SPA Girls Podcast – EP32 – Getting The Price Right

Posted By SPA Girls on May 11, 2016 | 0 comments

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SPA Girls

In this week’s episode we tackle the always-changing topic of pricing in self publishing. It’s a biggie, and it’s sometimes hard to distill this one down, especially because most people who are new to self publishing just want those who are older and wiser (haha) to just say – “You must do it this way!” Unfortunately there is no “one true path” for pricing, especially given the vast array of differing goals and aims of authors, and the constantly changing nature of the industry. What worked two years ago won’t necessarily work now.

We suggest that you research the price of other books similar to your own (in genre, length etc), and then determine what your overall strategy is for the launch (eg discoverability vs sales), before you decide what to price your book at. The main thing to remember is that you can always change it later if you decide you’ve done it wrong. That’s the best thing about self publishing, you can test and experiment to find out what works best for you! 🙂

Pricing

There is no one right price for every single author. You need to think about what you are trying to achieve and work out a strategy to implement it.

Things to think about when pricing your book;

You may be publishing your first book.

You could be publishing the third book in a series.

Is it a single title?

What genre are you about to publish?

How long is it?

Are you seeking discoverability or are you looking for more sales, or is your aim to climb the rankings?

Remember this is self-publishing so anything you do, you can change.

Price also determines the percentage of royalty you will receive:

List Price	Amazon.com	BN.com	Apple iBookstore	Other Retailers
$0.99-$2.98	35%	40%	70%	40%-55%
$2.99-$9.99	70%	65%	70%	40%-55%
$10-$199.99	35%	40%	70%	40%-55%

You have to agree to sell the book for the same price everywhere, so you can’t sell your book for $2.99 on Amazon and more on BN.com to make up the royalty percentage difference.

So if you put your book at 0.99, you would need to sell more to make as much money, if say you put the price of $2.99. However, the lower price may help you with discoverability and long term you possible will sell more books.

There are also those readers out there that do not like to purchase books in the 0.99c price range, because they do not perceive those books as good quality.

The Author Earnings report which is done by Hugh Howey and Data Guy every six months, looks at Amazon bestselling ebooks and gives an average price of what’s selling. They tend to be between $2.99-$5.99.

Look at top selling indie writers in your genre to see what is selling and at what price. (do your homework)

Remember also, that the bestsellers can command a higher price, because they have a following of readers who want to purchase their books.

As a starting author and if this is your first book, you are possibly looking toward pricing for discoverability.

If you are a traditionally published author who has just received her back list back, and is looking to self-publish, then you may want to look at putting the first book in a series at 0.99c. Put links of your other books in the back and this will promote the rest in the series.

If you put a book out a 0.99c then it is sometimes best to have another book that the reader can purchase afterward, if not, then pricing higher can be a better option in the early stages of your career.

Lower pricing can also help boost your books rankings.

Supposedly no one prices their books at $1.99. (Not entirely sure why)

Different markets have different expectations for pricing. When you load your book, you can opt to put in a specific price for each market place i.e; Amazon UK, Amazon Australia etc. If you don’t use this option, the prices will be set against the US dollar taking into account the exchange rate, and often the prices will be irregular numbers and not end with .99c. Also different countries price differently like India. So look around and see what’s selling and at what price.

Perma free/free ebooks

This is when you set your book price as free permanently. Authors often do this if the book is the first in a series, or if they want to create interest in their work. To do this you cannot be exclusively with Amazon.

Amazon will not set a book at free as the other platforms do, but they will price match if you alert them to the fact. But do so politely, and remember they can still say no. Readers can also send a message to Amazon that they can purchase the book for free on another platform.

Once you get your book perma free, remember to keep checking the price stays that way, as sometimes Amazon will put the price back to the original one. This is important when you are advertising your book, as readers are not pleased if you promise them something free but it is not.

Sometimes you can give a book away to people to help promote your email newsletter, and grow you subscribers.

Remember if you have a pema free, make sure you have the links to the other books in the back of that book. The book must also be really good quality because this is often the first experience for a reader of your writing, and you want to make a lasting impression. You want them to buy the next book.

There are several different options for pricing. For example you get 5 free days on Amazon to market you books. There is also the rolling price options.

Remember if you are going to do a short term discount on price then you need to do some marketing also.

A warning here- if you put your book out for free or a lower price, then be prepared for some negative reviews. This is something that comes with the territory.