Guy Kawasaki, well-known author of APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur – How to Publish a Book, has written a bullet-list article on how to price your book. Bottom line? It depends on the book, so it’s pretty much a case of trial and error for each author. Fortunately, as a self-publisher, you can test and change your decision if it’s not working.
So, what variables are there to take into account?
PRICING VARIABLES
There are five major variables that affect the price of your book:
1. Costs
There are two kinds of costs: preparation and production.
Preparation costs include such processes as design, editing, and layout. You might pay them only once, but nonetheless, you need to recoup them.
Production costs refer to how much it costs to make copies. If you’re publishing only an ebook, the cost per unit is almost zero. If you’re printing your book, you’ll incur hard costs such as paper, printing, binding, and shipping.
2. Economic conditions
How is the job market for your target customers? While your book’s price is probably one or two Starbucks cappuccinos, economic conditions matter to people and influence their buying decisions.
3. Brand
How strong is your brand? How many people know about you? Simplifying the issue, here are the most common conditions:
- First-time author without an established base of readers. Implication: charge less.
- First-time author with an established base of fans and high visibility. Implication: charge more.
- Repeat author with a proven record and established base of readers. Implication: charge even more.
4. Competition
How much does the competition charge for books in your genre? You cannot charge the same price as well-established authors such as J. K. Rowling. You should look at authors who are at the same stage as you.
5. Goals
What are your goals for your book? Here are the most common:
- Maximize short-term (six months to a year) revenue. Implication: charge more.
- Maximize long-term (a year or more) revenue. Implication: charge less.
- Establish yourself as a sector expert. Implication: charge less.
- Build a base of readers for future works. Implication: charge less.
- Spread your ideas. Implication: charge less.
Pricing philosophy
So, after you’ve taken the above factors into consideration, what is your pricing philosophy? First, let’s dismiss “I worked hard on this book, so it’s worth lots of money.” Sadly, it doesn’t matter how hard you work. What matters is what people are willing to pay.
These are the common pricing philosophies:
- High price connotes high quality. Low price connotes low quality. Implication: charge more.
- High price connotes cluelessness. Low price connotes awareness. Implication: charge less.
- High price connotes greed. Low price connotes empathy. Implication: charge less.
As you can see, the relationship between price and quality is random. Implication: take your best shot and change the price if it’s not working.
PRICING STRATEGIES
Weighing all of the above is a challenge, but remember: there’s no right and wrong answer. There’s only what works and what doesn’t work. So, here are some strategies to consider:
- Start at a low price—for example, $0.99 or even free—to achieve critical mass and bestseller status, and then raise the price to $2.99 or more.
- Give away one format of your book in the hopes that people will pay for another format to improve the reading experience. You could charge nothing for a PDF version and sell every other format.
- Charge a premium price—for example, $9.99 or more—because you have a small audience but it’s one that cherishes your information. For example, you could probably charge $99 for an Asian American mother’s guide to getting a kid into Stanford. Over time reduce the price.
- Charge a premium price, but run frequent price promotions. The high price communicates high value, so getting a deal feels valuable.
And don’t forget that, as an Indie author, you can experiment all you want. So, if you feel that your pricing strategy is not working, just change it!
The information presented here was taken from Marketing Tips for Authors and APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur – How to Publish a Book by Guy Kawasaki.
Reblogged this on Smorgasbord – Variety is the spice of life and commented:
We would all love to see our books achieve enough to keep us in a manner to which we would like to become accustomed! But it is not just a question of plucking a figure out of the air… here are some of the key variables to consider…
Reblogged this on Archer's Aim and commented:
Clear ideas on Indie Book pricing – re-blogging on Archer’s Aim
Thanks for sharing this excellent article. Just like Kathy who commented before me, my first thought was about the Smashwords survey according to which the advisable price for optimal sales is 3.99USD. They also said that 2.99USD works quite well and that longer books can often get away with higher prices. Also, I remember the case of a successful author (can’t recall the name) who suggested to raise the price by a dollar after each of a couple of promos. i.e start at .99, then 1.99 and so on until you get to the price you want to keep it at. Last, a couple of successful authors also suggested giving one book for free forever as to make a name for yourself and get people to buy your other books – the free book can be the first in a series or a totally different story to the books you have on sale.
I hadn’t heard of the “jack up the price after each promo” tip; I guess it might work for some. I have heard of the “give the first book in the series for free” tip though, and I wholeheartedly embrace it; I think it’s great advice.
Thanks for sharing your tips! 🙂
Good article. It’s all a bit mystical–we can never have the data that will tell us exactly what affected our sales how–but I like the suggestion about pricing higher and offering lots of sales. It works for the department stores!
Smashwords did some research, and they found that $3.99 sells the most books. Nowadays with the option to view the first 10%-20% of a book online, buying decisions for readers are easier than ever.
Hi Kathy, thanks for your comment. You can find my summary of the latest Smashwords research on my post https://nicholasrossis.me/2014/03/13/new-smashwords-survey-helps-authors-sell-more-ebooks/ . It’s not as clear-cut as “$3.99 sells the most books”, but I know what you mean. In fact, I recently raised the price of Rise of the Prince to $3.99, and my sales dropped, so $2.99 was probably a better price for me. That’s why I started today’s countdown deal, to allow people to buy it an $0.99 for a few days.
Reblogged this on willmacmillanjones and commented:
Book Pricing Thoughts.
Thanks for the reblog and for liking it! 🙂
Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's New (to me) Authors Blog and commented:
Found this interesting article – even though I am no longer with the A.P.E Group it still merits a read 🙂
Glad you liked it. Thanks for the reblog! 🙂
Welcome Nicholas – many of my followers are authors 🙂