Book Price "Points"

Today's topic: how do I price my book? The question of price doesn't always come up until the end of the publishing process. It's an important question. If your goal is to make money, then price becomes an even greater imperative. I do know many authors whose goal isn't even about money. They want as many readers to be exposed to their books as possible. When an author isn't concerned about how much money he/she is going to make then price becomes less important. However, here are some important facts to know when it comes to pricing.

 

Suggested retail price is your profit margin no matter what Amazon does to mark down or put the book on sale. Authors sometimes get confused. Amazon will put their books on sale, and they will protest. They believe the sale price will affect their profits. The sale price on Amazon will not matter (this is for print books only). Amazon pays out based on suggested retail price.

 

Print books get undercut by reseller's prices: if you put a print version up for sale on Amazon then your print book becomes fair game to resellers. Resellers can be people who bought your book in the past and now sell it as "used" on Amazon. They can be reviewers who resell books given to them for free. They can be anyone who sells used books. AND, they can mark the prices down as low as they want to make it. I have no control over reseller behavior. Authors have no control over reseller behavior.

 

The only price I can control is for eBook pricing. Resellers cannot resell eBooks. I have much more latitude over eBook prices. Now that said, Amazon has also price fixed. You get a higher royalty for books priced between $2.99 and $9.99. Books lower or greater than those prices receive a vastly lower royalty, which really makes it a challenge to overcome that price range.

 

Amazon is a nasty creature - this huge corporation controls the market in such a way I can't believe the government doesn't step in. If you price your eBook, for example, higher on Apple or Nook, Amazon will refuse to sell your Kindle book and force it off the market. Yes! Amazon insists Kindle be the cheapest or comparable price. This rich corporation will cut its nose off to spite its face, meaning that even a best-selling Kindle book will be removed if you sell it cheaper elsewhere - true story!

 

So Friend-Os, those price "points" should be considered as you go to publish your book. Until next week, keep "write" on your book!