Price on Back Cover?

It makes it awfully easy for clerks, for one thing. I wouldn't, personally, for a self-published book. It's not likely your costs will drop. I'd leave off the price.

I left the price off my books, too. I've had to change the price to accommodate my decision to use the expanded distribution, and that kind of thing could happen again. Don't want to have to submit a new cover just for a price change.

I wouldn't bother, but if I did, I'd set the price high, intending it to be discounted at the register.

But better than the price, I would put a barcode that encodes the ISBN on the back. When and if the book in sold in a brick and mortar shop, the ISBN barcode will be scanned at the register and the (current) price will be pulled from the inventory database and get charged. There is then no need for something like "$8.99."

Remember to print out the ISBN as a number above the barcode so it can be typed in if the scanner is broken.

jimbro said:

I wouldn't bother, but if I did, I'd set the price high, intending it to be discounted at the register.

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Good advice. We all like to think we're getting a bargain.

Bookstores require a price on the cover and some book reviewers, oddly, also won't review a book whose cover isn't professionally exact right down to a detail like a listed price. Also, you aren't beholden to the cover price. Many, if not most, retailers discount the retail price; so it looks to the buyer like he's getting a good deal if the selling price is discounted by, say, 20%. I make a point of putting a price on my covers.