Not once I am asked: “what is the right price for my book”? My answer disappoints many because the only right answer is: there is no right price. And this answer also applies in the business world, not just in books.

A price is set mainly by your standards. I will not go into the broad pricing theory here, but I will give you several considerations when coming to set the price for our digital book.

The right price for a book is the maximum amount that readers will agree to pay.

The advantages of digital books are that you can change the price daily, every week and anytime you want. These are not printed books with a set price printed on. Here, in a few clicks, you can change the price.

We here at ‘Simple Story’ publishing highly recommend to change the price every once in a while and to examine what it does to sales.

It’s important to mention that you need to give at least a month to every price you set to see the progress of purchases. A change every day or two will not give you a real true estimation.

FYI, Amazon has a price recommendation system, they have an algorithm that runs according to the book subject & keywords that offer you the ‘right’ price for your book to reach maximum profits.  It is not so clear how much these system’s recommendations are accurate & correct, Amazon also mentions to take these recommendations as a reference & not an exact truth.

Many independent authors want to profit from selling their books and obviously, the price is one of the key elements on your ability as a writer to earn money.

Allow me to offer you several considerations in setting the price:

  1. An average pricing in your niche

    We need to remember that sadly, we are not alone on Amazon and in the book market in general, our clients will always look at us to compare with other alternatives they have. If the average price on our niche is $0.99 per book (children’s books) and we would try to sell each book by $8, the chance we would sell a lot is very low.

    On the other hand, if the average price is $6 and you offer your book by $1 – readers will suspect it has no real value.

  1. Do not compete by price

    Many in the business and the books worlds are mistakenly thinking that if their price is low, they will sell a lot & earn a profit. No!

    If you have a name for yourself & an authority and you have seized your own niche, there’s no point in dropping the prices and earn less than what you can make.
    During free days or any other sales that support your marketing formation, you can definitely drop your price, but during the rest of the time try to reach the possible maximal price.

  2. ‘Play’ with the Pricing of a Series

    In the hope that you already have a series of books, your ability to ‘play’ around with the prices and attract readers is increasingly high. What does that mean?

    In some of the books set a price based on the niche’s average pricing, for some place a higher price and for some lower. This way every reader will find several books on different price ranges and will choose what suits him, in the hope that he will buy more than one book. We at ‘Simple Story’ recommend you to change the mix of prices between books every number of months.
    Sigalit Eshet’s mosaic books are all at the same level and can be at a matching price. Yet, on this unique niche, she changes the prices every once in a while.

  3. A Price during Ad Campaign

    When you run a major advertising campaign and email your mailing list – it is recommended to play around with the prices. If you chose to use Amazon’s free days’ campaign you should raise the price a day before the campaign and then your potential client feels he will earn more by buying the book.
    You can also use Amazon’s temporary discount tool they offer us writers.
    We at ‘Simple Story’ can recommend you when it is best to use each price tactic on your campaign.

In conclusion, the book price is, of course, one of the main features that would determine your books profit. It may be that for you, success is measured in one parameter of the revenue but in any case, it is important for you to understand Amazon’s authors’ royalties’ method or any other website you are publishing your books on, for you to know & feel that the price of your book respects you & your aspirations.

We here at ‘Simple Story’ digital books publishing will be happy to help you with any question or doubt you may have.