Pricing of ebooks can be a tedious affair of coverage against balancing back the outlay. Of course – making an income isn’t the be-all, but for any business (no matter how much you love writing) – not being in the red has to count for something.
I’m planning to release my first novel in March. As it’s Book 1 of a Trilogy, the view of many is that you should price at £0.99 to gain interest… and then when the sequels are released (spaced out at 3 months) – increase the price to a reasonable £1.99
The downside to the £0.99 is that I’ll earn 30% Royalty – which means I have to achieve 2k sales to balance back the outlay of £600. That’s a lot of sales, and although some will say – you can do it – a debut author has to appreciate that getting over 500 sales involves a dung-heap of sweat and work.
The other issue I have with £0.99 or $0.99, is that many short stories or ‘How to Guides’ that rarely go over 25 pages in length are priced at 0.99.
Getting coverage is a major benefit – but do we run the ‘being pigeonholed’ risk of being compared to lesser novels (don’t shout at me for that) or rushed works? **Not every 0.99 novel fits that statement – so sorry if I’ve offended**
And – just because you achieve a lot of sales at 0.99 – doesn’t mean it will translate to a successful business model when increasing the price or trying to convince a publishing house/agent that you have enough clout for them to take you out.
And … and … and surely good promotion and marketing (that comes at a cost) can be used to generate sales.
So – what do I do?
Price Book 1 at 0.99 to achieve sales and gain coverage
or
Price at Book 1.49 to achieve the 70% royalty rate and balance outlay quicker to re-invest
I want readers to read, and hopefully like what I do… but if sales are low, and costs of production leave me out of pocket, sometimes, we have to think again.
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First make sure you are selling it at Amazon. I presume that is the case since they offer 35% and 70% commission rates.
Set your price at $2.99 worldwide to get the 70% rate.
Join Kindle Select and offer your book free for 2 days starting on a Saturday.
Heavily promote your book – before it’s published, during the free period and after it’s free period is over. Aim to get in the top 10 free of your genre.
Beg and plead for people to write reviews if they like it!
Write the next book!
Absolutely.
I’ll be plugging away, ramping up the book tours and doing as much promos as I can… hopefully starting from Feb 1st.
Will be using Amaazon, but also hoping to get the novel out to all other outlets such as Apple, Kobo, Nook,etc.
There is a lot of resistance (certainly in my area of knowledge) against paying more than 0.99 for a self-pubbed book. A lot of people have been badly burned buying books that have turned out to be absolutely unreadable, and now actively refuse to pay more than the almost giveaway price of £0.99 for what they perceive to be ‘taking a chance’. So I’d say go with the £0.99, build yourself a readership. When your book turns out to be amazing and brilliant (as I am sure it will), they will gladly pay the higher price for the follow-ups. You don’t want to price yourself out of the market. I know you want to make money (don’t we all), but you may have to look on this first book as a loss-leader that draws them in to buy subsequent releases from you.
Just my opinion, obviously, but I do read a lot of reviews of self-pubbed books that state the reader will never be buying another.
Good luck with the whole venture!
Understood.
I have read many 0.99 and 2.99 that have left me ultra-disappointed.
I will let the odd typo go amiss, but when the conflict, content and the characters are neither here or there, I lose interest.
The ebook market has become a melting pot for bad stuff, but there’s lots of good too. We just have to find it.
Maybe – yes – I should hope for the best with 0.99. And use interest gained to help promote later work.
I’ll be happy if I break even each time.