Pricing an ebook

With Amazon KDP you receive 70% in royalties by pricing your e-book between $2.99 and $9.99. Below or above those figures will only get you a 35% royalty. Both Smashwords and Amazon KDP have clauses in their Terms of Service that state the price should be the same across all sales channels, so whatever price you choose, it should be consistent.

"Should be consistent" and "is consistent" are two different things, though. I've got my book distributed on Smashwords, B&N and Amazon for the same list price ($2.99), but Amazon has discounted it to 50% of their own volition*. This is only mildly aggravating to me, but it's surely within their rights to do so... just as it's within my rights to offer a Smashwords coupon that undercuts Amazon's own price.

Nyah!

Officially, the price -- as set by me -- is consistent. What happens on the retailer's site is out of my control unless I decide to re-price down to the minimum**.

EDIT to add: and Amazon has since bumped it back up to my list price, but showing it as a discount vs. the POD version.

* And surely as per the user agreement terms, in the clause right after the bit where I hand over my first born.

** Interestingly, I had priced an earlier version at $1.49, and then upped it when I put the final polish on it. So, Amazon has returned the price to its origin point, AND made it theoretically more appealing to readers since it's 50% off list. And I have sold a few since repriced. Psychology at work?

If you choose KDP select, you are forced to choose 2.99 at a minimum.

I went KDP select because I wanted the lending library option and the 5 days to promote my book for free. Of course, this opts you out of using any other platform to sell your book for 90 days so read carefully!

I wanted to initially set the price at .99 because this all has been sort of an experiment for me. I also think that if you are a non published author, the cheaper the better. People are more willing to take a look at an unknown writer's stuff if it doesn't break the bank.

WackAMole said:

If you choose KDP select, you are forced to choose 2.99 at a minimum.

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This is not correct. You may choose any price point $.99 cents and above. You only receive a 70% royalty when your price point is between $2.99 and $9.99.

It's hard to find the sweet spot that maximises sales. I know a lot of people are going for $2.99 because it gives the maximum royalty at a price that is still attractive to people.

I went for a little more because I was hoping that a lot of people would recommend the book to their like-minded friends and I figured I could squeeze out another dollar. I'm willing to accept that this was a gamble that might not pay off.

merrihiatt said:

This is not correct. You may choose any price point $.99 cents and above. You only receive a 70% royalty when your price point is between $2.99 and $9.99.

Click to expand...

Thanks for correcting me!

*blush*

Depending on your goals. If you want to make money and a living, you should price them 2.99 or above. Personally, 7.99 is as far as I would go to buy an ebook. 4.99 is a nice middle.

It varies for everyone, as shown in the above link, but these are my pricing plans:

NF book for anime/manga fans: $4.99
Series of NF books revolving around cosplayers: $2.99
Novels (generally ranging from 80-95k): $3.99

I haven't actually published anything yet (the first book will be released on May 25th) but those are my intended prices.