How much do you pay for Kindle books?

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   ryankettposted 12 years ago

   Not including those of your favourite mainstream authors. How much would you pay for non-fiction?

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   Uninvited Writerposted 12 years ago

   I won't pay more than $9.99 unless it is a book I really, really want to read. So far, I've only bought one book over $9.99.
   
   For something under 200 pages I'd probably be willing to pay $5.

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      ryankettposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Cool, I wouldn't ever go that high, not if self-publishing.
      
      I am experimenting at two prices at the moment, $0.99 and $2.99, I will then switch to $1.99 and $3.99.
      
      These are only test books, but it will help me analyse the buying habits.
      
      Whilst it is early days, I have seen evidence to suggest that people will see a higher price as a mark of quality and avoid $0.99 books. But it will take me a few weeks to confirm that.
      
      Ultimately if I hit the market with something worth buying, I want to reach the optimum price for the perfect balance between sales and profits. It will probably be $2.99 or $3.99, although I may experiment with something of real substance at $4.99.
      
      I don't think that any eBook should be sold for more than that!

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   Uninvited Writerposted 12 years ago

   $0.99 certainly would get you a lot of "impulse" buyers and I have bought a couple. But you are right, many might think $1.99 adds more credibility.

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      ryankettposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      But that is only 35% commission, $2.99 is the minimum for 70% commission.
      
      So ultimately, you will have to sell six times the number of books at $0.99 to achieve the same level of commission for one buyer at $2.99.
      
      Which perhaps cancels out the impulse buyers quite comfortably. Although I can see a benefit in releasing a $0.99 book if you write fiction, if it creates return custom for higher priced books
      
      For non-fiction it is very different, in that people won't even note your name, probably skip to page 37 for the very specific section that the wanted, and then never look at the book again

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      ryankettposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Are you more or less likely to consider a book purchase if able to read the first 10%?

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         Uninvited Writerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I think I'd definitely be more inclined to consider it.

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   waynetposted 12 years ago

   The price is the hardest thing to fathom at times, but your logic is a sound marketing one, one of my next ebooks will be priced at $19.97 and the condensed version is $7.97, so I wonder which one the buyers may go for?

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      ryankettposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Once you have a portfolio of books to your name, you will be one of those who will probably benefit from giving away a book for free, with links to the rest of your portfolio.
      
      If people enjoy the free book they would consider buying others in your range
      
      I do believe that there is a certain physcological thing with price though, hence the reason we all buy Gilette, Andrex and Heinz baked beans!
      
      At the moment I have undercut the biggest selling rival for one of my test books, I will analyse differences between undercutting him and charging more; I bet I could be in for a surprise!

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         waynetposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I do have a few free ebooks, but not sure if I'd want to part with them for free ever as they could be good paid ebooks, but having said that I am building a mailing list on my blog so I could let one go for that as an incentive to build my own subscribers.
         
         I remember reading somewhere that if you are going to have a range of your own ebooks, then three different price points are the best way to go as you capture the cheap skate market who like to buy cheap stuff, then you target the people with a slightly high priced ebook and then a much higher priced ebook that has a percieved value that just makes people buy.
         
         Price options are always great for buyers with varying amounts of money to spend.

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            ryankettposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Sounds like a sound strategy!

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         sunforgedposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I dont know about andrex, but Gilette and Heinz are more likely benefiting from brand loyalty over price point. (IMO)
         
         Gilete in particular. as a frontrunner of a superior product line . Heinz being synonymous with beans (and Ketchup/catsup here in the states)

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            ryankettposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            OK bad analogy, but the pricing thing definitely works with restaurants and hotels!
            
            Expensive = you expect good. Cheap = you expect bad. But not always the case!

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   Nelle Hoxieposted 12 years ago

   The prices of ebooks are rising Ryan. When I first bought my nook most of the new books were $9.99. Now I've noticed many are at $14.99, for folks like James Patterson or Jodi Piccoult. Many others are $12.99.
   
   What I pay, depends upon the value. If I were you, I'd go for $9.99 and market the hell out of it. Create a niche website, and sell, sell, sell. Put a price too low, and it'll seem like you don't believe in yourself.
   
   I have a hub about Lisa Genova (who I actually met) and who is now on the NYT bestseller list with her first book, which was self-published. You might want to take a look. Anyways, it came out in paperback and sold for $14.00. She went to every bookstore she could find and marketed it like crazy. And she's still promoting her books like mad.

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      ryankettposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Lol, they are sublime authors though, if I were as talented as those guys I would be expecting $14.99 too!
      
      Firmly staying away from any attempt at fiction, and would not be able to give any end product away for free

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   Shadesbreathposted 12 years ago

   What publishing house/platform are you guys using? Im looking at Lulu.com pretty heavy, and have read up on four others that all seem roughly the same but with less history.

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      ryankettposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I am experimenting with SmashWords (for eBook distribution to Barnes & Noble and the Apple store) and Kindle Direct Publishing (for the various kindle stores).
      
      I won't bother with print until I have something substantial, and to be honest Createspace would be my first port of call for print on demand.
      
      I don't have a finished product of substance just yet, I am experimenting with a couple of minor things to check out the formatting, process, etc.
      
      Ultimately, it is still so heavily reliant on keywords; all of my titles will be keyword laden.
      
      I wouldn't know where to start when promoting fiction, which is good because I wouldn't know where to begin with fiction, I just don't have the imagination and when I do find my imagination it runs a little TOO wild and results in an end product reminiscent of a small child.

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         Nelle Hoxieposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Oh my, you're book is keyword based. That must be something. I'm very curious about this entire venture. If you don't make it nook enabled. I'll have to download the kindle app to my laptop and have a look!
         
         My point was that Lisa Genova was a nobody, unpublished author when she published her first book. She priced it to play with the big boys - and it did.
         
         There are a couple of make money online books in bookstores now - if that's where you're going. And they are at the $27.95 level, which is on the high end for a hardcover. I've never heard of the authors and their websites.

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            ryankettposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Well its still a long way from being finished Nelle, but I'm sure you will all know when it's done. It does have a "make money" theme yes, well two of them do in fact, but I won't give much more away just yet
            
            Another is actually about 'soccer', and it will actually have 'soccer' in the title, as I have identified a lack of books about 'soccer' on Amazon Kindle. (We call it football over here of course).
            
            My point by the way wasn't that it was a book about keywords, but that using keywords for the title is an important part of my strategy - so that the Amazon listing ranks for a search term and for internal Amazon searches Just like writing a Hubpage title for search engine traffic.
            
            Ultimately, writing to a title which is searched for ensures that you will get people to your Amazon page. If Google likes ranking Amazon near the top, then I will find another way to make money from Amazon, and this is it If I have to backlink my Amazon listings rather than my Hubpages then so be it!

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      Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Once upon a time, I'd have said Lulu, hands down.
      
      Today I'd say if you want to offer a hard copy, go for CreateSpace. In some ways, I hate giving Amazon the business, but overall it's a better deal than Lulu. 
      
      If you're happy with just an e-book, Smashwords is a good option - or you could start with Kindle, as Ryan did.

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         ryankettposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Actually I started with Smashwords, but remember this is just a trial with a couple of quote books
         
         It can take weeks or months to get Smashwords to list your books on Apple and Barnes & Noble, yet 3 days to get Amazon to list your book to anybody with an Amazon Kindle, as well as anybody with Kindle apps for iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, PC, Mac, Blackberry, and Android phones.
         
         It would make more sense to take those sales whilst you are awaiting for approval from Smashwords. You can also sell your books via Kindle in English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian.
         
         Amazon has something like 47% of the eBook market, Barnes & Noble claim to now have 25%, Apple are said to have 32%. Whilst it is important to get into the latter two channels, I can't see why you can't do both Amazon and Smashwords at the same time.
         
         You can have your book available to 47% of the market within 48-72 hours. You also take a higher slice with Amazon than with any other retailer.

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            ryankettposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Clearly somebody is lying their market share though, seeing as that adds up to 104%

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   wychicposted 12 years ago

   I guess there definitely is something psychological with price. Mostly the only eBooks I'll buy are for marketing and things like that, and I won't touch the $5 and under ones. Frankly, at that price I tend to think that they must not have anything valuable to offer and feel like I'll end up wasting my time and money, and figure that if someone can sell it for so little then they must not have had to do a ton of research for it so I might as well do my own research. I generally buy around $15-$20.

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   waynetposted 12 years ago

   I like the review system Amazon has, the more reviews that explain about the purchased product the better the potential sales and that could be something that could be worked into anyones ebook promotion....instead of sending an email with thanks and praise about the book get in there and ask for feedback and reviews on the kindle books!

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