I couldn't care less if someone calls me greedy, as long as the book is selling. The real question is whether or not the price point is conducive to sales. $3 is fine for a novel. A 20k word piece better be great to ask that much, because the way the reader figures it, that amounts to a $12 book of 80 words or $18 for a book of 120k words, which are available all over the place for $3.

 

A 20k word piece better be great to ask that much, because the way the reader figures it, that amounts to a $12 book of 80 words or $18 for a book of 120k words, which are available all over the place for $3.

Good point, and one I've considered. I'm proud of my story, but it isn't my call to say it's great.

 

I think $2.99 is a perfectly reasonable price for 25K.  Most longer novels (70K - 100K) are selling in the $3.99 to $4.99 range right now (from indies, anyway.)

The bottom line is this: if the price works for you, it works.  If your readers are willing to pay it, it's an appropriate price.  The only thing that should make you change your price is the realization that it's not helping you sell books (if that turns out to be the case), not anybody else's opinion that it might cause people to think you're "greedy."

I'd just make it clear that this is a novella, so readers know to expect a shorter read than usual.  There are still lots of full-length novels selling at $2.99, so you don't want any unpleasant surprises.

 

Your $2.99 price point for 25k is fine. If people have issue with it down the road, you can always change it. People associate price with quality, so you'd be doing yourself a disservice to price below that. You can warn people in the blurb about the length, but Amazon already estimates page counts, so I don't see the point.

If it makes you feel better, I've got a 14k and a 25k listed at $2.99 (both second to a permafree in a series), and haven't heard any complaints on length. Alternatively, my free short stories (2k-7k) get length complaints. Cheers.

 

$2.99 seems a little steep for a short story/novella.  It's not what I call a "book" but the word is used loosely.

If you chop the subsequent titles into pieces, perhaps using the word "Serial" will avoid angry reviews, since they'll be less likely to expect a complete story, regardless of length.
If you want the $2.99 (which is NOT greedy) then you probably need to give your readers more than 25k.

 

Personally, I'd be hard pressed to spend $2.99 on 25K words, unless I was already a fan of the author, or the book had rave reviews. If it was recommended by another reader, I'd give the sample a shot. Sounds crazy, but $2.99 to most readers is full novel territory. I'm not aware of any other PA/dystopian authors successfully launching shorter pieces at full price...Hugh Howey's SAND episodes are selling like lifeboats on the Titanic (Russell Blake quote), but they're priced under $1.50...and he's Hugh Howey. Most appear to be in the 75-100K range.

With that said, you should still consider giving it a go!

I just launched a PA series, with the first book at 108K words. I left it on a semi-cliffhanger. The story arch is non-stop, and this was the only lull I could reasonably use to bridge books. Reviews frequently mention the ending, but in a positive "hurry up and get the next one out" way. All but one seemed to care. PA readers are voracious, like Romance readers. If the story is good, and they don't have to wait a year for the next installment (which it appears they won't), I think you'll weather the storm. PA is a wide open genre. The biggest complaint I hear from readers is that they can't find enough good PA books.

Trail Blazer? If this works, I'll reconsider my own strategies. Good Luck.

 

Oh boy, Amazon sure created a conundrum, didn't they? Don't yell at me, but a base 60(author)/40(amazon) split would make things a lot easier.

I think $2.99 is fine, but since I'm not Hugh Howey or Stephen King, I need to build a readership first. I'm going with the lower price. If readers like what they see I'll price my second series higher. I also have two more stand-alone, full length novels ready to go up this year. I'll price them at $3.99 and see where the wind takes me.

Thanks, everyone! Much appreciated.

 

Price is irrelevant until you have volume.

 

Every ebook is too short if you look at the reviews.

All of them.

It's some kind of psychology thing because the reader isn't actually holding the volume in their hand.

 

People don't always look at price.

I would spend $2.99 for a 20-25k book...so long as the description and sample has intrigued me.

 

I think $2.99 is a perfectly reasonable price for 25K. Most longer novels (70K - 100K) are selling in the $3.99 to $4.99 range right now (from indies, anyway.)

I'm now seeing indie novels priced at $6.99 for ebooks. Whatever happened to $5.99?

Also, Harper Collins is entering the ebook novella market in 2014 with one novella per month at $3.99 per ebook.

I think $2.99 is fine, but since I'm not Hugh Howey or Stephen King, I need to build a readership first.

IIRC wasn't there a KB thread this year (2013) that said that "name recognition" is no longer a factor? I.e. that the reasoning that says "I'm an unknown" is not a valid argument for success in indie publishing? BTW in case some haven't noticed, Hugh Howey was once an unknown too.

Several published tradpub authors have told me they're trying to break into the selfpub world and as such, they're are "unknowns" in selfpub (what?!) and so they want to price their novels low.

Funny things are everywhere.

 

I don't have a problem with $2.99 for a novella.  Here's the thing, though, you can always adjust your price to find its sweet spot.  

 

Geoff,
Perhaps you should label it as a novella and add the word count if you feel comfortable doing so. Also, Amazon seems to add the page numbers fairly quickly so the reader should be able to see how many pages your book is.
Hope this helps and best of luck with your new book.

 

H.M. Ward has boatloads of one- and two-star reviews on her books, specifically citing the length and cliff-hanger aspects, yet her books sell like ice cream on a hot summer day. Those negative reviews serve to warn off the like-minded folks who don't want to spend $2.99 for shorter books, while leaving the other millions of readers to read and enjoy...

--Maria

 

I'd be very open about the length.  Don't call it a book as that implies a full length novel.  This is a short story/novella.  I can understand the desire to have more titles. I see writers with lots of titles in their signature and wish I were that productive...then I realize most of them are short stories.

Have you considered giving the first novella away free and then charging more for the rest as a set?

 

Well, Dean Wesley Smith sells short stories for $2.99 a piece. What of that? His short stories and novelettes run from 2,400 - 9,000 words per ebook. Interestingly, he managed to also produce printed booklets of said short stories.

http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?p=8443

 

Well, Dean Wesley Smith sells short stories for $2.99 a piece. What of that? His short stories and novelettes run from 2,400 - 9,000 words per ebook. Interestingly, he managed to also produce printed booklets of said short stories.

http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?p=8443

He prices them at $2.99. Do they sell at $2.99...?

 

Oh boy, Amazon sure created a conundrum, didn't they? Don't yell at me, but a base 60(author)/40(amazon) split would make things a lot easier.

I think $2.99 is fine, but since I'm not Hugh Howey or Stephen King, I need to build a readership first. I'm going with the lower price. If readers like what they see I'll price my second series higher. I also have two more stand-alone, full length novels ready to go up this year. I'll price them at $3.99 and see where the wind takes me.

Thanks, everyone! Much appreciated.

Just FYI, when I first started self-publishing, I sold my novel at $5.99 and had no problems at all finding eager readers. This was back at the end of 2011 and through early 2012, when $2.99 was the upper range for indies and most novels from indies were selling at 99 cents to $1.99.

I priced it higher than average on purpose for two reasons: 1) I wanted to send a clear message that my book was of especially high quality. I've run businesses before and I'd seen first-hand the effectiveness of pricepoint-as-message. 2) I wanted to scare away anybody who was just looking for cheap kindlefood and instead attract people who really, really wanted to read THIS kind of book in particular. Because I weeded out the bargain shoppers early, I built up reviews very quickly. My book cost more, so nobody bought it unless they really wanted to read that kind of book, and were eager to start reading right now, and were the kind of reader who, if they liked the book, was likely to get passionate about recommending it to other readers.

Higher-than-average pricing can be a very effective strategy for new authors who don't yet have an audience. Just sayin'. You'll sell fewer books at first, but you'll sell them to readers who are more likely to read right away, review, and get the word-of-mouth ball rolling. Those are very valuable readers to have on your side.

 

Whatever happened to $5.99?

Did you not get the memo, Jan? It was determined by an anonymous, self-appointed "consulting committee" which never actually met that people who would pay $5.99 would pay $6.99 and that reviewers who would whine about $6.99 would whine about $5.99, so it was a "no lose trick".

Book 1 is 25K words long and I have it set at $2.99. A good friend suggested going lower because he received bad reviews based on the length of his books. Subsequent books in my series (four in total) will be 20-25K words long. I do plan on bundling the whole thing together at the end (lower price) and setting Book 1 as permafree when number two comes out in February.

Only my perspective, but I would make the first book free, all the rest $2.99, have an efficient and prominent linking system and build a list of readers. I'd expect, that way, to earn from the series more than twice the income I'd otherwise make.

 

The bottom line is this: if the price works for you, it works. If your readers are willing to pay it, it's an appropriate price. The only thing that should make you change your price is the realization that it's not helping you sell books (if that turns out to be the case), not anybody else's opinion that it might cause people to think you're "greedy."

I'd just make it clear that this is a novella, so readers know to expect a shorter read than usual. There are still lots of full-length novels selling at $2.99, so you don't want any unpleasant surprises.

This. You're going to be called greedy and a lot worse things at some point, regardless of pricing. Best to accept it from the get-go. Just be honest about what you're offering and allow readers to decide for themselves whether they're prepared to pay the asking price.

 

At 25k, your book is a novella.  Check out what other people are pricing if you want, but ultimately your readers will let you know if you're overcharging.  Maybe start low and work your way up.

 

He prices them at $2.99. Do they sell at $2.99...?

He did manage to earn $380/month:

http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?p=8443
"And the sales of the electronic editions have gone up at $2.99. I seldom sell the few stories I still have up at 99 cents (they will be changed out over the next month), but the ones at $2.99 sell regularly now and my income from the short stories has gone up steadily over the fall. (Yes, I am above the five copy per book average for these 38 challenge books. For you math-challenged, I get about $2.00 per sale, so that's $10.00 per book per month x 38 or $380.00 per month for these challenge stories. I actually make more than that. As I said, I'm above the average.)" - DWS

So he's not selling his 99c ebooks but people are buying his $2.99 books of the same lengths. And he's pricing his printed versions of said short stories for a whopping $4.99 each! Shocking.

Did you not get the memo, Jan? It was determined by an anonymous, self-appointed "consulting committee" which never actually met that people who would pay $5.99 would pay $6.99 and that reviewers who would whine about $6.99 would whine about $5.99, so it was a "no lose trick".

LOL! I'm thinking of the thread that Hugh Howey started recently about pricing with odd random numbers. You know, like $6.66 for paranormals. After all "99" is overrated.

 

Every ebook is too short if you look at the reviews.

All of them.

It's some kind of psychology thing because the reader isn't actually holding the volume in their hand.

That's really a clever thing to say considering customers are in here as well as other authors in here. Do you really think we don't notice these comments?

Geoff,

As a reader of Apocalyptic fiction and a fellow Geoff, may I ask why this is a series of 4 novellas instead of doulogy even a single 80k - 100k novel? Are the 4 stories separate and distinct stories? I ask because I've seen more than one 'series' put out where it felt like a single story chopped up for commercial purposes than an actual series. I don't mind a single story divided into parts when each part is novel length, but a series of novellas should each stand alone as well as be part of a series.

Now, granted, I'm not a fan of stand alone novellas so that's my thing. I like a novella used to anchor a short story collection and I like novellas combined into a larger work but not usually on their own. Even Hugh Howey's Wool stories I waited to buy until they they were collected to buy them as a unit. Even those, which are distinct stories, read like a single novel when combined.

 

Geoff,

As a reader of Apocalyptic fiction and a fellow Geoff, may I ask why this is a series of 4 novellas instead of doulogy even a single 80k - 100k novel? Are the 4 stories separate and distinct stories? I ask because I've seen more than one 'series' put out where it felt like a single story chopped up for commercial purposes than an actual series. I don't mind a single story divided into parts when each part is novel length, but a series of novellas should each stand alone as well as be part of a series.

Now, granted, I'm not a fan of stand alone novellas so that's my thing. I like a novella used to anchor a short story collection and I like novellas combined into a larger work but not usually on their own. Even Hugh Howey's Wool stories I waited to buy until they they were collected to buy them as a unit. Even those, which are distinct stories, read like a single novel when combined.

I enjoy the shorter novella/serial approach (first time I've done it). It sets self-imposed deadlines I love to work under and keeps me busy. I also enjoy working on the covers. I also think drawing the one project out in four to six parts will generate more interest over a longer period of time. Yes, it's partly for commercial purposes, but I really enjoy doing it.

Thanks again, everyone!

 

Geoffrey, I don't think Vaalingrade was making any kind of derogatory comment about readers. There does seem to be some psychological quirk of holding an ebook in your hands and perceiving it to be shorter in length than it really is. I notice it with my own reading habits. I'll zip through an ebook in half the time it'd take me to read it in print, and think, "Wow, that was a quick read!" It's one of those spooky things about ebooks, I guess.