Have you ever wondered how to price your ebook?
You want it to be low enough that people will buy it, but not so low that you’re devaluing yourself as an author.
Today, we want to share 6 questions to ask yourself before setting the price of your eBook:
- What is the Purpose of my eBook and Who is my Target?
- How Much I Want to Charge per Copy?
- Do I Have Any Other Costs Associated with Publishing?
- What Percentage of Profit Do I Expect from Each Sale?
- Should I Adjust the Prices based on Similar Books in my Genre?
- Should I Apply Discounts?
Pricing your ebook can be a difficult task.
You want to price it low enough that people will buy it and at least break even on the cost of producing the book but not so low that you are giving away all of your profits.
In this article, we will share with you some tips and tricks for how to set the right price for your ebook.
1. What is the Purpose of My eBook and Who is My Target?
We all know that the main purpose of an ebook is to provide content that you can’t find anywhere else. It’s the perfect way to share your expertise with a whole new audience or to build credibility for yourself in a certain area.
You’ll be adding value and providing something worth reading – it will get people talking about you!
Let’s focus on these two important aspects:
- Share Your Expertise. You have knowledge, skills, and experience in a particular area that not many people know about. Why keep it to yourself? An ebook is a perfect way to share your expertise by teaching others how they too can develop their own skillset or start their own business.
- Build Credibility. If you’ve been working in the same field for a while, it can be hard to break into new areas or networks. Publishing an ebook is one of the best ways to build credibility and establish yourself as someone with knowledge of that subject matter. Plus, what better way than publishing content that people are willing to pay for?
At this point, you’re probably wondering who you should be targeting with your ebook. The answer is simple: anyone that might require your product or service in the future.
That means that you might consider targeting people who are in your industry but don’t currently buy from you. You may want to target potential customers as well as suppliers and stakeholders for other reasons than just selling something- they could be a source of another valuable resource or an opportunity for growth.
For example, if we’re talking about culinary tradition, it would make sense to target chefs before considering the general public because even though more people will have an interest in that specific topic, those with direct experience working in restaurants daily will know more than anyone else.
2. How Much I Want to Charge per Copy?
It’s a question that many authors struggle with when it comes time to publish.
There is no right answer for everyone. One author may decide they really care about making money on each copy sold so they charge more per copy; another author might be looking for advertising opportunities with local businesses and public libraries where their books will be seen by many people who could become lifelong readers. It’s all up to what works best for you!
However, you should be able to find a rough price per copy by looking at your book’s retail cost. If you want the most money per copy, raise this number so that it is as close to the $20-$25 range. If selling more copies and a less profit for each one works better for you, lower the cost of each copy to the $14-$16 range.
But if you want to maintain a healthy profit margin, and are not concerned about having your book in stores like Barnes & Noble, then you can price it at just slightly higher than the cost of printing copies.
Also, take into account what else you’re going to do with the book. Will it be available for sale on your website or just as an e-book? How about print copies too? Do you want a lot of exposure and maybe not much money per copy if people see your work everywhere -or- would you rather earn more from each sale without having quite so many readers get their hands on it? What are both of those goals worth to you financially speaking?
3. Do I Have Any Other Costs Associated with Publishing?
You may be thinking to yourself, “All I need is a manuscript and publishing platform.”
But there are so many other costs associated with publishing your book.
For example, editing can cost anywhere from $300-$400 depending on the length of your book. If you’re self-publishing, then you also have to factor in the price for distribution which will vary by company, but typically ranges from $250-$500 per shipment.
You’ll also want to include marketing expenses like ads that range anywhere from $25-$1,000 per ad campaign or website development at an average cost of around $5,000 upfront and annual maintenance fees (usually around 10% of total yearly income) after the initial launch.
Plus, there is the cost to register a domain name and hosting service: $11.95 per month or $126.70 annually.
These are just examples. There could be more or there could be less, depending on you and your needs.
So it’s really important to keep in mind these aspects before publishing your eBook.
4. What Percentage of Profit Do I Expect from Each Sale?
Well, it depends on a few things.
Income tax can take up to 40% of your earnings! Consider other costs and you might discover that only 20% or less of your book’s profit will go directly to you. This doesn’t include what the publisher makes from selling books, which is typically 30%. For every 100 copies sold, a self-published author will make around $20.
For every 1000 copies sold, a self-published author will make around $200 (minus the distributor’s cut). So you can see that to earn upwards of $1000 per month from your book sales on Amazon Kindle alone, you would need to sell at least 500 books each month. That means selling about 50 books per day!
There are a few strategies you can use to increase your net profit. For example, using the free Kindle text marketing strategy; is a strategy that involves providing your book for free in exchange for an email address. Once you have their contact information, they are much more likely to buy other products from you at a later time (due to the marketing opportunity).
5. Should I Adjust the Prices based on Similar Books in my Genre?
As an author, you may be considering adjusting your prices based on research into similar books in your genre.
We’ve found that the median price for a typical ebook falls between $3.99 and $6.99 – but if you’re not sure what to charge, it’s best to go with what feels right for your content and audience.
If your book content doesn’t provide as much value to readers compared to other books in that genre then it may be best for you to keep prices at their current levels. If you want people to buy your ebook, you need to provide a compelling reason for them to do so.
Content length is also important when considering adjustments in pricing; short books may require lower-priced options while long-form content will have higher perceived value.
If your content is the same or very close in length and value as other books in that genre, then it may be worth adjusting prices accordingly. This means being honest with readers about what they are getting (e.g., “This ebook costs $0.99 because it’s shorter and less comprehensive”).
6. Should I Apply Discounts?
Many authors are unclear about whether or not they should offer discounts on their books. Some people say that prices should be high to maximize profits, while others argue that providing a discount is the best way to drive sales and build an audience.
Discounts can be tricky because there’s always the chance that people will buy more than they originally intended when offered a discount (which means less money in your pocket).
However, if it’s something that customers regularly ask about then by all means offer them! Just make sure not to go too crazy with the discounting, and only offer them for a limited time.
We recommend using discounts to drive sales during periods of slow interest in your work (when you have less visibility). If the book is on sale then people will be more excited to buy it—and they’ll tell their friends about it too! You can use low prices to draw attention from potential readers that might not otherwise pay attention.
It’s also important to remember that Amazon offers steep discounts all of the time so if you’re going up against other books with similar content then offering a discount just may help differentiate yours as being worth buying instead.
Final Considerations
We’ve been reading a lot lately about pricing ebooks and we’re still not 100% clear on what the best strategy is. There are so many different opinions out there, but it seems like no matter which way you go, someone will be unhappy.
Some people believe that low prices will attract more readers but then the author ends up making less money overall because they sell fewer books. Others say that high prices make customers expect more from an ebook and therefore they’re willing to pay a higher price.
Many and many more arguments could be made. As you see, there’s no right answer but just personal needs.
We just hope these ideas may have been useful to your brainstorming process.
