AUTHORDOCK 5.0

Looking for guidance on pricing your paperback? Click here.

Since I get this question all the time, let me answer it more publicly.

The price you set for your eBook should be based on a few factors.

1. Other books in the same category¶

You want to price your book just below the price being charged for a comparable ebook. I used to say your eBook should be half the cost of your print edition, but I don't think it's necessarily the best advice anymore. You can view Kindle books by category here.

2. Number of reviews¶

The fewer reviews you have, the lower the price should be. Although this will vary based on your genre, here's a rule of thumb you can use:

Less than 100 reviews: $2.99
101-199 reviews: $3.99
More than 100 reviews: $4.99

If your book is less than 20,000 words - keep in mind a price of more than $2.99 may get you some negative reviews from people who felt like cheated on the length of your eBook.

3. File Size¶

To earn a 70% royalty, Amazon requires that you price your book between $2.99-$9.99. If you are under or over that range, they'll only pay you a 35% royalty. But the drawbacks of the 70% option are that you also pay a delivery fee for that file to be delivered to the buyers device.

Kindle Delivery Fee¶

Amazon's sole purpose is to make as much profit for it's shareholders as possible.

One example of this is found in the .15 per MB 'delivery fee' they charge. I understand that if a reader downloads your kindle book over a cell network, then Amazon pays a small fee to the cell provider. But I have to believe the majority of readers use a wifi connection most of the time. Regardless of the method the buyer uses to download your book, Amazon still hits us with this fee when you choose the 70% royalty option.

If your eBook file is large, say 10MB, you be deducted a $1.50/sale fee from Amazon if you opt for the 70% plan.
If you opt for the 35% plan, then they don't charge this fee.

If your ebook is more than 23.3MB, and you charge $9.99, you will actually make more profit at the 35% option because Amazon doesn't deduct the delivery fee when you opt for the 35% program.

You can play around with some different scenarios with this calculator I created.

~Brian