Ebooks: Stand Up for Yourself on Pricing

Worried about pricing? This always seems to be a big deal for writers.

Lately I’ve been getting a lot of questions about ebook pricing — specifically, about free ebooks and 0.99 cent ebooks.

My opinion is always: charge what you like. Don’t concern yourself with what others are doing. Your stuff will either sell at the prices you set, or it won’t. If it doesn’t, you can change it.

If you’re “selling” your ebook for free, realize that you’re not getting buyers, you’re getting people who download stuff.

Try to figure out WHO your market is, and how to appeal to them.

I like this post from Zoe Winters, Ebook Pricing: Or… Where Zoe Says Something About Publishing « Zoe Winters, Paranormal Romance Author, she says:

“Some are inordinately worried about 99 cent and free ebooks glutting the market and forcing us all to price our books in the toilet. But what you need to understand is… there isn’t ONE market. There are many markets. Not just in genre but in price. It’s hard to fully process this if you are in one market and can’t understand that not everybody else thinks like you.”

Golden words: “there are many markets.”

You just need to find your market.

Realize that:

* It will take you more than one book to locate your market;

* Conditions are constantly changing;

* You need to focus on writing good books, and building your readership;

* You need to experiment. What works for others may not work for you;

* You’re in charge of what you do, no one else.

Over the past six months, the big publishers have been experimenting with ebook pricing.

You can do the same. I get the giggles when I see an ebook published by a major publisher which was priced at $6.39 now priced at $12.99, but c’est la vie. I won’t buy the ebook. I’ll nip to my local bookstore to buy the print version which is cheaper, if I really want the book.

(More likely I’ll wait until the publisher’s experiment stops, and get the ebook for the $6.39 I was prepared to pay, but I digress.)

Here’s a tip: stop taking everything so seriously. You charge what you charge. Run some experiments. See how many ebooks you sell at a price point. You need your own data, so get it.

Stand up for yourself on pricing. No one else can do it for you. Be bold, be brave.

Turn Your Words Into Gold: Write and Sell An Ebook In Just Eight Hours

Here’s what I love about writing ebooks: you write them once, and they keep on selling forever.

I know several writers who’ve taken to the Kindle platform like the proverbial ducks to water. One writer friend turns out a new Kindle ebook every month, like clockwork. The last time we spoke, she had 11 ebooks selling — and her income is rising month by month.

Another writer friend mixes writing her own ebooks, with writing ebooks for others. Currently she’s been commissioned to write a biography, and a family history, for the same client. She’s finding it huge fun, and she’s making more money than she’s ever made.

The benefit of writing and selling ebooks is that once written, they can keep on selling forever. Would you trade eight hours for an income stream?