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Best e-book starting price?

Posted: April 22nd, 2011, 2:14 am
by Guardian
What is the best starting price for an e-book? I have few numbers in my mind, but I'd like to hear some numbers first.

Re: Best e-book starting price?

Posted: April 22nd, 2011, 2:48 am
by Margo
There's no single answer for that. There are those who think a debut novel should be 99 cents, especially if it is the first in a series. Others believe a novel shouldn't go for less than $2.99. Several authors are doing well in the $4.99 or even $6.99 range. I've noticed people pushing the idea that a short story should go for 99 cents, a novella for $1.99, and novels for $2.99+, not counting the occasional 99 cent promotional sale. Several successful self-published ebook authors seem to be pushing for a slight increase in prices to provide writers with "a living wage", but I think in general they still agree the price for a novel should be no more than five or six dollars. Of course, in the time it took me to type this, the situation has probably evolved. Mutated might be a better word, considering the speed of change.

Re: Best e-book starting price?

Posted: April 22nd, 2011, 2:57 am
by Guardian
Margo wrote:There are those who think a debut novel should be 99 cents, especially if it is the first in a series.
Then these people won't ready my novel. It's that simple. :)
Others believe a novel shouldn't go for less than $2.99.
I have to agree with this. Nothing should go below an X price.
Several authors are doing well in the $4.99 or even $6.99 range. But I think in general they still agree the price for a novel should be no more than five or six dollars.
I had $4.44, $6.66 and $8.88 in my mind. But it seems the last sentence in the quote is eliminating the last two. In this case I keep the last two price ideas for the paper editions.

Re: Best e-book starting price?

Posted: April 23rd, 2011, 3:29 pm
by maybegenius
You might be surprised how many people won't buy something priced at $6.66 for superstitious reasons, heh. Personally, I wouldn't go lower than $2.99 unless I was offering a shorter work.

Re: Best e-book starting price?

Posted: April 23rd, 2011, 3:45 pm
by Guardian
maybegenius wrote:You might be surprised how many people won't buy something priced at $6.66 for superstitious reasons, heh.
:) I know. 6.66 was just the middle between the original price what I always wanted and the presumed final price. In my work numbers has an essence. The release date also work on this way and the price will be set on this way too. My original idea would be 8.88USD as 888 is a key number in my WIP. But that's too much, so the other one, 4.44 will be the final one.
Personally, I wouldn't go lower than $2.99 unless I was offering a shorter work.
Same here. Whoever is selling his or her work for a low price, such as 0.99, that writer is also considering that work as a work without any true value. I won't do that. I won't go below 2.99 (Nor below 4.44). In my opinion 4.44 is also a very-very-very low price for an e-book, but it's already an acceptable one and at least it's connecting to my work one way or another (Plus as I have three volumes, a low price of the first may generate readers for the other two volumes. And as sometimes the less can generate much more, that's the reason why I'm willing to go with this low price. With this I value my own work and it's also an affordable price.). Then we'll see how it is going to work out in the reality...