Which price point is the most profitable for selling an ebook?

[Dien Rice]

If you are selling an ebook, which price point will make you the most profit?

Should you sell it at a "cheapo" $1? Or around $10? Or higher?

If you price it at $1, you may sell more copies... But you're making much less profit per copy!

On the other hand, at a higher price, like $10 or higher, you'll sell fewer copies. But make much more money per copy!

Fortunately, someone from the ebook price comparison website, Luzme, has done the study. They've taken their US sales data, and shown exactly how many ebooks sell (from their data) at each price point (closest to the nearest dollar)!

So which price sells the most copies?

No surprise there - $1 ebooks outsell the higher prices, in terms of numbers sold...

But which makes the most profit?

It turns out - from their data - you make most revenue (and hence, most likely profits) from the $10 price point...

Of course, every book and market is different... But that's what the averages show!

You can see the data here...

Ten Things You May Not Know About Ebook Prices
http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/15/ten...-ebook-prices/

Best wishes,

Dien

P.S. As well as the US data, there is also UK data. However, I'm a bit skeptical of the UK data. The reason why is because Luzme is a price comparison website, and apparently ebooks tend to be cheaper when bought via the US, than in the UK. The UK's 20% sales tax ("VAT") may also be a factor. So, I suspect that, for higher priced books, many in the UK who use Luzme to compare prices could be buying from US websites, instead of UK websites. The UK data shows that the most profit is made from £1 books, but I am skeptical of that result, for the reasons mentioned...

Thanks for taking the time to create a post and share the information. I imagine that many people who publish their own books and informational products online struggle from the problem of knowing how much to charge for their products. I have seen various examples of people who sell mini-reports for $1 or $2 and do very well. These are reports that are only a few pages long. The typical book online ranges into the tens of pages if not hundreds. A small report can be created in a day where as the book requires several days to write. The challenge is finding that price point that is the most profitable while also selling the largest number of copies possible.

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by gthomas

Thanks for taking the time to create a post and share the information. I imagine that many people who publish their own books and informational products online struggle from the problem of knowing how much to charge for their products. I have seen various examples of people who sell mini-reports for $1 or $2 and do very well. These are reports that are only a few pages long. The typical book online ranges into the tens of pages if not hundreds. A small report can be created in a day where as the book requires several days to write. The challenge is finding that price point that is the most profitable while also selling the largest number of copies possible.

Hi,

You're right, that a lot of people struggle on how much to charge.

But I thought your post highlighted another issue... How long should your book be?

Should you write a short book, or a long book? It's not always an easy question to answer!

Often, people write longer books because they feel they will then sell better, and you can charge more for them.

However, in reality, a lot of long books are really just short books or articles. They are then "beefed up" with lots of examples and anecdotes! (The examples and anecdotes, though, can often be entertaining...)

As you said, you have seen "various examples of people who sell mini-reports for $1 or $2 and do very well."

There are a lot of these kinds of things around nowadays!

One are Amazon Kindle singles - which are shorter ebook works. Some have been quite popular!

Here at Sowpub, we (especially Gordon Alexander) have also talked about "Hotsheets!"

There's quite a lot in the archives about Hotsheets... Here's a sample post, and a report (you can buy) on them (which I sell)...

http://www.sowpub.com/forum/showthread.php?p=15695
http://www.hotsheetprofits.com

Another thing I've seen is where an author breaks up a longer work, into a series of shorter ebooks, to sell on Amazon. The reason why they've done this is probably because of Amazon's royalty model... If your book is below $10, they will pay a 70% royalty, but if it is $10 or over, they will only pay a 35% royalty. So, to take advantage of this, instead of selling a single, longer book at a high price, they sell a series of shorter books, at prices below $10.

Here's something which may be an example of this... "Sun Tzu's Art of War Rule Book" by Gary Gagliardi, in 9 volumes, sold individually for $5.99 each...

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...+war+rule+book

On his own website, you buy the whole lot for $49.95...

http://scienceofstrategy.org/main/co...l-nine-volumes

By selling each volume individually as Amazon Kindle ebooks for $5.99 each, he can make a 70% royalty, instead of a 35% royalty if he sold it as one volume for $49.95...

As you point out, it is much quicker and easier to write a short report, than a "full-length" 100+ page book! (And it's easier to read, too!) So now, there's little reason why anyone can't become a "published" author, if they want to...

Another angle on this is that if you do want to write a longer, "full-length" book, you can write a series of related articles. These articles can then be compiled into a longer book...

Thanks for your insightful observations! Writing shorter works is now more possible (and commercially rewarding) than ever before!

Best wishes,

Dien

Very informative for ebook writer newbies. If an ebook's price is not competitive, it would be hard for readers to see your beautiful content.

[Glenn]

Thanks Dien,

Steve King Has Gumption!

He wrote and is selling in the kindle SHORTS category a short
mon-graph - or letter about guns.

You have to Buy it to Find Out HIS OPINION.

Funny.

Plus...

Gives us fellow Entrepreneurs some ideas on how to test short copy on Kindle
before risking the writing of an entire book length epistle.

Glenn

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by Glenn

Thanks Dien,

Steve King Has Gumption!

He wrote and is selling in the kindle SHORTS category a short
mon-graph - or letter about guns.

You have to Buy it to Find Out HIS OPINION.

Funny.

Plus...

Gives us fellow Entrepreneurs some ideas on how to test short copy on Kindle
before risking the writing of an entire book length epistle.

Glenn

Wow, Glenn, you're right - using Kindle Singles would seem to be a great way to "test"... with a large "built-in" audience who could find your stuff!

You have a very sharp mind...

Best wishes,

Dien

P.S. This is already sparking some new ideas to try out as I type...