If you follow me on social media, you know last week was a very strange one for me. I spent a day getting my manuscript ready for uploading to Kindle. The cover always gives me fits, but I finally got it in there. It’s on their website is “preorder” status. That means you can buy it and on April 1, the day denoted for release, it will automatically load on your Kindle.
My website has a page dedicated to each book. As I was looking for links, I found that on Amazon, my e-book was listed for $449.00. While it would be nice to have people willing to pay that much, it’s highly unlikely and to tell the truth, I’d feel guilty if they did. My books might be worth $20, but not $449.
After attempting to contact Amazon (virtually impossible), I finally found a chat place and put in a message. The AI robot came back with a bunch of links of how to set the price in their platform which I’d already done. This is my tenth book so I have some experience with that. I did it right.
The next day, I rechecked the link and found the correct price. Trying to make lemonade out of the lemon experience, I told everyone I had discounted the book by 99.3%. That’s quite a sale!
The big-time authors’ e-books, the ones published by the big five publishers or small presses, are usually priced at $12.99 or higher. Some indie authors price theirs to match. I won’t pay that price unless I absolutely have to; for example, when my book club picks a book not on sale. If I won’t pay that much, I don’t expect my readers to pay that either. I price my books at $4.99 because I don’t mind paying that for a good book. I’ve been maligned for not pricing my books at $12.99, saying I didn’t value my books enough. It’s not that. I think mine are as good or better than the big-timers’ books. My thought is if I won’t pay that much, I don’t expect my readers to.
I get several newsletters that tell me what e-books are on sale. I use those opportunities to buy the big-time authors then. If you want those discounts, sign up for Bookbub’s newsletters. I buy off of its daily lists most of the time. Most of the books are discounted to $1.99 to $2.99. You can designate what genre of books you enjoy, and they will send you a sale list of those categories.
Please let me know how you feel about book pricing. How much are you willing to spend for an e-book? If it’s $449, you and my business bank account missed that opportunity.
You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but you have not enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earns wages earns wages to put into a bag with holes. Haggai 2:6