So many things go into pricing, as you said, the genre, standalone or series, audience, average market price, and so on. And I agree people will pay if they want it bad enough, especially if it's from their favorite author. Sounds like you found your spot. Great! As a new author I plan to publish my first in series low in hopes of attracting readers that will want to read my second installment, which will be priced higher. When I publish the second, I will offer the first one free for a week in hopes of attracting more readers.
Sue (Rescue Dog Mom) wrote: "Subjective is the right word for it, Tara. So many things go into pricing, as you said, the genre, standalone or series, audience, average market price, and so on. And I agree people will pay if th..."iI like your strategy and intend to do the same when my second book comes out in march. Our own Marie Silk actually puts the muscle of her marketing behind her first book in the Davenport seies which makes a lot of sense as well. :)
Yes, I see Marie's track record here and in another GR group. She's doing well for herself.Shout out to Marie!! Great job!!
Tara wrote: "If other books in your genre are selling for $8.99 and you price yours at $1.99 there are some readers who will jump at the chance to give your book a try but most will assume it is somehow inferior to the other books in that category."i completely agree with this. i'd look at the top 100 in your (sub-)genre to gauge your price point. you don't want buyers to double-think themselves by pricing your book too far from the norm. potential buyers look at the cover, price, blurb, rating, and reviews before they ever look to see who the publisher is--if they ever do. don't encourage them to look.
instead use the principle of Scarcity to create demand by putting your book on sale. (Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion)
oh i didn't answer your OP.$10 for the kindle edition of The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction: Tips from Editors, Teachers, and Writers in the Field--and i haven't even put it to good use yet!
$2.99 for a fiction ebook.
$10.27 for the hardcopy edition of Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How to Edit Yourself Into Print--which i have already used extensively in my horror writing.
I can understand that publishers want to project the image of 'Mercedes' as opposed to indies, but I wouldn't pay these prices. I think the price range of 2-7 $ for an e-book seems reasonable. Beyond that - you just pay for a brand.Unless brand indeed means much superior quality or offers clear value for the price, I don't like to pay twice/thrice/whatever as much just for the brand, be it Armani shirt, Brioni suit and so on...
Thank you, Tara and Sue :)Michael, are you going to change your profile to an author profile? Goodreads has a good thing going for its author program imo and you can link your blog. Regarding the ranks, I want to say that Alex posted something recently about mythbusting the Amazon algorithm. Part of it suggested books that mean more profit for Amazon get special treatment in the ranks. Maybe that NYT guy is selling a ton of books or maybe his high price has potential to make Amazon more money, or both :D. There can be some strategy in having a higher priced ebook.
There was a thing on my KDP dashboard that showed a graph with sales stats of books similar to mine. At the top of the graph were the books selling at 2.99 and 3.99, but books selling for less or more than those prices were dramatically less.
I have kept my books at 2.99 and hoped for the best, offering the first in the series for free 5 days of every 90-day Select enrollment period. So I see my books as reaching 3 audiences simultaneously: the freebie audience, the Kindle Unlimited subscribers, and the readers who are okay with spending 2.99 on ebooks.
I did read something interesting about 99p books doing way better on Amazon UK than 99 cent books do on Amazon.com. I plan to experiment with different price points next year, so we will see how it goes. Incidentally, I'm having a record-breaking sales week so I'm hesitant to change anything :D. It's Thanksgiving week in the U.S. which means Americans generally spend more money than any other week. They're also looking for sales, so might be a good time to hop on the holiday sale/Cyber Monday bandwagon :).
Denise wrote: "I've read that the traditional publishers want to squash this eBook craze by increasing their eBook prices. I haven't seen any books that you described with such high costs for both. With tradition..."All good points and thanks for the link!
Denise wrote: "I've read that the traditional publishers want to squash this eBook craze by increasing their eBook prices. I haven't seen any books that you described with such high costs for both. With tradition..."You may be right but if so their strategy is misfiring, at least with me; instead of an ebook, I buy the paperback secondhand off Amazon instead, for as little as a cent plus $3.99 postage.
It might be time for publishers to grow up and face a changing world.
Marie wrote: "Michael, are you going to change your profile to an author profile? Goodreads has a good thing going for its author program imo and you can link your blog."I dont even know how to do that, is there someone I have to write to?
The NYT guy is selling a ton of books. He's pretty highly ranked across the spectrum. He's got 3 other best sellers out there. Needless to say though, $27.00 for a paperback just seems outrageous. Im sure its not him making the pricing decisions since he's with Random House.
I just dont see how this type of pricing structure isnt going to lead to 1) widespread piracy issues or 2) drive more people to Kindle Unlimited.
Books shouldnt be major purchasing decisions. lol
Michael wrote: "I dont even know how to do that, is there someone I have to write to?"Here are the instructions on joining the author program. To sum up, you need to look up your book on the goodreads search and claim it as yours. Then goodreads will set you up as an author which will give you a new profile with bio, blog, dashboard, and ability to do giveaways :).
https://www.goodreads.com/author/program
The most I've paid for an ebook was $13.99 or $14.99 for Patrick Redmond's first novel The Wishing Game. I've read it many times but just wanted it on my kindle.The idea of ebooks being the same price as a physical copy is bogus in my opinion though. The costs associated with digital are far less than print and to charge the same is just gouging your readers.
Marie wrote: "Here are the instructions on joining the author program. To sum up, you need to look up your book on the good..."Thank you. They didnt have my book yet so I had to submit it. Hopefully they will get back to me shortly.
I think I had to submit my book information too at first. It took a couple of days to get my new profile but some authors mentioned recently that it was taking a week for them. Good luck :).
Hi Marie, When you change to an author profile, do you lose your nickname... as in, while I lose mine. Actually, I'll have to change it, but still want something funny. Thanks! Hugs!
Here's an example of some wild pricing I've seen.
$36.86 for Kindle and $38.80 Hardcover
Though this book is nonfiction science, I've seen similar pricing in contemporary fiction and contemporary romance. $19.99 for Kindle and paperback and $28 for hardcover.
Hmm I'm not sure. I thought you could make it say whatever you wanted, but I tried to change my name to display first and last name, and for some reason it is only showing as Marie again.edit: okay, fixed it again. It should show your nickname if you type it all in the first name field of your user profile.
What I find interesting is people are saying that they draw the line at $10 for an ebook, but at the same time, the likes of me selling at $2.99 does not get a lot of traction. It would seem that price is not really a particularly determining feature at purchase?
Ian wrote: "What I find interesting is people are saying that they draw the line at $10 for an ebook, but at the same time, the likes of me selling at $2.99 does not get a lot of traction. It would seem that p..."Unfortunately for all of us price only matters after you've gained visibility...something we all strive for.
Marie, Thanks for the info! Yay!! Hugs
Sorry to jump in at this late stage with a question that is probably going to make everyone groan : when you talk about ebooks are you including books that are available on kindle and in paperback and in hardcover? Or is there some spedific ebook category to which you are referring?
Ebooks only refer to digital copies, not physical (hardback, paperback) copies :).
World, Writing, Wealth
Books mentioned in this topic
Hemlock: A Forest Giant on the Edge (other topics)The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction: Tips from Editors, Teachers, and Writers in the Field (other topics)
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How to Edit Yourself Into Print (other topics)
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (other topics)
My Ripper Hunting Days (other topics)
There's a NYT Best Selling author who is kicking my butt in "Hot New Releases" in a small subcategory that I just cant get ahead of...Im at #3/4 and he is always at #1. His Kindle eBook is priced at $13.99 and his paperback is at $27.00. Its not only him, the #1 in the subcategory is priced at $12.99 for his eBook.
Who's buying eBooks for this price? And paperbacks for $27.00 - geez.