I’ve noticed my buying habits, as a reader, are changing.
Some of it is due to necessity. I’ve got several avid readers in my house and the library is, sadly, not able to purchase the new titles that are frequently on our to-be-read lists. If there’s limited availability at the library, I’ll buy the books we want to read.
I’ve also found that I’m reading more and more with my Kindle. It’s easy to get books. If I wake up with insomnia in the middle of the night (a common occurrence), I can download a book, where I couldn’t drive to a bookstore or the library.
Reading on my Kindle has made me more apt to give new authors a try. I’m also more open to impulse buying. This is, I’m almost certain, because there’s not a big financial risk in doing so—ebooks are (usually) inexpensive. I’ll read about a book on a blog or I’ll see something on Twitter that looks interesting and it’s instant gratification—I download it immediately before I can forget the author and title.
I think, in fact, book pricing is especially important for that very reason. It’s important for a reader to either feel confident that they’ll like a book enough to buy it, or that they’re not losing much money in case they don’t.
I’ve read lot lately about ebook pricing on different blogs. The impression I’ve gotten is that $2.99 seems to be a good price point. Then you can run sales on your book, bringing it down as low as $.99 or free….then return it later to the $2.99 (where you still get a decent percentage of the book sales as royalty.)
As a reader, $2.99 doesn’t make me blink at all. That’s not much of an investment for hours of reading time. That’s so low that I wouldn’t think twice about downloading something that’s not a genre I usually read or from an author I’m not familiar with.
This being said, most of my ebooks are $6.99 and up. :) That’s because my publishers have set the price (yes, I’ve gotten emails from readers before…not that I have any control over the pricing, but they think I do.)
I think that traditional publishers will eventually be lowering ebook prices for their mass market and trade paperbacks (I’m not sure about bestsellers/hardbacks.) Otherwise, long-term, I’m not sure how well they’ll be able to compete in the book market.
What kind of price range are you either publishing in or looking for, as a reader?
It’s amazing there are so many avenues available in getting a book to read.
Price is a concern, but if I want to read a book I’ll buy it no matter the price.
My experience with my Kindle is the same–I buy more new authors because of the lower price and do much more impulse buying if the price is 2.99 or less. I’ve found some good authors that way too–a few I wouldn’t buy again, but I don’t feel too bad about it because of the price. Also, I read a lot, and expensive books would cut way down on that. Good post.
Elizabeth – That’s definitely a challenge that traditional publishers will have to face; the fact that it’s so easy to put a book out there electronically and price it quite low. That’s also one of the factors that makes places such as Smashwords so appealing, especially for new authors. I often see prices of $2.99 or $3.99, so I think your estimate is about right.
My book came out higher, but my publisher eventually dropped it to $2.99. I think a lot of the bigger publishers will have to start lowering their prices. I won’t pay over ten bucks for an eBook, and usually $7.99 is my limit. But you’re right, if I see a book by an author I don’t know and it’s under five bucks, I’ll try it.
Excellent post and good reflections on ebooks, pricing, and how people are willing to take a risk with an unknown author for a lower price. It makes sense.
It may have something to do with being unemployed at the moment, but I cringe at the prices I see on Kindle. I only browse through the free books, which severely limits my choices, obviously. But really, I figure if the library provides books for free, why pay $2.99, or even .99? No offense, but your book set at the astronomical amount of $6.99 I would’ve skipped right over without even reading the title! My tune might change once I get a good paying job again, but I try not to spend money unnecessarily.
As a reader I don’t even look at the price. I buy mostly based off referrals and when I don’t it’s a book that I really want to read, so I don’t care what the price is. Unfortunately my publisher set my price as well, much higher than I would have liked. They’re talking about a publishing model that will drop the price and I hope they do because I don’t want to alienate readers.
Journaling Woman–It’s kind of nice to have options, isn’t it?
Ellis–I’ve found the same thing. And sometimes I’ve discovered writers whose books I don’t really enjoy as much, but I know others who would…and I’ll recommend them to them.
Alex–I think over $10 for an ebook is a little crazy. I’ve paid it, but only for books I was really desperate to get.
Margot–I think it’s tough to compete with $2.99 and $3.99!
Mary–I think it’s a no-risk way of exploring new writers. :)
BettyZade–I think many readers are in your shoes and the rest of us are just an unexpected life event away from it, too! I totally understand what you’re saying.
Heather–It’s very tough out there for publishers now…I know they don’t want to experiment with income with everything going on, but it might not be a bad idea for them to.
Somewhere I just read an article on how big publishers are going to have to lower their ebook prices due to competition.
John Locke made an interesting point in his book about the perception of value when it comes to ebooks. An author whose book is 9.99 must prove he is ten times better than John, whose books are all .99 cents. And when someone only has $10 to spend, what are they more likely to do – buy one book or several?
$2.99 is a good price for ebooks that aren’t brand new.
You’re right, ebooks are inexpensive for the most part. But for big-name authors with new releases, you’ll pay more. If I’m going to pay more, I want a physical book in my hands. It’s a fine line, I guess.
Under $5 for a novel tends to be my price. I’ll pay higher for the books I know I want, but not a lot. Not more than a paperback, anyway.
But below that, the main difference the price makes is that I can buy more books if the price is lower — but that doesn’t play much part in my decision-making.
However, I’m a sample-maniac. I don’t do impulse buys on new authors. I sample everything that might be the slightest bit interesting. The samples act as bookmarks too. So when I am in the mood to read, I can browse the samples and find something I like, and once I’m hooked, I’ll buy anything reasonably priced.
I wouldn’t quibble over an ebook that is the cost of a paperback. However, my book buying of any kind has been limited for awhile. Though I might have more shopping flexibility soon. Crosses fingers.
I read most of my books in print – mainly b/c I purchase books I know I’ll love. I do purchase self published books on my Kindle but I’ve gotten selective. I download the sample and if I like it, I leave the sample there for when I have time to read and then I”ll purchase it. I just don’t have enough time to read all the awesome books out there both trad. and self pubbed.
But if they lowered their prices to under 5 dollars and print was still 10-12, I might be persuaded to switch. Right now. sometimes print is cheaper – on Amazon.
For me – I tend to think anything over $5 for an ebook is way too much. I usually stick with the 99 cent specials when amazon runs their Sunshine deals. I wanted to get The Help on my kindle but the ebook price was only like 13 cents less than the paperback and I’m not ready to sink my teeth into a $10.00 ebook. I hope they come down on that. I’ve purchased a couple of books over $5 on my kindle but they were Joyce and Jim Lavene’s two newest releases and I’ve been following those two series since the beginning and I know that the publisher sets the ebook price on those anyway. I’m very picky about spending money on books especially when I am limited fund wise due to publishing my own books and making sure I have books on hand for events and with so many in the next couple of months, I totally have to watch were my money goes. I keep hoping to see a turn in my own books – in that they will start supporting me instead of me supporting them, but I have a feeling that that will happen soon (I’ve got two great events in the near future that will probably get me more business than I could imagine a year ago).
I think for me it’s all dependent on what I am in need of at the moment but definitely try not to spend more than $5 for an ebook. – E :)
Ma America, The Travelin’ Maven (Elysabeth Eldering)
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Hey Elizabeth!
I read a lot on my Kindle – I like the convenience, the price and the anonymity (I hope that’s a word).
It’s nice to be so private with my reading and just get to fall into book, whether it’s a mystery/ thriller/ “bodice ripper.” And I try a lot more new authors. :-)
I think $ 2.99 is perfect for an ebook. For established writers it is possible to charge more, but for new writers it is hardly wise to do so. And I have noticed that many established writers sell their backlist for next to nothing, no doubt because they expect to attract new readers to their series that way, and to judge from my own behaviour, it works very well.
So the only reason why I charge $ 3.99 myself is pure stubbornness. As long as Amazon will pay me (a non-American) less and charge more from my fellow non-Americans, I plan to keep up my strategy of pulling customers into the Smashwords shop by offering discount coupons there ;)