MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - What's A Fair Price For a New Release Ebook?

abookreader · 12-12-2010, 04:38 PM

I'd agree that for your books $4.99 is a quite fair price and would likely help you build a readership.

$10.99 is closer to industry standard for well known authors who have an established customer base. At $10.99 you are competing with the likes of JD Robb, Evanovich, Nancy Martin, Emily Giffin and other well known "Chick Lit" type. You could have the best unkown book in the world but coming from a small/unknown publisher written by an unknown author those are battles for the sale you will lose almost every time.

My only other thought on the subject is where you write that author feels the lower prices "devalue" the book - which frankly sets my teeth on edge.
However I'd at the very least encourage you to point out that the price of your book is irrelevant because the value of your book is NOT the price tag that is put on it, rather it is the price people will be willing to pay for it.

And frankly, when there are thousands and thousands of books being listed daily that at $1.99, $2.99, $3.99, $4.99 - your book as already been devalued because your competition for readers are charging half to a third of your price. Your publisher is pricing you right out of the race in the eBook publishing world.

I'd suggest you start combing through some of the offerings from Berkley, St. Martin, Random House and the other big pubs and then ask your Publisher "So why would you expect customers to buy my book at $10.99 when they could have any of these at $6.99/$7.99?

12-12-2010, 04:38 PM	#11
abookreader Wizard Posts: 1,516 Karma: 2567610 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: Kindles - Keyboard, Fire, 2-US, iPhone, iPAD	I'd agree that for your books $4.99 is a quite fair price and would likely help you build a readership. $10.99 is closer to industry standard for well known authors who have an established customer base. At $10.99 you are competing with the likes of JD Robb, Evanovich, Nancy Martin, Emily Giffin and other well known "Chick Lit" type. You could have the best unkown book in the world but coming from a small/unknown publisher written by an unknown author those are battles for the sale you will lose almost every time. My only other thought on the subject is where you write that author feels the lower prices "devalue" the book - which frankly sets my teeth on edge. However I'd at the very least encourage you to point out that the price of your book is irrelevant because the value of your book is NOT the price tag that is put on it, rather it is the price people will be willing to pay for it. And frankly, when there are thousands and thousands of books being listed daily that at $1.99, $2.99, $3.99, $4.99 - your book as already been devalued because your competition for readers are charging half to a third of your price. Your publisher is pricing you right out of the race in the eBook publishing world. I'd suggest you start combing through some of the offerings from Berkley, St. Martin, Random House and the other big pubs and then ask your Publisher "So why would you expect customers to buy my book at $10.99 when they could have any of these at $6.99/$7.99? Last edited by abookreader; 12-12-2010 at 04:46 PM.