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July 28, 2010

How Do You Price Your Books? [Discussion]

In the past couple of weeks, we have seen a lot of chatter on Twitter about how indie authors do (and should) price their books. In fact, we considered making the subject our discussion topic for last week, before settling on What Is Your Definition of Self-Publishing?

Lo and behold, our good friend Self-Publishing Central published a post last Friday that goes along perfectly with this topic, and it got some great responses. In reply to Bargain eBooks — What Do You Think? reader Linda Pendleton wrote:

I don’t have a Kindle reader and I personally would hesitate buying an unknown author’s book for a buck. Low pricing makes one wonder if an author devalues his own work, and if the quality of the writing may be questionable. Then again, low pricing can affect authors who price higher as some readers may only look for bargain basement prices.

So pricing for us is a challenge, no doubt.

Great responses by everyone over there — check it out and be sure to add your two cents!

Discussion Questions

In this week’s discussion, we want to hear your thoughts on book pricing — not just for eBooks, but print books as well. Tell us:

  • What was your process for settling on your book’s price (both print and eBook versions)? Did you take into account your expenses during production? Research other books in your genre?
  • In general, do you believe the price of a book is a reflection of its quality? Does the current trend of low-price eBooks buck or continue this trend?
  • Since setting your price, have you regretted your choice, or changed it if you have the option? If so, why?
  • How do book prices affect your habits as a reader? How much are you willing to spend on an eBook vs a printed book?

Just my personal $.02 on the topic: The steady stream of $.99 eBooks makes it hard to stand out unless you’re marketing directly (via Twitter/website/etc). I’m willing to spend up to $6 to try out an eBook from an unknown author (if they offer a generous sample). Anything higher-priced than that and I tend to stick to authors I know.

What do you all think?

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  • I priced my debut paranormal romance novella Forsaken By Shadow at $1 for the first almost 4 months it was out. I’m a no name, and the point was to begin building an audience/following, and there are enough people out there who are willing to drop a buck to try someone they’ve never heard of. Being that it’s a novella, I didn’t feel comfortable charging full length novel prices and most people seem to be okay with a buck because they spend more on their designer coffee. That having been said, I recently changed the price to $1.99 just to see what would happen. I didn’t get a good run at the new price point before Amazon discounted it back to $1, so I don’t really have viable data on how price affected sales.

    As a reader, I’m much more likely to plunk down $2 or less to try a new author. I might even go up to $3.99 for a full length novel, but I’m very picky and religiously use samples to determine whether it’s something I might actually like to read. Ebooks are not a physical product, so I expect them to be cheaper than paperbacks (there is no paper to print and have to store, so that part of the cost equation should be eliminated). Even at a $2.99 price point (which J. A. Konrath has clearly proven is a viable pricing level), authors are still making more with Amazon’s DTP program than they are on the paperback put out by traditional publishers. In an economy where people have less discretionary income, I think it makes sense to keep prices low. I feel like if it’s between me at $1 or $1.99 and someone else who prices their comparable novella at $5.99 or higher, readers will be more likely to choose me.

    • Toni

      Great points, Kait! Having a generous sample really is the best way to entice me into purchasing. After you’ve read 3 or so chapters of a book, you know whether it’s your cup of tea. More often than not, it sucks you in enough via the sample that you can’t help but plunk down for the rest of the book. I really have a hard time spending much over $5-6 for an eBook (unless it’s a new release). Anything over that price point I could likely pick it up at the store (or on half.com) for not much more and then I’d at least have the physical copy to show off!

  • I’ve been waffling as I get my novella ready to publish. Length-wise, it should probably be priced at $1.99. But frankly, I put a ton of work into it, not just the writing and revising, but also getting professional cover art done, formatting, etc…so I feel like it’s worth more. Is it worth $2.99? To me, yes. But to others, maybe not due to the length. It will be my very first book published, so I’ll be in Kait’s position, where I just want people to take a chance. I’m releasing it in print too, due to popular demand, and that will have to be around $8.99 just because that’s the price the POD company demands for any profit at all to me (and I’m playing with sizing, etc hoping to get that down a bit more), but I’ll be throwing in a free digital copy with every print copy, which I hope will make it worth the extra price for those who want print.

    Personally, I won’t spend more than around $4-5 for an ebook. I buy almost exclusively on excerpts, so naturally I’ll be offering a chapter or two for free as well.

    In any case, the lovely thing about ebooks is if the pricing doesn’t work, it’s changeable. So if I start it too high, I can always scale back.

  • I’ve priced my two digital novels at $6.99 each and my Volleyball Book at $8.99. At those prices all three books qualify for Amazon’s new 70% royalty option.

    My Kindle sales are substantially higher than I anticipated . . . and sales velocity continues to improve. That being said, I’m just at the beginning of this self-pub odyssey. We’ll see what the future holds.

    I’m also signed up for Google Editions and B&N’s new Pubit. So my books will be there when those services are online later this year.