Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres
In any market, price setting is more black art than science (unless you have Amazon's databases. And even then...).
Part of the problem with pricing ebooks is that it isn't a single market, even within the individual genres. You have a blend of established "brands" jockeying for attention side-by-side with newcomers; backlist and new releases; standalones and series. And then the publishers, whether indie or tradpub, have different goals in mind when they set prices; some publishers seek go maximize the unit gross, others seek to maximize unit sales, still others aim to maximize net, and any of those goals can be applied one book or an enture series. A total newcomer ramping up a career isn't going to get the same results as a long-time (relatively speaking) player with a deep catalog.
Most attention focuses on the extremes (permafree, $0.99, versus the "protect print" strategies) and very little on the more sophisticated ones available to Indies, like stair-casing and regular price jogging. And, of course new ones working in the effects of KU. And, often times, pricing concerns totally overwhelm other visibility enhancers such as covers, blurbs, metadata (the BPHs' magic bullet of the month). One particularly elegant (for its simplicity) tactic some Indies use is to provide a CreateSpace POD edition, list-priced with a high enough margin to qualify for B&M sales, which usually means somewhere in the $13-17 range. Then they price the ebook in the $3.99 to $4.99 range which allows for promos at $2.99 as well presenting the normal ebook list as a big discount from print. As it allows for the occasional print sale, too.
Of course, that isn't a tactic suitable for a 30k word novella but for longer titles it provides the perception of value. Combined with an eye-catching cover it can provide higher sales than tossing the title into a sea of freebies. Or not. 
Milleage varies.
But there are really many ways of effectively marketing books and price promotions are just one of many tools that can be used, alone or in combination.
An obsessive concern with retail prices can be counterproductive, as a certain group of publishers are busy demonstrating right now.  |
You realize this exact post could apply to pretty much everything from groceries to clothes to electronics.
Heck how many different prices are there for a can of corn in the grocery store?