GOING RATE for eBooks. . .

[Kimberly Ranee Hicks]

Hello Everyone!

 

Is there a set price an indie author must set for a copy of their eBook?  I ask because I see different ranges from various authors, and I'm not sure if it varies by the state in which you live, or how many pages the eBook is, what type of file has to be downloaded, etc.?

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!  Thanks.

 

Kimberly Ranee Hicks, Author/Poet

http://www.70silentknight.com

 

 

 

[WonderBunny]

I'm not a writer, but I am an kindle reader. I love my kindle and I know that when I've loved a book, and encourage others to read it, all my siblings are more likely to buy the book for their kindle when it is cheap than when it is higher priced. I know that my sister in law recommended a book I enjoyed to her own mother who picked it up because the book was only $3 or something like that.

 

If a book isn't recommend to me, the best thing ever is the sample feature and I used that all the time. But for a $0.99 book, I'm more inclined to buy it without getting the sample book. If it is ANYTHING over that, I get a sample and you (general you) better hope I like it or else I won't even touch the book and if I see glaring issues, I'm going to probably rant about it on my blog or to my family and than none of us will buy it.

 

As a reader who has been burned on self published books (because my understanding is those are different from indie books), I highly recommend charging really low for the first book you publish. People are more willing to risk spending $1 on an author they know nothing about and suspect is self published than they are to pay anything more than that. In fact, I know a number of bloggers that refuse to read self published books any longer because they've been burned. I see no problems charging $2-5 for additional books in a series if the first one receives good reviews.

 

If you are talking about indie books...which I believe are books published through a small publishing company, those a little different and I don't think authors pick the price.

[Denise K. Rago]

Thanks for the insight and I tend to agree.  For $0.99,if you don't like the book then you have not invested much money, just your time.  The higher priced the book, well it better be good!  I have the first chapter on my website for readers and my book is also on Amazon Kindle as well as Smashwords where a reader can download a percentage for free and if they like it then they can purchase it. 

[Brian Woods]

There is not a standard price. If you can sell them for $100 each and sell 1,000,000,000 I say do it. But lets get to the honesty of the situation. If you are a no name indie author, you are not going to get much for a novel on eBook.

Page count is a big part. Lets say 100-200 pages is a good starting point for a first time writer to let readers get a good feel for them. A good price is always 99cents since there are 6000+ websites out there that run ads for 99cent books on Kindle and Nook. It seems that if this is a first time publish, 99cents is ideal.

Editing is another big issue. If your book has not been reviewed about 20+ times by reviewers that check for edits and grammar usage, you will not sell many books for more than 99cents each. There are people who use scratch sheets as they read and once they spot 15 errors, they quit reading and post a negative review. Reviews are what you need to sell books, regardless. Even a writer like Stephen King wants good reviews. If you wrote it, read it and made changes and no one else has read it for mistakes, then 99cents is too much but its either that or free.

Content is another issue. Is this another "My life is so hard" books? J D Salinger wrote Catcher is the Rye and since then no one has had a life as hard as Holden Caulfield and frankly, readers are starting to tire and bore of these types of books. If this book is an easy read and fast paced read to where the reader doesn't want to stop reading, then its worth more than 99cents.

 

Now I mention 99cents a lot in this summary and I would suggest a 99cent price tag if you are having to ask. But if you would like, send it to a few people that are writers or complete strangers and get their opinion on price and value.

 

But in the meantime, feel free to read my novella introduction to the Tales of Suruale with Davi for 99cents on the Kindle.

http://www.amazon.com/Davi-Tales-of-Suruale-ebook/dp/B004USP8ZU/

[Joseph M. Rinaldo]

When I first published my ebook thru the Kindle Digital Publishing program on Amazon, I set the price at $9.95. We had very few sales. Then I lowered it to $5.95. Still very few sales. In the meantime, I was doing advertising, made up bookmarks and passed them out, and started really working the social networks. Sales improved a bit, but it wasn't until I lowered the price to 99 cents that I really started selling the book. Take a look at my ebook on Amazon; it's called A SPY AT HOME. Good luck.

[Brian Woods]

Hey Kim,

I just read the 4 page preview of your book. There are some editing mistakes but still its 300+ pages so I would say between 99cents and $1.50

[Kimberly Ranee Hicks]

Thanks for commenting!

[Kimberly Ranee Hicks]

I thank everyone for their comments.  I have made my decision on what I would like to do.  I've been researching this subject, and have spoken with several authors and publishing companies to get a real feel for this.  Thanks everyone for your help!

http://www.70silentknight.com

[Jacob F. Roecker]

I determined my prices based upon the medium's popularity with my book's intended audience.  Hence, my book on kindle and nook $1.99 though the paperback is $9.99.  Setting the $9.99 price for the paperback is based on the concept that the primary future retailer doesn't have to charge sales tax and $10 is reasonable for a market that is entirely void of fiction.

 

Of course.  I'm probably the only author who wrote a book for a market and not the message.

 

-Jacob Roecker

http://libertyhawk.net