The pricing of goods is a crucial aspect of the success and profitability of any business, including eBook publishing. Find out how you can price your Kindle eBook just right.
A whopping 96%.
That’s the percentage of total buyers who compare the prices of goods before making purchase decisions. And of that number, 31% said price comparison is the most important aspect of their shopping experience.
This is according to a Wiser survey that explored how price intelligence affects shopping decisions.
The result of the survey just proves how crucial pricing is to the success and profitability of any business. And yes, Amazon self-publishing included. As such, you have to exercise great care in setting the right price for the eBooks you’d be self-publishing on Amazon KDP.
Keep reading because this article will help you do just that.
How to Choose from Amazon’s Two Royalty Plans
The first thing you have to understand is that Amazon offers two royalty options:
The standard 35% royalty
The higher 70% royalty option
All self-published books are eligible for the standard 35% royalty as long as the title meets Amazon’s list price requirements. These requirements are as follows:
$0.99 to $200 – for eBooks that are less than 3 MB in size
$1.99 to $200 – for those that are at least 3 MB but less than 10 MB
$2.99 to $200 – for eBooks that are 10 MB or greater
Now, if you want to qualify for the higher royalty option of 70%, you have to meet the following additional requirements:
The list price of the eBook must at least be 20% lower than the list price for the physical book on Amazon
The eBook must be made available for sale in all territories for which you, the publisher, has rights
Additionally, eBooks enlisted under the 70% royalty option may only be listed at a price between $2.99 and $9.99.
If you choose the 35% royalty option, you will earn 35% of your list price without VAT for each eBook sold.
Meanwhile, if you opt for the 70% royalty, you will get:
70% of your list price without VAT, less delivery costs for each book sold to customers in the 70% territories (or where you have publishing rights)
35% of the list price for each eBook sold to customers outside the 70% territories
4 Tips on Pricing Your eBook Just Right
After finding out which royalty option you want to target for your eBook, it’s now time to set the price for the first eBook you’re publishing.
Here are four of my best tips on pricing your eBook right:
Tip #1 Check Out What Similar Authors Charge
Let me start by getting one thing clear:
You don’t have to charge the same price as other publishers or authors in your genre.
Still, it pays to know how much an eBook like yours would typically sell for.
After all, your eBook will be displayed alongside your competitors’ eBooks when someone searches for your genre. This makes price comparisons even easier for buyers to make.
So, even if you don’t price similarly with other authors, at least make sure that the price of your eBook is within the prevailing range.
Tip #2 Consider the Size of Your eBook
When it comes to pricing an eBook, size does matter.
What do I mean?
If you charge $20 for an eBook about gardening, for example, customers will expect a lot of comprehensive content out of it. But if the eBook turns out to be no more than 50 pages, your customers will get turned right off.
So, you have to put yourself in the shoes of an average customer when setting your eBook’s price.
Before pricing a 50-pager at a high price point…
Ask yourself if you’d be willing to pay that much for a book that short.
Tip #3 Offer a Lower Price Point During the First Week of Publishing
There’s no point denying it. Lower prices really do attract a lot of attention.
So, if you want to generate buzz around your self-published eBook, consider offering it at a lower price than your actual target… at least during the first few days of publishing.
This would make your eBook a no-brainer purchase, especially for readers who are already interested in your genre!
Tip #4 Gradually Increase the Price as the Reviews Roll in
Having said all that about lower prices generating a lot of interest…
You also can’t keep offering discounted prices forever.
After all, the main reason you’re trying out self-publishing is to earn a significant passive income. Right?
So, be proactive about adjusting the price of your eBooks.
Once those good reviews start to roll in, you might be able to justify an upward price adjustment. Furthermore, you might be able to price your next eBooks higher now that you’ve built some following as a publisher.
Conversely, if you’ve got an eBook that’s not selling as much as you’d like…
You could also put it on a limited-time price offer.
At any rate, just know that you can always edit the price of your offerings, depending on the goal you want to achieve.
Start Your Self-Publishing Journey Today
After all the work you’ve done to get ready for self-publishing, it can be tempting to just slap on the highest price you can on your eBook. But you have to be strategic about it.
As discussed at length in this article, your pricing decisions heavily affect your customers’ purchase decisions.
All these things require a lot of work and effort on your part, but hey… that’s what it takes to build a successful self-publishing business on Amazon.
But I do hope you take comfort in the fact that you don’t have to figure any of this out on your own.
In fact, you may sign up for my upcoming webinar, where I’d be guiding interested self-publishers on the ins and outs of Kindle Publishing.
So, if you’re really serious about making good, passive income out of self-publishing, then I’d be more than happy to see you there.