Monday, October 21, 2013

A Self Publishing Journey: Setting the Price

I hadn't done a self-pub post in a while, and since right now I'm deep in the details of setting up book format files and all the nitty-gritty that goes along with that, I thought I'd shed some light on the part of the process which scared me the most: setting the price.

To be honest, I thought this would be the easiest part. As a reader who's also got a background in branding and so forth, I'm hyper-aware of buying behavior. I'm always observing myself making choices, and comparing that with how I hear my friends going through the same decisions.

For that reason, I thought walking into this that I knew where I wanted to set my price, and that would be that.

*Facepalm*

Okay, so the digital side of things started pretty straight forward. In order to pin my price at what I believe to be the best cross-section of credibility, risk-aversion, and profitability, I went with my gut on a kindle price of $2.99. No sweat.

Then I discovered that Barnes and Noble's Nook was going to take an extra 25% (retail! So that's 33% net) of my profit margin, and I wasn't allowed to set the price differently than it was available in e-book anywhere else.

After a lot of grumbling, vacillating, and general cursing, I decided to just take it on the nose - and ask everyone to buy the kindle version if they could.

Then I started on the paperback. *Straps in*

First I discovered that my original price-preference ($8.99) would leave me paying people to buy my book. (Cue gnashing of teeth).

Then I found out that even though there was a lot more time and expense involved in setting up the paperback, even if I went to the outer-limits of what I felt I could justifiably charge, I was going to earn less off every paperback than I did off each e-book. (Insert howls of frustration).

Then I learned that I couldn't even trial-and-error it. Because I wanted to work with my own ISBN numbers and set my book up as close to the manner in which a traditional publisher would as I could. So I had to choose (and nail down!) my price on my paperback before I'd sold a single copy. Why?

Because if I want my paperback to have any chance of ever being picked up by a store, it has to have a barcode. And a barcode has to have the pricing already programmed in.

This meant, (cue further wailing) if I ever want to change the price of my paperback, I have to pay $25 for another barcode, re-assign it to the ISBN, and have my cover designer create a new image OF THE ENTIRE FRONT-BACK-AND-SIDEWAYS COVER for me to insert into the formatting file. Which means that I then have to go through the proofing process again to make sure the printing process hasn't suddenly stopped working the same way, and so on and so forth.

Cue a great deal of wailing and big-girl panty twisting.

The end result? Cross my fingers and pray.

My paperback will be selling for $10.99. I will make less money from every paperback sold but this is made up for in part by gaining more personal satisfaction from each sale (I'm not sure why, but I do feel that way). The digital books will all sell at $2.99.

The gates will open soon and then we'll find out if I made the right decisions...

Your Turn: Do you buy e-books or paperback? Do you have "budgets" for each kind of book - and are your budgets different for self-published books than for traditionally published? Share your buying behavior with me!

 

11 comments:

  1. Save time, money, blood, sweat and tears. Concentrate on online booksellers, not bricks-and mortar sellers who demand huge discounts and can destroy you with returns of unsaleable, damaged books.

    For online selling of pbooks there is no need to print a price on the back cover or imbed it in the bar cods. You can change prices whenever you want.

    Michael N. Marcus
    http://www.BookMakingBlog.com
    http://www.CreateBetterBooks.com

    New: 1001 Powerful Pieces of Author Advice, http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BO8FODA

    Fun: Stories I'd Tell My Children (but maybe not until they're adults) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004UOH71C

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    1. There's no doubt you're right, Michael. I definitely won't be focusing any marketing efforts on the distribution channels. I do want the book to be available that way though. Then if someone walks into a book store and asks for it, the bookstore can order it in for them. Some people still prefer to shop that way.

      Thanks for stopping by!

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    2. When my publisher quit (and Yay!) I became Indie--I knew I was not going to do a print version of my books. I knew about the expense, frustrations, etc., so I'm only doing the ebooks. If things get better down the road, I might consider it. But, nah. I've so far made more in a month's time on my ebooks than I had with said publisher who did both ebooks and paperbacks. (of course he took lion's share--but not any more). But this is up to you, however you do it. Good luck, Aimee!

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  2. Well that's interesting. No wonder paper-based books are suffering so. If it's even better for the author to have readers buy the less expensive e-format! Thanks for the post!

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    1. LOL. I'm not sure I can encourage buyers to purchase e-books over paperback, ha! I think a lot of readers are finding (like me) that fiction is cheaper, easier to read, and more convenient via e-book. There's no doubt in my mind that Amazon would rather see me selling digital than paperback. I'm equally sure they're making a lot more money off any paperback sales I have than I am... Grrr...

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    2. Hi Aimee, It is hard, isn't it? I'm in the process right now... Before I signed with my publisher, I ran the economics of my upcoming book through Createspace as a self-pubbed book first. I don't think people realize just how much they take. Since my book is *clears throat* generously-sized, with extended distribution I would only make $0.43 per book on a cover price of ~$16 after all their crazy per page charges. Since I plan to do book sales and events, paperbacks are necessary... I feel your angst! LG

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  3. Yep, I totally feel you. Paperback is very difficult to price.

    To answer your question, I read both paperback & e-book but only because people buy me paperbacks as presents. If I buy them myself, I almost always buy e-book. I expect e-books to be cheaper than paper, and I expect SP to be cheaper than TP. I will pay up to $10 for an e-book (either TP or SP) by an author whose work I know I like but would probably only stretch to $4.99 for a new SP author unless the blurb sounded absolutely amazing.

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    1. Thanks, Cally! I buy in much the same way (and with similar expectations).

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  4. For an Indie/self published author to have a paperback, it's like a gift for readers, the icing on the cake. Very few will every make it into bookstores or libraries. But, just a thought, if you assign your own purchased ISBN to your book on CS, then you can't choose extended distribution - and that's where your book will show up on BN online...

    Unless a big part of your efforts will be traveling and signings, most of your profit will be from ebooks as it is for most indies.

    Congrats though on the upcoming release!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, Laura!

      Having my own ISBN doesn't stop me from using the extended distribution - but it does stop libraries and academic institutions from being able to access it directly. Which is a pain. But not really a market I expect to excel in, ha!

      I'm fully prepared for most of my sales to be digital, but there are many people I know who'd like to own the paperback, and I'm also aware that my primary audience is teen. Many teens don't have access to an ereader yet, so I want to make sure if they want it, they can get it!

      *Tries to think of everything* *Fails*

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