Last year, a major milestone was reached in the ebook industry: self-published authors began taking home the bulk of all author earnings generated on Amazon.com, eclipsing those represented by major traditional publishers.
It’s never been a better time in human history to publish a book than now. When the writing is complete, figuring out how to maximize it is another challenge. Also, it’s tough to figure out what is an appropriate price point for an ebook?
First, authors need to consider why customers buy ebooks in the first place:
- They prefer downloading ebooks to their laptop, desktop computer, or ebook reader that they received as a gift
- ebooks are cheaper to buy than paperbacks or hardcover books.
- They bought an ebook reader for all their ebooks for the convenience of having them all in one place (i.e., so they don’t have to cart around lots of heavy books with them).
- They see significant value in the content of the book (i.e., it contains priceless information and instructions that can help them to earn more money or to better themselves and their lives in some measurable way).
- Going paperless to help save trees is more important to them than saving money.
Readers buy books for content, not paper. If the ebook’s content is life-altering, they’d pay the same for it as they would a paperback book.
Next, the author needs to determine which platform will be best to sell their book through.
Marketing is the most important part of having a successful eBook.
Kindle is best for price-based ebook marketing
Because Kindle is most popular and most widely used, it’s the best platform to use for marketing to wide audiences.
Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) platform allows publishers and “indie” or self-published authors to upload interior book files specially formatted for their e-readers. This option offers a generic, front-cover-generator and is used most in the vanity book publishing model in that vanity publishers –books produced quickly without professional editing, design and proofreading but for the purpose of promoting the author or his other ventures.
Amazon strongly encourages authors to price their Kindle ebooks at $9.99 or lower. It provides incentives by offering higher royalty percentages for higher priced books compared to lower priced ones.
Recently, French publisher Hachette was victorious in negotiating a deal. Now, Amazon cannot force authors to price their books on their eCommerce site at $9.99 or less. Amazon, however, continues to strongly advocate for such pricing, arguing that low costs are good for all parties and citing the pre-World War II invention of the paperback, which made books accessible to more people. Opponents to the price ceiling say Amazon’s stance is arbitrary.
It will likely take an author forever to make back the money it cost to properly publish a book if the retail price is set at $2.99 per copy. Additionally, such a low price truly devalues content.
Kindle’s KDP platform not only prices ebooks very low, but also allows authors the choice of offering their books free of charge for two to five days out of every 90-day period to try to bolster new readership. In other words, interested readers can simply wait it out and get a book for free. For many, a rhetorical adage may come to mind: Why bother buying the cow when you can have the milk for free? A much more effective way to entice new readers into buying a book is with a “Sneak a Peak” option that allows them to look inside a book to read only a small portion of the content for free, instead.
Kobo is Best for Value-Based Ebook Marketing
Luckily, many other ebook retailers out there will happily sell various ebook formats for their clients worldwide without exclusivity contracts, while also letting those publishers (self-publishers) determine their own recommended retail prices. Kobo is one of these retailers. When authors upload files to Kobo Books, they can set their own prices from the start.
This is like the traditional relationship between manufacturers and their retailers. The manufacturer (self-publisher) knows its own production costs and, therefore, sets its own recommended retail price based on those costs. The retailer, in turn, lists the item at that suggested price and may or may not provide discounts based on their own projected profit margins. Obviously, a book that is professionally published by including professional editing, graphic design, and proofreading into the process has a higher production cost (and higher quality) which commands a higher price.
Many Kindle authors mistakenly believe that their books need to be priced low or given away for free in order to become a bestseller, but that’s inaccurate.
The digital POD paperback version of my book, How to Publish a Book in Canada . . . and Sell Enough Copies to Make a Profit!, became an Amazon.ca bestseller only a short month and a half after it was first published, as did my next book titled How to Publish a Bestselling Book … and Sell It Worldwide Based on Value, Not Price!. The recommended retail price for both of these books is $19.99 USD. They reached bestseller status because of their quality content combined with using various online and traditional marketing techniques—not because of low pricing.
Spend sufficient time contemplating price
Authors need to determine whether they offer the best value or the best price. They need to decide who they are early on—what the core intention of their book truly is—and then be true to that vision through and through. Authors should understand their target market—their customers’ preference—before designing a sales and marketing strategy, and then make sure that the strategy is consistent with their preference in every single way, including the retail price they’ve set for every format of their book. By taking these steps, authors will sell far more books over the long run.
About Kim Staflund
As the founder and publisher at Polished Publishing Group (PPG), www.polishedpublishinggroup.com, Kim Staflund works with businesses and individuals around the world to produce professional quality audiobooks, ebooks, paperbacks and hardcovers using a supported self-publishing business model. As a bestselling author and sales coach, she shows authors how to sell their books using all the effective traditional and online tricks of the trade. Staflund has a substantial sales and sales management history combined with over 20 years of book publishing experience within the traditional and new publishing markets.
