Expert Techniques for Pricing Your Book
Once you have completed your ebook, you may find that determining what monetary value to place on your hard work seems to be one of the most challenging aspects of the entire process.
Considering what goals you want to achieve through publishing your book can help narrow down which path to take when it comes to book pricing. Rest assured the hard part is now behind you.
There is no need to stress out about what to do next; you have found the right place to get the guidance you need. With these quick tips, you will feel confident in your knowledge of not only what an ebook should cost your readers but also how you should price your specific ebook.
Breaking down the various options available to you and finding one that fits into your plan as an author will often be enough to guide you to the number that best represents your work.
Put your nose to the grindstone and dive into one final session to research some specifics related to your ebook. Taking the time to do this will provide invaluable information and set you up for success when your ebook is available to your readers.
First Things First: What Is Book Pricing?
When you make your ebook available for purchase, the book’s pricing is going to be one of the major driving factors when it comes to the reader’s decision to buy your book, or that of a competitor.
When you consider who you are trying to reach and what you hope to accomplish through publishing your book, you will be able to take into account the needs of your target audience and ensure your ebook can get into their hands (or their electronic devices, if we want to get technical).
Why Is the Price Point Important?
The price of anything we purchase is, realistically, one of the first things we look at as consumers. The price of our morning coffee, the price of that new pair of shoes, or the price of the new ebook we are considering.
Many of us are making a conscious effort to be informed consumers and are doing our best to ensure we are getting the best bang for our buck. We work hard for our money, so why not take care that we spend it wisely, right?
We want to keep our target audience in mind when we ask ourselves how we should price our ebook. For example, if we want to sell an ebook about frugal living, we don’t want to price this out of range for someone who is trying to save money.
It is important to consider how seeing the price of your ebook will make potential buyers feel. It’s like when we see a shirt we love in the store, check the price tag, and upon seeing the price, we realize we don’t actually want the shirt that bad.
How Can Pricing Impact eBook Sales?
If people experience a negative emotional response to the pricing of your ebook, you may find yourself struggling to sell copies, regardless of the quality of your book’s content. Ultimately, you want your book to be competitively priced and attractive to your target market.
One way to help narrow down how to price your book, while simultaneously helping reach your target audience, is to take advantage of Amazon’s KDP services. Many self-published authors use Amazon to meet their goals and maximize eBook sales.
Having access to the tools and consumer base that are buying ebooks (and other products) through Amazon can be a major boost to your visibility. Being a self-published author means you need to ensure you are being seen!
Pricing your book right and standing out amongst competitors is a major component in getting people to choose your book over another. Combined with a unique title and the promise of quality content, you can stand out for your good value and fair pricing.
Getting Down to Business: What Should an eBook Cost?
There are a few different factors to consider when you are ready to price your ebook. Here are a few tips to focus on to help you hit the market running and make a great first impression on your potential readers.
What Are Your Goals as an Author?
You have to determine what your goals are in order to begin to consider what pricing you need to achieve them. It may seem to be a redundant question; everyone wants to make money and get rich from their ebook, right?
There are actually deeper aspirations when it comes to writing, publishing, and selling any creative content. Do you want to spread a particular message through your writing, reaching as many people as possible? Do you want to make as much profit, or as many sales as possible?
Whatever the goal is, figuring it out will help you decide how to proceed with the final price. It will make more sense to use your end-goal as a guideline for how to come to a valuation for the work you are putting out.
Maybe you want to build readership to boost income and engagement with other endeavors, or you want to test the waters to see if your message will be well received. You can base your pricing on your personal goals once they become clear.
Research Competitors in the Market
Avoiding mistakes whenever possible is key to successfully publishing and marketing your ebook. Don’t plunge blindly into the massive market for online book sales. Dedicate some time to researching the current available titles in your genre, topic, and even book size.
There are going to be multiple ebooks containing similar material, covering the same topics as your own. Reviewing the price points for them, as well as the reviews (if available), can help gauge the right price bracket for your book to stay relevant.
Global Pricing and Finding Your Perfect Number
One of the benefits of using Amazon to self-publish your ebook is the access to global markets and global pricing. You are able to easily reach people all over the world and they are able to purchase your book through Amazon in their respective countries’ currency.
Of course, it makes sense to try and reach as many potential readers as possible when marketing your ebook. Keep this in mind when determining which avenue to pursue when it comes to listing and publishing your book.
After having done your research and comparing the pricing for your genre, topic, niche, and book size, you can then find yourself a comfortable spot within that range. Be careful, however, not to price yourself too far to one end of the spectrum.
Don’t undervalue yourself to try and get a quick sale, and don’t overvalue the book to make it seem higher quality. Books with the lowest pricing can actually be less appealing, leading consumers to believe they must be low quality. Higher priced ebooks can also present problems of their own in terms of perceived value for money.
So, How Do I Price My eBook?
Once you have reviewed your goals and determined what you are hoping to accomplish through your ebook and where you fit into the current market, you can then consider what costs are associated with your book thus far.
By the time your ebook is ready for market, you will have likely accrued a number of costs to get you to this point. Recuperating these investments should be considered when assigning the final price to your book.
In order to sell copies, some external help may be necessary and is well-worth looking into. Making sure you have a professional book cover design in place will attract readers, catching their eye and causing them to seek out more information about your ebook.
Being confident in the quality of the writing, the editing of your book, and the unique content is worth any costs associated with professional book ghostwriting services you may use to guarantee satisfaction for yourself, and your readers.
Marketing Your eBook for Success
Familiarize yourself with some of the more common income and royalty structures before making your final decision. As mentioned, KDP Amazon is currently one of the leaders for self-publishing ebooks and has a straightforward system in place for authors to benefit from.
When it comes to making money from your ebook, you want to keep in mind that there are a lot of people just like you out there. People are taking on the market, putting their own ebooks out there, and trying to earn money while doing it.
Choose wisely when you are deciding on a topic, ensure you have a high standard of writing and content. Build a strong marketing strategy that works for you. There are many tools and resources out there to help boost your ebook sales and revenue.
Conclusion
While there are definitely many things to consider when you are self-publishing an ebook, it does not have to be an overwhelming experience. There are a number of ways to structure and plan the entire process.
You can streamline everything from beginning to end, and get your ideas out there to the world without even having to write the ebook yourself. Providing your concept to a ghostwriting company can guarantee you professional writing, editing, and even cover design.
Ultimately, you get to decide where you fit in the current market and how you want to stand out. If you can price yourself right, you will attract the readers and make the sales.
The online market is constantly growing and evolving. Staying up to date on ebook trends and how competitors are pricing their product can give you an edge when you make your content available.
Be confident in your work. Put yourself in your ideal reader’s shoes and consider their perspective when seeing your ebook for the first time. Make your pricing reflect your goals while also fitting their needs.