Quote:
Originally Posted by Steven Lake
Ok guys, I've got a question for everyone since we're on the topic of ebook pricing. When I first asked earlier this year what price I should sell my ebooks at, the vast majority of people quoted me the 2/3rds rule. IE, ebook price = 2/3rds of print copy shelf price. So for example a $12 print book would have an $8 ebook price. Now I'm hearing a lot of negative kickback from people stating that anything above $5, regardless of the print cover price, is too high, and that $1.99-$2.99 is the "sweet" spot that most books should be priced at. So what do you guys say?
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I would generally say somewhere between 25-30%, BUT...
...I also make decisions based on if the author's work is known to me (more willing to pay a little more if I love the author's work), the length of the book (no 30K novel is worth $15, IMO, regardless of who wrote it), and whether it's mainstream or independently published (sorry, but I'm tired of being burnt by badly written/edited indies).
Personally, unless it's an author's backlist, if I see a full-length novel for $1.99 - $2.99, I assume it's indie garbage (unfair, I know, but still true). I have no problem paying $5-6 for a full-length novel (80K +). The author and publisher deserve to make a living from their work.
On the other hand, I almost never buy those $1.99 - $2.99 novellas. When you consider I can buy a MMPB with 4 novellas for that $5-6 price, $2.99 makes the novella an expensive proposition, at cost-per-word. Top that off with the fact that I prefer long fiction to short (not everyone can write short well - and I'm one of them as this email attests!), and novellas and other short fiction are just "too expensive" unless they're $1 or less.
Of course, that's all just my opinion. Your core readership may differ. I don't tend to buy a lot of science fiction, although I do have a few series I enjoy.