THE Group for Authors! discussion
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How are you pricing your books?
Not really responsive to your question, but I just paid $6.99 for an ebook and $11.99 for another, so I may be in the minority, but I don't mind paying for a book I really want to read. I routinely pay $4.99. I figure I'm paying for the convenience of having the book I want to read RIGHT NOW! in my own home. If I paid $4.99 for an Indie that didn't turn out to be so good, I'd figure I spent less on it than a fast-food meal, and I wouldn't be upset. I've read a few books and thought "Dang, that was worth more than I paid, I feel guilty." But, YMMV.
You get what you pay for, or so they say... With authors that I enjoy their work, I have paid $9 and more for an e-book compared to $30 for the hardback. Think GRRM or Bernard Cromwell. I felt the price was very reasonable...
I have also paid 99 cents to $4.99 for an unknown self published writer I never heard of before. In the 99 cent cases, I am glad I only spent 99 cents in most cases and even then I felt cheated.
I think the problem with the pricing issues is that most self published writers are talking to other self published writers and not looking at what the commercial publishers are doing.
The SP writer price's low, hoping to build an audience. But, they are not taking into account that they are listing their work in a price range which thousands of other SP writers are listing. I hate wading through the .99 - $1.99 cents slush pile in hopes of finding one gem.
My personal opinion, price the book what you think your story is worth. Price at 99 cents and readers expect that is all the story is worth, 99 cents.
A SP writer also needs to take into consideration what they have spent on editing, artwork, formatting, and any format conversions they paid someone to do. There is also any marketing they have budgeted. Lastly, the SP writer should alway ask, what is their time worth?
Or so is my humble opinion as a reader...
I am a new author, and I am just learning about how people think when it comes to purchasing a book online. Even your responses here have helped.I will say this, when my book was published, I had many people ask me from my book's target market (women who were 40+), "Will it be available in print?" and then, "If you get stock in, I'll just pay you if you can get me a copy."
So, here's what I learned: My market hates the fuss of the internet. They want a print book in their hands instead of an ebook.
I can't speak for everyone, but I just want to say, know your readers. Figure out who your market is, and what their buying habits are, and from there you can distinguish which media is best to sell, and how much to sell for.
When I priced my book and learned that the standard shipping would tack on another ten dollars, I immediately knew some of my readers were going to back away. (This is when they asked if I can just order more than five copies to waive the shipping. Not a bad idea, I admit, but I also don't want to eventually be stuck with several copies of my own book down the road with no one to take them off my hands.)
So my logic for now is this: I could have priced my book at 99 cents and like others here point out, may come across as a 99 cent novel. Or I could price it to $9-$10, but I have to consider that my print copy will sky rocket to $20 which is very off-putting to someone who is taking a chance on me. It's not as if they can thumb through the book on a shelf and decide if it's worth $20 as opposed to someone at B&N or Chapters who can instantly tell if $20 is a good investment on an author they don't know about.
That's why five bucks just seemed like a good place to start. My book will adjust over time. Perhaps it will go down, maybe it will go up, but starting at a middle ground will let me know.
I had one author tell me my Kindle was too high and my print was too low. The story, as far as I'm concerned is $5 for a reason right now, and it's the choice of media, or the production of having a paper book that they will pay for after that.
Does a consumer care about this? Usually no. They see a dollar sign and either grab it or freak out. Pay attention to how well you do in sales with each medium and after 60 days of initial sales, you can start tweaking!
I'm a first time author too. I place my first book Tent City at 3.99 for Kindle and this is virtually where ALL my sales come from. The paperback I priced as low as createspace would let me, which is at 9 bucks with their price slashing. I wanted the paperback as low as I could go because I don't like paying over 8 bucks for a book.
I don't want to mention names, but there was an author who I absolutely loved and thought I'd stop at nothing to find one of her books that was hard to find. Well.. I did find it. It was an e-book priced at an astonishing $15.24. (Just rechecked, that's the exact price.) I made it a point of hunting around for it elsewhere and found some rinky-dink library in town carried it. I took out a membership and read the book for free. It turned out the book was a novella (the other book I read and loved was a full-length novel) so I was somewhat puzzled and disappointed that the choice to market the book at fifteen bucks!I would have gladly paid even $6-$7 which is a real stretch for me for my ebooks, but there was no way I would pay more than that, and after I saw the printed product, I was relieved. I don't want to sound banal (because I love supporting other authors, especially ones I care about), but I am even more relieved that I found a copy and didn't even pay to read it at all.
If I feel that way, I'm sure thousands of others do.
Nick wrote: "You get what you pay for, or so they say... With authors that I enjoy their work, I have paid $9 and more for an e-book compared to $30 for the hardback. Think GRRM or Bernard Cromwell. I fel..."
That's another thought. To me it is more a business, and has to be treated as such.
Holly wrote: "I am a new author, and I am just learning about how people think when it comes to purchasing a book online. Even your responses here have helped.I will say this, when my book was published, I ha..."
At Holly. I like your logic and your thoughts are helpful. I, too, am putting out a POD paperback version because there is a market for that, especially among women my age in health care that I know. I am hoping that will apply to the general market as well. My paperback will have to be higher in cost, of course. I am pricing with very little profit and it is still going to be an expensive buy.
Kelly wrote: "I'm a first time author too. I place my first book Tent City at 3.99 for Kindle and this is virtually where ALL my sales come from. The paperback I priced as low as createspace would let me, which ..."It would be nice if I could get my paperback priced at $9.00, but that would barely cover costs. I'll have to re-examine that.
Holly wrote: "I don't want to mention names, but there was an author who I absolutely loved and thought I'd stop at nothing to find one of her books that was hard to find. Well.. I did find it. It was an e-boo..."My husband reads two or three books a week, mostly murder mysteries. He pays $8.00-$12.00 for mostly established author ebooks. He will buy some unknown authors that come to him recommended at the same rates, but that is not my genre and mine may be different. Mine is more a human interest story, but I am seriously contemplating writing in his genre. Seriously, as a business move. I enjoy it as a good read, I had just never thought to write in it until recently.
S.K. wrote: "I have been reading many reader forums lately and I hear a lot of discussion about prices on ebooks and paperbacks. There seems to be a general consensus that if books are priced too low, readers ..."
I'm glad you brought this up, S.K. because I, too, am a little confused on the 'right' answer. As Holly mentioned, the first step is to know your readers. It's a very good point, though I feel it's a very difficult thing to do, especially for someone just starting off and maybe not writing in a specific genre. In the past couple months, I dropped both my paperback and electronic prices to as low as possible, if only to experiment with what works best. Because they're my first two books and had already netted a profit from each, I figured it was worth a shot. The result: basically, the same amount of sales. Granted, I have not been consistently marketing either, at least not as aggressively as I did when they first were released. And though I wouldn't call it a successful experiment, it's kind of given me an idea as how to proceed with future publications: start the pricing at what I feel is justified for my work ($8.00-$12.00) and continuing to drop the price with the shelf-life ($4.00- $7.00). I just think people are willing to pay more for something that they discover is brand spankin' new.
Because I assume many of us authors have read about offering free chapters and whatnot, that philosophy can also be applied to pricing, if you so desire. Start off really low with the first couple of projects and, once you've established a fan base, start the newest project off at a higher price.
Long-winded, but I hope this helps!
I'm glad you brought this up, S.K. because I, too, am a little confused on the 'right' answer. As Holly mentioned, the first step is to know your readers. It's a very good point, though I feel it's a very difficult thing to do, especially for someone just starting off and maybe not writing in a specific genre. In the past couple months, I dropped both my paperback and electronic prices to as low as possible, if only to experiment with what works best. Because they're my first two books and had already netted a profit from each, I figured it was worth a shot. The result: basically, the same amount of sales. Granted, I have not been consistently marketing either, at least not as aggressively as I did when they first were released. And though I wouldn't call it a successful experiment, it's kind of given me an idea as how to proceed with future publications: start the pricing at what I feel is justified for my work ($8.00-$12.00) and continuing to drop the price with the shelf-life ($4.00- $7.00). I just think people are willing to pay more for something that they discover is brand spankin' new.
Because I assume many of us authors have read about offering free chapters and whatnot, that philosophy can also be applied to pricing, if you so desire. Start off really low with the first couple of projects and, once you've established a fan base, start the newest project off at a higher price.
Long-winded, but I hope this helps!
Thanks. Having only authored one book, and that one not being of a specific genre, I am finding it difficult to embrace the dynamics of the market. My next work will be of a very specific genre (though along the same lines) and will most likely be priced at what the market bears for new authors in that genre. I am finding that it is sort of like the housing market, doesn't matter what you think it is worth if nobody else agrees. I am seeing really good 99 cent books selling off the shelf and really good 99 cent books doing nothing; likewise, I am seeing really good $12.00 books selling off the shelf and really good $12.00 books doing nothing. Amazingly, they all have good reviews. So I don't know what the answer is. The matters and manners of marketing perhaps.
Problem with starting off with low pricing is your audience will expect that pricing to continue on the next books...
I wouldn't want to buy a book at a lower price and the sequal is significally higher.
I have heard new authors say that strategy worked for them, that they priced their first book in a series lower expecting to "hook" the reader and then upped the price on the remainder of the series. I can see temporarily lowering a price of a first book after the second book comes out as a marketing tool to gain more attention to a series, but it seems a bit unethical for any other reason. If your writing and time and sells are worth 99 cents, and you mark it up to $3.99 after you put out another book just because you put out another one, that's clearly wrong.
Hannah wrote: "I wouldn't want to buy a book at a lower price and the sequal is significally higher."Fortunately, most readers understand that the only reason why the first book in a series is priced lower than the rest of the books is to encourage them to check the first book out. Even the most penny-pinching reader knows that an author isn't making money from selling her book at 99 cents. With that said, it wouldn't be advisable for an author to incrementally increase her book prices throughout the series (Book 1-$0.99, Book 2-$1.99, Book 3-$2.99, etc.). Readers would rightfully stay away from that series as it would clearly be a case of price gouging.
I charge by page #.200 pages or less = $.99
210-245 = $1.99
250-450 = $2.99
500+ = $3.99
Kevis wrote: "Hannah wrote: "I wouldn't want to buy a book at a lower price and the sequal is significally higher."Fortunately, most readers understand that the only reason why the first book in a series is pr..."
I agree. Ideally, if a book is selling for $3.99 and the second book comes out priced at $4.99, but the first book is discounted say to $1.99 or $2.99, I would still follow. However, if the first book comes out at $1.99, then $3.99, then the third is $7.99, the author is clearly getting a bit grandiose. I know that first books are not always best works, but it would be murder to a fan base to do that.
It's always tough determining a book's retail price since other factors usually coming into play other than just page count. No doubt pricing schedules such as the one Nenia mentioned are a great way to help figure out a book's retail price. But they aren't perfect. The simple truth is some books cost more than others to produce. The less I spend to produce a book, the more savings I can pass on to the reader. But contrary to popular belief, some indie authors, like myself, have overhead. Other than a temporary sale, there's no way I'm selling my 350 page novel with color illustrations, custom cover art, and professionally edited manuscript for 99 cents (it's just not a profitable retail model). If an author is designing her own covers and skipping on an editor, pricing that low is a much easier and stomachable decision.
Nenia wrote: "I charge by page #.200 pages or less = $.99
210-245 = $1.99
250-450 = $2.99
500+ = $3.99"
I wouldn't want to pay more than 99 cents for a 200 page literary work because it seems it would be a novel that is not fleshed out well. If it was advertised as a novella, maybe. But I have seen many, many 250-450 works that are ideally a great read that I would pay $12.00 for whether it was an established author or not. Some 500 page works are pure garbage. For that reason alone, I can't condone solely marketing sells by page number alone. How much was spent on editing in time and money? How much was spent on revisions to get it right? How much was spent on cover art? et al Those are the questions that lend to sound marketing strategies.
Well said, S.K.. But I'll add this caveat. At the end of the day, no matter the page count, time or money invested, or even what price our books retail for, the only thing that truly counts is what a reader is willing to pay for them. I would argue that the final retail price is actually decided by the reader.
S.K. wrote: "Nenia wrote: "I charge by page #.200 pages or less = $.99
210-245 = $1.99
250-450 = $2.99
500+ = $3.99"
I wouldn't want to pay more than 99 cents for a 200 page literary work because it seems it..."
I guess what i am trying to say is, "Can the value of a literary piece of work be set on page number alone?" I am also an artist. If a piece of pottery cost me $100.00 to create, I can't sell it for $50.00.
On the other hand, if you cannot sell your pottery for the full $100, it might be better to invest in some cheaper materials. (:
Kevis wrote: "Well said, S.K.. But I'll add this caveat. At the end of the day, no matter the page count, time or money invested, or even what price our books retail for, the only thing that truly counts is what..."Good answer! Like I said before, It is like selling a house..lol..only smaller. Who knows if I will ever get back what I have invested into my house, but it has been lovely living here and it is a joy to write!
S.K. wrote: "I have been reading many reader forums lately and I hear a lot of discussion about prices on ebooks and paperbacks. There seems to be a general consensus that if books are priced too low, readers ..."I'm going to be putting a series of long short stories on Kindle at the end of the month. I really don't know how to price each story. Eventually they will be in a collection (5 short stories and a novella). I don't know if I can ask more than 99 cents per story. At the same time, I don't want people to think the stories are junk because of the price.
I understand that the first book can be on sale, but a significant jump in price is unethical. If your first book is 4.99, but the next is 8.99 . I would want to know why as the reader. A huge jump never makes sense if your comparing the same media. Ebook to ebook or soft cover to soft cover. Etc.
Marian wrote: "S.K. wrote: "I have been reading many reader forums lately and I hear a lot of discussion about prices on ebooks and paperbacks. There seems to be a general consensus that if books are priced too ..."That's a tough call. Can you publish them together as a collection of short stories and a novella, charge at least $4.99 to get them out of the bargain basement? I know some authors prefer to stay at bargain prices. I am just thinking about what happened to me, having the price set lower thinking I was doing the world a favor and setting my price for fast sells, upping the price and then getting better sells. Yet I am doing more marketing than I was when the price was lower. I am really confused at how the market works but I have heard many say they won't buy low.
Hannah wrote: "I understand that the first book can be on sale, but a significant jump in price is unethical. If your first book is 4.99, but the next is 8.99 . I would want to know why as the reader. A huge jump..."I can see a price increase if the author invested more; professional editing, formatting and translation errors corrected by an independent publisher, a professional cover image, a different genre, writing seminars/camps to improve skills. I would actually expect a second book to be a better product, thus I would be willing to pay more. Then again, some authors are one work wonders.
S.K. wrote: "Marian wrote: "S.K. wrote: "I have been reading many reader forums lately and I hear a lot of discussion about prices on ebooks and paperbacks. There seems to be a general consensus that if books ..."Selling short stories in a collection is really difficult, which is why I want to publish them individually first to get readers interested in the series. And even though they are long short stories, they are still short stories. They aren't novels. I don't want people to feel cheated. I'm going to be clear in each description that they are short stories. It is a tough call!
Marian wrote: "S.K. wrote: "Marian wrote: "S.K. wrote: "I have been reading many reader forums lately and I hear a lot of discussion about prices on ebooks and paperbacks. There seems to be a general consensus t..."As long as you are clear in the description there shouldn't be a problem of people feeling they are being cheated. I have a friend who writes fantasy. He has a 400 pg book that he sells for 99 cents and is about to publish a long anticipated sequel. When he tried selling his first book at $2.99 it stopped moving. I don't think page number has that much to do with the quality of a price of literary work and whether or not others will find it satisfying. There are so many factors at play. (one could be whether or not your audience has lunch money, for example, if you are writing for middle schoolers) The only thing is, you don't want any way for people to think that you were selling them a novel when it was a short story. If you make that clear, no worries.
As a reader, I wouldn't pay a big jump in price for the second book in a series or a sequel, unless the author explained the difference. I would just assume that the author is money hungry and move on. If I cannot see a difference in the second novel like an improved cover or the mention of an editor, I wouldn't believe that it's worth the price. I know I'm being the devil's advocate here, but I am being from a reader's perspective.
How much or little a self published writer pays for cover design does not matter to the reader. How much the writer pays for the editing does not matter to the reader, or the marketing.Once you set a price range, the reader expects your future books to stay within their price range. If not, the will find someone else they enjoy...
So a pseudonym would be a smart choice for anyone who wants to change genres or write a second book, outside of a sequel or a series, and keeping the books in series or a sequel at the same price would also be a smart move.
Nick wrote: "How much or little a self published writer pays for cover design does not matter to the reader. How much the writer pays for the editing does not matter to the reader, or the marketing.Once you ..."
That brings up another question. Do you think self-publishing should automatically mean lowering the price? There are many traditionally published unknowns who command reasonably higher prices. There are also successful self-published authors who command reasonably higher prices. People are saying that unknowns must set their prices lower to sell. Some are suggesting to raise prices only after becoming an established author. Not raising the price with subsequently published books sort of defeats that strategy.
Price what the market will bare. It's OK at to run a sale with a lower price at times, but I am a firm believer that unless you are Amazon, and can afford lost leaders, then you need to price accordingly. Writers have to pay the bills and they should be reimbursed for their time.
Nick wrote: "Writers have to pay the bills and they should be reimbursed for their time."The thing is, readers have to pay the bills too. And if they are on a budget, they are going to stick with the books that they know are good rather than taking a chance on an indie novel.
Pricing is one of the few advantages independent authors have, since they have no publisher to back them.
Nenia wrote: "Nick wrote: "Writers have to pay the bills and they should be reimbursed for their time."The thing is, readers have to pay the bills too. And if they are on a budget, they are going to stick with..."
I know many readers who actually prefer Indie authors to get away from the traditional Publishing House formulaic writing. They seek out the good Indie. It is terrific that independent authors have that much control over pricing to make their work affordable. The independent does do everything "Up Front" without any commitment from anyone but themselves, and that is also a huge risk. Just like it is a huge risk for a publisher to back any author.
I've probably done everything backwards: I write poetry for children and the children in my local school, who encouraged me to write for them, asked me to put my poems on a website. I've continued doing this now for five years. Now there are 1100 poems on five websites. I've just made each of my websites membership websites but also sell my poems in Ebooks there. The teachers have the choice. The websites mean that I can run competitions and also add voice recordings. But if people just want to "try" my poems first, they can buy an Ebook. I sell from the bookshops on my websites and the teachers know my poems well for they went into 188 countries last year. I've priced my books at £4.75 and they sell well on a steady basis, but some teachers just prefer to buy into membership and the whole school gets to use the poems. I'm just being a bit different with my sales I guess.
Josie wrote: "I've probably done everything backwards: I write poetry for children and the children in my local school, who encouraged me to write for them, asked me to put my poems on a website. I've continue..."That's an interesting market strategy for your work. I don't think it is in any way backwards. You found your niche first and the pricing seems fair to me. That would be $7.20 in Us dollars and most good indie author work is between $3.99-$8.99. Plus, you are able to give a free trial :) That's smart. I do free promo days on my book too, and sells always pick up briefly afterwards. It is hard to get noticed when there are 20 million other authors out there. You have already achieved much success to reach 188 countries.
Hanna wrote: "I understand that the first book can be on sale, but a significant jump in price is unethical. If your first book is 4.99, but the next is 8.99 . I would want to know why as the reader."I don't think I've ever seen anyone express this perspective. Thanks for sharing it.
Authors commonly give away the first book in their series or offer it for a very low price as a courtesy to new readers. The low price lets readers try out the author without having to invest a lot of money. It is up to the reader to decide whether or not the subsequent books are worth what the author charges for them. Readers aren't forced to buy. I'm not sure where ethics enter into this scenario.
Pricing is strictly a marketing decision. It has little to do with intrinsic value or with how costly it is to produce something. It has everything to do with your business goals and how your book fits into your overall marketing strategy.
James wrote: "Hanna wrote: "I understand that the first book can be on sale, but a significant jump in price is unethical. If your first book is 4.99, but the next is 8.99 . I would want to know why as the reade..."Thank you for your insight James.I have difficulty separating marketing from business goals, probably because of the type of marketing business (health care admissions/marketing) I was in before writing. There is a significant difference now that I think about it.
I played around with price for my 455 page novel, and at the moment I seem to be selling best at $3.99, which is a good price for an unknown writer for a long novel. I also have short stories priced at $0.99 and a novella for $2.99. The short stories don't sell as often, but occasionally they do sell a copy or two. I also plan to do an anthology of 5-7 short stories totaling about 50,000 words to have both in electronic and print. We'll see how that goes--it too will probably be priced at $3.99.
S.K wrote: "Thank you for your insight James.I have difficulty separating marketing from business goals, probably because of the type of marketing business (health care admissions/marketing) I was in before writing. There is a significant difference now that I think about it."You're welcome. I see what you mean about different business goals! Take heart, though. A lot of the principles and strategies are the same, it's just the tactics that differ.
You still have to identify your target audience, figure out how to reach them, and craft your offer so it is appealing. For a book, your best tools for presenting an offer are your cover, your description, your price, and of course, your excellent writing.
From what I've seen, no amount of marketing will make a book a best seller; however, few books become best sellers without some marketing. You have to get those first fans before your book can "go viral." ;-)
Judy wrote: "I played around with price for my 455 page novel, and at the moment I seem to be selling best at $3.99, which is a good price for an unknown writer for a long novel. I also have short stories price..."Thanks for sharing that info. $3.99 seems to be a magic number for most new authors. i might need to discount my book, at least on Amazon where most of its sells are. it sells on other sites, but not nearly what Amazon does.
It's Hannah with an H at the end. I'm very particular about my name and I find it insulting for such a simple name to be spelt wrong. Nick can vouch for this since him and I subsequently ended up in a heated argument. So, please don't take this comment as offensive. I find opinions that spell my name wrong lower in value.
Hannah wrote: "It's Hannah with an H at the end."I apologize for the oversight. I'm the same way about people calling me "Jim." ;-)
I agree that $3.99 is a good price for longer novels. For regular novels, $2.99 has been the magic price for me. I sell about fifty of each book a month, and I love that my books are getting out there, and wouldn't want to dink around with the pricing because you shouldn't fix what ain't broke. :PMy 99-cent books do not sell as well, but they are so short I would really hesitate to charge more for them than I do. One of my shorter books started at $2.99, but I realized that seemed unfair as its sequel, also $2.99, was several hundred pages longer, so I lowered the price to $1.99.
I price mine from us1.49 for novellas to 2.99 for novels. It works fine!
This is not a thread on whether Indie Authors are good or bad. I am an Indie author and I happen to think my work is well written, but I suppose the general buying public has varying opinions on pricing.
At any rate, I had my book priced at $2.99 initially. I changed it to $4.99 recently and have actually had an increase in sales. You would think it would be the other way around. I was wondering what other authors have experienced with pricing.
Surely our books are worth to the readers what they would pay the pizza delivery guy or the valet parking guy. (And the valet parking guy probably moves more cars in a day than I move books!)
Do you feel we are under-selling ourselves to create a unique market with cheap prices? How do you set your prices, and is it always page number related or do other factors come into play? My price has been set based on actual expenditure and market outcome expectations over time.