About six months ago I shared a link on Facebook titled Stop Treating $9.99 as the Magic E-Book Price.
This article sparked some good comments such as:
“What price would you prefer?”
“How do you feel about 99 cents?”
“My friend has hers set to $8. Lol, she says it’s her magic number.”
“plus from a numerical standpoint, nine is a very powerful number, but when it shows up in threes? Total awesomesauce”
“Is it wise to stagger prices by year of release?”
There are obviously a lot of questions. And though we are half a year further down the e-revolution from when I posted the article, I think eBook pricing is still a very relevant question.
Since that article ran, I’ve heard various thoughts on eBook prices. Some say $.99 is the way to go. Others say $.99 indicates that it is not a good book and that pricing it so low devalues publishing as a whole. There are many who fear that the buying public expectation will be that all books should cost $.99, making it hard for many authors and publishers to continue their efforts.
Some say that it depends on the genre. Your pricing may also be dependent on how you go about selling your content. Depending on your terms, a different pricing strategy might work better on a given platform than on a one-size-fits-all strategy.
From our experience at Bookmasters, our recommendations start at $5.99 and fall from there. We have found that there is more volume sold at a lower price point. For instance, if you sell 2 copies at $9.99 compared with 4 copies at $4.99, you should choose the lower price hands-down. More copies sold means more exposure for your book and your name.
For most of the publishers and authors that we work with, this range seems to be the sweet spot. What eBook pricing strategies have worked for you?
Thanks! The right price point is always important.
We couldn’t agree more.