How much is too much to pay for a Kindle book?
I buy and read a lot of digital books. One thing that really irks me is when the price of them is similar to or even higher than the physical version. I have also seen new, self-published authors put pretty high prices on their debut novels ($9.99 and higher), without even many reviews to recommend them. Now, I understand that not everything in life should be dirt cheap, but when prices are ridiculous, why should we pay them?
I personally have never bought one, but I think they should only be $5 max.
Ultimately the market will dictate especially for unknown author self-publishers. Oftentimes first time writers charge the same amount for their books as best selling authors until they realize they are not selling many books!
Amazon allows self-published authors to modify their pricing anytime they want. Having said that many first time authors join to the Kindle Select program and offer their books as (free) downloads for up to 5 promotional days in a 90 day period. You just need to be signed up with one of those sites that send out email alerts concerning free books available on Kindle.
There are lots of ebooks sold in the .99 cents to $3.99 range. I sell my own for $4.95 however it's a lot lower than most books sold in the dating/relationship self-help genre offered by bestselling or self-published authors.
I bought a kindle book for $19 recently. It was a Robert Greene book so I was willing to pay the cash for it. Really depends, will I buy some SciFi romance garbage for $9.99.. if it's a longer book, then yeah, probably! LoL! It's the market man! Supply and demand. Reading is my pastime so I am willing to pay for what draws my interests.
If the book is from a big time author like Nelson DeMille or Stephen King, I'll go for close to ten bucks, which is the norm. For a self published author like myself, I think anything over $2.99 is a reach. I have four books for sale on KDP. Three are $2.99, one is $.99.
Never over $4. Some of the author's I buy from price their books at $2.99 and $3.99. But nothing over that for pleasure reading unless they are on my favorite author list.
For established authors, I would say that anything over $20 is too much. And, for self published authors, I would say that anything over $5 is too much. I'm basing this on the cost of new hardcovers (which can often be from $20-$30) and paperbacks (which are usually $6-$8). So, the e-versions would be cheaper, but still in the same ballpark.
I agree with everyone else. I do love with authors have the first book in the series free.. Most of the time I will continue the series and buy the rest.. I have paid up to $5 for a digital. I won't pay more then that if I can buy the physical copy for the same price.
If I like a book I will pay up to $10.00 for it. The great thing about Amazon is that you don't have to worry about losing a favorite book because of moving or other circumstances. The only thing you have to worry about is forgetting your password.
I think it depends on how much you want to keep the book in e-form.
Anymore, I purchase some cookbooks this way, but in truth, not very often. I BORROW ebooks all the time, however.
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