Book Sales: Pricing Considerations for an eBook - article

Molly Blaisdell — Tue, 10 Jul 2018 17:45:42 GMT

Current Revision posted to Booksellers by Molly Blaisdell on 7/10/2018 5:45:42 PM

You want to publish an ebook, but you're not sure what all it entails. There are many ways ebooks are distributed: through Amazon, Nook (B&N), Apple iBooks, and more. These platforms charge publishing companies and self-published authors a percentage of a book’s sale price, and that percentage changes depending on the online retailer and the list price.

The New York Times took a look at ebook pricing. They placed the base price of the example book at $12.99, or at half of the hardcover price. They reviewed the current breakdown for traditional publishers, which follows:

50% gross revenue
- minus 4% digitizing, book cover design and editing
- minus 6% marketing
- minus unearned advances
- minus overhead costs
20 -30% platform distribution
25% royalties for the author

With this base of traditional books as a point of comparison, look at the pricing of individual ebook titles. Here is a listing of some common price points for ebooks, as well as some of the reasoning behind those prices.

Free

• A free ebook is sometimes used by an author to promote his business. The business provides revenue streams. The author has created the ebook to enhance his business, so no profit is needed.

99 Cents

• This ebook price is often the introductory price. Authors price their ebooks at a low price for a short time period and then raise prices to $2.99 or more.

• This price may also be a gimmick price. Perhaps a popular NYT bestseller costs $9.99. A self-published author with a similar title may try to bleed sales away from the bestseller by offering his book at the 99 cent price point. In essence, such pricing is a way of piggy-backing onto the wave of another successful series. Easy to understand. Hard to do.

$1.99

• This price is also often an introductory price, but in this case the price of the book will rise to $4.99 or more after the introductory period.

$4.99 to $9.99

• The $4.99 price point is for stand-alone ebooks.

• Books that were first published in hardcover print, generally are priced at $7.99 to $9.99 on ebook platforms.

Higher than $9.99

• According to The New York Times, readers do not want to pay more than $9.99 for ebooks. However, major publishers disagree and have negotiated with distribution platforms to price books higher than $9.99.

• Textbooks – Textbooks are already priced higher than other kinds of books. In e-format, textbooks will be lower in price than their print versions, but will continue to be pricy because of exclusive and expert content.

Tags: article, fiction, Nonfiction

Book Sales: Pricing Considerations for an eBook - article

Molly Blaisdell — Tue, 10 Jul 2018 15:54:26 GMT

Revision 4 posted to Booksellers by Molly Blaisdell on 7/10/2018 3:54:26 PM

You want to publish an ebook, but you are not sure what all it entails. There are many ways ebooks are distributed: Amazon, Nook, Apple iBooks, and more are all retailers for ebooks. These platforms charge publishing companies and self-published authors a percentage of a book’s sale price.

The New York Times took a look at ebook pricing. They placed the base price of the book at $12.99, or at half of the hard cover price. They reviewed the current breakdown for traditional publishers, which follows:

50% gross revenue
- minus 4% digitizing, book cover design and editing
- minus 6% marketing
- minus unearned advances
- minus overhead costs
20 -30% platform distribution
25% royalties for the author

Free

• A free ebook is sometimes used by an author to promote his business. The business provides revenue streams. The author has created the ebook to enhance his business, so no profit is needed.

99 Cents

• This ebook price is often the introductory price. Authors price their ebooks at a low price for a short time period and then raise prices to $2.99 or more.

$1.99

• This price is also often an introductory price, but in this case the price of the book will rise to $4.99 or more after the introductory period.

$4.99 to $9.99

• The $4.99 price point is for stand-alone ebooks.

• Books that were first published in hardcover print, generally are priced at $7.99 to $9.99 on ebook platforms.

Higher than $9.99

Tags: article, fiction, Nonfiction

Book Sales: Pricing Considerations for an E-book - article

Molly Blaisdell — Thu, 08 Jun 2017 12:13:52 GMT

Revision 3 posted to Booksellers by Molly Blaisdell on 6/8/2017 12:13:52 PM

The New York Times took a look at e-book pricing. They placed the base price of the e-book at $12.99, or half of the hardcover price. They reviewed the current breakdown for traditional publishers, which follows:

50% gross revenue
- minus 4% digitizing, book cover design and editing
- minus 6% marketing
- minus unearned advances
- minus overhead costs
20 -30% platform distribution
25% royalties for the author

With this base of traditional books as a point of comparison, look at the pricing of individual e-book titles. Here is a listing of some common price points for e-books, as well as some of the reasoning behind those prices.

Free

• A free e-book is sometimes used by an author to promote his business. The business provides revenue streams. The author has created the e-book to enhance his business, so no profit is needed.

99 Cents

• This e-book price is often the introductory price. Authors price their e-books at a low price for a short time period and then raise prices to $2.99 or more.

• This price may also be a gimmick price. Perhaps a popular NYT best- seller costs $9.99. A self-published author with a similar title may try to bleed sales away from the bestseller by offering his book at the 99 cent price point. In essence, such pricing is a way of piggy-backing onto the wave of another successful series. Easy to understand. Hard to do. Look at Amanda Hocking’s Trylle series for an example of piggy-backing.

$1.99

• This price is also often an introductory price, but in this case the price of the book will rise to $4.99 or more after the introductory period.

$4.99 to $9.99

• The $4.99 price point is for stand-alone e-books.

• Books that were first published in hardcover print, generally are priced at $7.99 to $9.99 on e-book platforms.

Higher than $9.99

Tags: article, fiction, Nonfiction

Book Sales: Pricing Considerations for an E-book - article

Molly Blaisdell — Sat, 04 Mar 2017 10:04:29 GMT

Revision 2 posted to Booksellers by Molly Blaisdell on 3/4/2017 10:04:29 AM

You want to publish an e-book, but you are not sure what is entailed. The cost of creating an e-book is similar to the cost of creating a physical book. There are many ways e-books are distributed. Kindle, Nook, Kobe and more are all platforms for e-books. These platforms charge publishing companies and self-published authors a percentage of a book’s sale price. For most platforms, this is 70% to 80% of the book’s sale price.
The New York Times took a look at e-book pricing. They placed the base price of the e-book at $12.99, or half of the hardcover price. They reviewed the current breakdown for traditional publishers, which follows:

50% gross revenue
           minus 4% digitizing, book cover design and editing
           minus 6% marketing
           minus unearned advances
           minus overhead costs
20 -30% platform distribution
25% royalties for the author

Free

• Free books are sometimes offered by authors to promote a whole series of books. An author releases the first book for free, but charges a fee for subsequent books in the series, generally $2.99 or more.
• A free e-book is sometimes used by an author to promote his business. The business provides revenue streams. The author has created the e-book to enhance his business, so no profit is needed.

99 cents

• This e-book price is often the introductory price. Authors price their e-books at a low price for a short time period and then raise prices to $2.99 or more.
• This price may also be a gimmick price. Perhaps a popular NYT best- seller costs $9.99. A self-published author with a similar title may try to bleed sales away from the bestseller by offering his book at the 99 cent price point. In essence, such pricing is a way of piggy-backing onto the wave of another successful series. Easy to understand. Hard to do. Look at Amanda Hocking’s Trylle series for an example of piggy-backing.

$1.99

• This price is also often an introductory price, but in this case the price of the book will rise to $4.99 or more after the introductory period.

$4.99 to $9.99

• The $4.99 price point is for stand-alone e-books.
• Books that were first published in hardcover print, generally are priced at $7.99 to $9.99 on e-book platforms.

Higher than $9.99

• According to The New York Times, readers do not want to pay more than $9.99 for e-books. However major publishers disagree and have negotiated with distribution platforms to price books higher than $9.99.
• Textbooks – Textbooks are already priced higher than other kinds of books. In e-format, textbooks will be lower in price than their print versions, but will continue to be pricy because of exclusive and expert content.

Tags: article, fiction, Nonfiction

Book Sales: Pricing Considerations for an E-book - Article

Molly Blaisdell — Wed, 14 Dec 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Revision 1 posted to Booksellers by Molly Blaisdell on 12/14/2016 12:00:00 AM

Free

99 cents

$1.99

• This price is also often an introductory price, but in this case the price of the book will rise to $4.99 or more after the introductory period.

$4.99 to $9.99

• The $4.99 price point is for stand-alone e-books.
• Books that were first published in hardcover print, generally are priced at $7.99 to $9.99 on e-book platforms.

Higher than $9.99

Tags: article, fiction, Nonfiction