Technical Books and Novels
If it is a highly researched book with technical knowledge for a given profession, then it most likely will sell for a higher price to a much smaller audience. However, you will need to have the right credentials to support your claim of expertise in this field. Even so, a new author that does not have a following will have a harder time marketing their book, therefore you want to price it so that it is appealing.
Moving on to novels. There are multitudes of novels out there, all of which are in competition with yours. If you go to Amazon, you will be able to do research on the length of the books, maybe on the story line, what reviewers are saying about it, the covers, and all things about the book. Be honest with yourself. How does it compare to yours? How is it priced? Is the author well known?
Listing the Price
Wisdom says you should not put the price on the cover of your book. There are reasons for this. You may want to change the price at some time – if it is already printed on your cover you will not be able to mark up, only down.
So, what is a fair price for your book? The average price for a paperback is $10 to $15, depending on the length of the book. Consider pricing your book at a lower price to begin with and make it available as an ebook as well. Or, if you want it to be more noticeable, you might want to make a special offer for a given holiday- say Mother’s Day or Father’s Day. You could make it available for a very low price for a short period of days – say three to five and then put it back to its original price. On KDP – Kindle Direct Publishing, which is Amazon’s publishing house – you can even present it free, as a gift to your readers, for a very short period of time, then take it back to the original price.
Pricing is a challenge that we all have to learn to deal with. If this seems to be too difficult or stressful for you, don’t let it be.
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