Book Pricing
How much should you charge for your book?
If you have a quick browse of Amazon listings you’ll see that most self-published ebooks are sold for 0.99p/c. A very small sum, which some would argue reflects the lack of a physical product. In common with other forms of digital content creation, the democratisation of ebook publishing has driven down the price.
Amazon pushes its Kindle Unlimited programme by offering a favourable royalty rate if you opt-in to the scheme. The payment you receive depends on the total number of pages read. If someone reads the whole thing it works out about the same as selling a copy. In fairness, Kindle Unlimited has driven more eyes to my books than anything else. There are a number of issues with Kindle Unlimited however. The first is that you are required to grant Amazon exclusive digital publication rights on a rolling three-month basis. This means that while you are enrolled in the programme you cannot sell your ebook elsewhere, such as Apple Books. The next issue is more complex and relates to the price people pay for the work and the value they assign to it.
Selling books too cheaply
There are a number of issues with selling books too cheaply. One glaring problem is that you end up spending considerably more on advertising than you receive in royalties. In my case the ratio is about 10:1.
Secondly, I am firmly of the opinion that people who pay little-to-nothing for a book don’t value the book as highly as someone who has invested a non-trivial sum (>£1/$1) in purchasing a copy. Paying a non-trivial sum for a book is an intentional purchase. The purchaser will have been drawn-in by the cover and the blurb, and maybe read a few pages from the sample, or in a bookshop. They will have some idea that the book appeals to them in some way. Crucially, having made some level of financial investment in the book, they are more likely to read further and to give the story time to develop. It would be nice to hook everyone in the first three pages but it’s just not possible.
By their nature, Kindle Unlimited books are effectively free to the reader and are therefore a throwaway commodity. Maybe the reader downloads something they’re not really interested in. Maybe they only read three pages. Maybe they are voracious and have run out of content in their preferred genre so they are plumbing the depths of something new. Perhaps I am generalising or judging too harshly.
Ultimately though, I have found that the reviews from Kindle Unlimited readers were less thoughtful than from the readers who bought a copy of the book.
My books were enrolled in Kindle Unlimited for a long time. I recently withdrew them and raised my prices across the board. I did this because:
I was spending ten times more on advertising than I was earning in royalties.
I wanted to separate my books from the mass of 99p titles.
I had come to the view that Kindle Unlimited was driving the thoughtless / negative reviews. I was effectively paying out of pocket for my book’s star rating to decrease!
Opting out of Kindle Unlimited and raising my prices has undoubtedly dented sales. At least now I feel like each purchase is meaningful and I am being properly rewarded for it. If someone reads the whole thing and still writes a negative (but thoughtful) review then that’s fine; at least it is based on a fair assessment and is not a throwaway comment on a throwaway book.