How to Set Ebook Prices
I get this question a lot. Mostly, I say “I don’t know.” It’s not that I don’t have opinions or ideas, but I don’t want to give advice on something that could, potentially, lose someone money.
But iampariah did in the video below, and I think he did it super well. I think there’s another price range, $3.99 – $4.99, that deserves it’s own range, though. Just my opinion, but what he said about $3.99 – $8.99 is really more for the $5 – $8.99 range.
I’d be interested in what people think of the $3.99 &ndash $4.99 range, both from readers and from authors who’ve experimented with that price range.
From a theoretical standpoint, I like that price point. It’s fair and good payment for the author, and still cheap for readers.
Mostly I’m thinking fiction here, by the way.
What do you think about ebook pricing?
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Natasha Fondren is a writer traveling the U.S. in a camper with her four cats. She is currently enjoying the lizards and desert heat in Arizona.
I wish I knew. Our ebook editions from Poisoned Pen Press priced at $5.99 and $6.99 are selling, essentially nada and I have urged and urged PPP to set the prices at $2.99 just as an experiment. Unless you are a very well known author I don’t think you can sell an ebook for $5.99. Yeah, eooks are undervalued but I don’t know what you can do about that.
I’m with on on being dubious that $3.99-$8.99 is a useful range. I think $3.99, $4.99 and $5.99 are all significantly different prices, if only emotionally. $6.99-$8.99 is all sort of “Ack!” and $9.99 is just ridiculous for a novel IMO. But suggesting that a $3.99 price is essentially the same as an $8.99 price is just bizarre.
Angie
Between 5.99 and 8.99 seems like a lot to pay for an ebook.
Charles — it’s definitely on the upper end of what I consider acceptable. [nod] I’ll pay $6.99 for a long novel (like 100K words or more) but beyond that I start looking for vendor sales.
Amazon’s $9.99, which all the New York publishers thought was so scandalously low, strikes me as ludicrously high for a novel, no matter how long. And some of the small publishers are creeping up that high. [eyeroll] They definitely get bought on sale, if at all.
Angie
I read about one well known fiction writer that sold his novels for 99 cents and got over a million downloads, some serious Kindle dollars I’d say.
That’s cool!
I wouldn’t complain about that. 
I’m planning to price my 1st Kindle business book @ $4.95 after carefully reviewing the competition. Also, remember that you can only earn 70% royalties if the Kindle book is priced over $3.00. eBooks under $3.00 can only earn 35% royalties, best to experiment to get a higher ROI. A book priced high that generates few sales means you may be better off lowering the price to generate more sales, zero dollars is still zero dollars if the book is missed price.
For first time, first Fiction book Authors, the 99 cent price is good because it will let your readers test (read) your writing skill.
If it’s good, they will recommend it to their friends and even write a good review which also helps increase your sales.
When you have 5 or more ebooks, your prices should increase because you’ll have a fan base of readers.