How Much For Your Book?

I often am asked by authors, publishers, and distributors about the price of their book. Some wonder if it is too high or too low. The answer depends on many factors. Here are 10 things to consider when pricing your book:

1.      You have to factor in your costs to determine your break-even point and then decide how much profit you believe the market will support. Just how many possible consumers for your book exist? How much will most of them be willing to pay for it?

2.      Just because a price is low does not mean people will automatically buy your book, but if they are inclined to buy your book, the lower price can be the final incentive to buy.

3.      Your price, to some degree, should be in line with your competition’s pricing. If you are significantly higher than many comparable titles within your genre you will need something extra as a differentiator to inspire others to pay more for your book.

4.      Psychologically, people are used to book prices ending in .99 or .95 but sometimes a flat number, such as $14.00 looks clean. People see the zero-zero at the end and feel like they didn’t pay so much.

5.      You can use an oddball number such as $14.29 so as to make the consumer feel the price was discounted.

6.      The price of your book may be impacted by what you are seeking to accomplish. For instance, if your book is more of an introduction to your brand and you have other books, products, or services to sell, price your book low. Maybe even make it a loss leader.

7.      Sometimes people perceive a higher price as indicative of something being worth more, of something being of quality. But that is more true with furniture or clothing and not so much with books.

8.      When you price a book, anticipate how it will be sold by others. Amazon, for instance, may give a huge discount to consumers. If you sell books in bulk, to big corporations, associations, or groups, they will demand a deep discount off the cover price. Factor this in when setting your cover price.

9.      Your costs will be a big factor – to you—but the consumer has his or her own budget and sense of value, so price the book more according to market conditions than your needs.

10.  The format of the book will be a factor in pricing. You will certainly have a different price for hardcover, trade paper, mass market, e-book, enhanced digital, audiobook, etc.

Whatever you price your book, think of how your book fits in to your larger plans as a writer and as an entrepreneur. Your book, like anything else, will be worth what consumers are willing to pay for it. They dictate the market.

FREE MEDIA COACHING TIPS

Media trainer and author TJ Walker is sharing media coaching advice for FREE. Check out his link (a min-ebook) -- Media Training Success: How Anyone Can Become A Media Pro In 20 Minutes

http://www.mediatrainingworldwide.com/books/Media%20Training%20Success%20-%20How%20Anyone%20Can%20Become%20A%20Media%20Pro.pdf

Interview With Rich Storrs, Editor, Spencer Hill Press

1.      What type of books do you edit at Spencer Hill Press? We work with YA, in the realms of fantasy, science fiction, and paranormal.

2.      What role do small to medium-sized publishers play in today's publishing ecosystem? Helping new authors build and hone their craft (that's one of our goals, anyway).

3.      What are the rewards and challenges to editing books? Rewards:  Putting out quality books; helping new authors build their skills. Challenges:  building word of mouth; finding quality among all the books people would like us to publish

4.      What are some recent titles that you have worked on? Betrayed (Ednah Walters); the Covenant series (Jennifer L. Armentrout); Masters of the Veil (Dan Cohen); the Minder series (Kate Kaynak).

5.      Any advice to a struggling writer? Seek out advice and feedback wherever you can -- writing groups, volunteers from your target demo, etc.

6.      Where do you see book publishing heading? More on-line, but still at least 50% printed on paper

Have You Seen This Past Week’s Posts?

You Can Use Crowdfunding On Your Next Book -- Turn Your Idea Into A Business http://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2012/06/crowdfunding-your-next-book.html

Using Video To Market An Author, Book, Or Publisher http://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2012/06/should-you-use-videostto-market-your.html

What The Bestseller List Sales Numbers Reveal

http://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2012/06/reading-between-numbers-of-bestseller.html

How Promoters, Authors & Publishers Get Others to Say YES

http://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2012/06/how-to-get-yes-out-of-others.html

How To Get Others To Share Your Links – And Go Viral

http://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2012/06/how-will-you-get-someone-to-share-your.html

The Appeal & Necessity Of Fiction

http://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2012/06/when-fiction-is-our-reality.html

Don’t Make Me Like You!

http://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2012/06/its-ok-if-you-dont-like-me.html

Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person.