Pricing Poll

What price would make you put a new, paperback novel back on the shelf?

  • 7.99

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 8.99

    Votes: 1 20.0%

  • 9.99

    Votes: 2 40.0%

  • 10.99

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 12.99

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 19.99

    Votes: 2 40.0%
  • Total voters
    5
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Dreadnaught

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After some searching I couldn't find info on the specific novel pricing I was looking for. So a new poll question...

If you are browsing in your favorite bookstore and see a new, good quality paperback novel in your favorite genre from an unknown author and unknown publisher, and from the cover/title/reading a bit you are convinced to buy it on a whim, what price would make you put it back on the shelf? (meaning the lowest price shown in the poll that would be too much)

If your price is different when browsing on Amazon, please explain.

*I'm also going to look at several hundred novels at the local B&N and will post the low/high/average cover prices here when I get that data.
**This is posted in the Self-Pub forum because in order to sell a self-pub novel outside of a local/familiar audience it's good to know what the price barriers are.
 
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GHF65

GHF65

practical experience, FTW
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My price is definitely different depending on where I'm shopping and why. I'm much more likely to buy a book by an unknown author-publisher combination on Amazon if it's part of a "readers who bought ********* also bought *******" list or a two-fer, where the unknown is the discount book.

If I'm shopping in a brick-and-mortar store, I can read the flyleaf and a few pages and sometimes will buy on a whim if it sounds good. I'll pay a little more under those circumstances.
 

Dreadnaught

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Thanks for the feedback Schoolmarm.

I did some checking in the local bookstore and the prices for new release paperback novels were anywhere from $6.99 to $9.99. I'd say 80% of the ones I looked at were priced at $7.99 while the matte/gloss + embossed covers were at $9.99 and the cheaper cover/paper stock at $6.99. So it looks like to be competitive pricewise in a bookstore you'd need to be at least under $10.
 

Anthony Ravenscroft

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Interesting idea for a Poll, but that's far too much of a jump!!

First, define size a bit better -- I might pounce on a $14.95 tradesize that I wouldn't touch in a $7.95 mass.

Second, define "author" for the purpose of the Poll. I'm unlikely to pay as much for someone I've never before heard of, compared to my Fave Writer's new tome.

Now, as to price. I'm finding that the big breakpoint for tradesize fiction is $15.95. For a first-time author from a small press, $12.95 is probably the limit.

I detest "gloppy" covers because it looks like it's being marketed to victims of severe cranial trauma -- "Ooooh, shiny!" -- & I'd prefer they put the extra cost into, dunno, maybe a lower price.
 
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