It probably sounds weird, but I like to read some of my old blog posts.
One in particular grabbed my attention recently was about Kindle book pricing.
I’ve been kind of paranoid lately about the prices going up because, as time
goes on, I slowly start becoming an old lady that clings to every penny but,
when I clicked some of the book links, I found that I was actually correct but
far worse than I even imagined. I'm not the only one who's noticed.
Let’s review some of the old prices versus their current prices shall
we? The previous prices are based on the time of my old blog post which was posted January 10th, 2014. That was just over 3 years ago.
Mistborn Boxset
Allegiant
Previous price: $6.99
Previous price: $14.99
Previous price: $7.99
Previous price: $4.99 (I predicted it to raise to $7.99)
It used to be that ebooks were priced just under the cost for a paperback but, somewhere down the line, that unspoken rule was thrown out the window.
And, as much as I hate to say this, I decided on February 4th to increase
the price of Dusted.
There are several reasons for this, the main one is that it’s my
primary income now. The big move I made last summer meant quitting my previous job and, as anyone in this economy knows, it has been difficult to get a new
one.
 |
| Unless I was willing to commute 10 hours to my old job. |
The lack of reviews means I need to get more from each copy sold. I
know they sound unrelated but some people will pass on books simply because
there aren’t that many reviews for it (whether they’re good or bad is
irrelevant.)
Part of the price hike is that Amazon kind of forced my hand. It would
have been easy to blame them for everything and turn them into the bad guy but
I couldn’t do that because I was already considering raising the price and,
more importantly, Amazon has been amazing to me, and other small indie
authors, to allow my writing to be
published. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
Most of all, however, I honestly believe I am providing a quality
product to my readers. It’s not perfect but I poured my heart, soul, brain, and
time into Dusted to make it what it is, and I think I have earned more than a
just kudos for it. Has anyone ever actually said to themselves “Ew $2.99? I’m not buying that I’m going to buy a different book at $0.99 because it’s cheaper”? At this point in Dusted’s lifetime if I make a sale then I make a sale, regardless of price. Not to mention that, these days, lower pricing actually lowers sales.
So let me break down some numbers for you. Amazon allows you to choose
between royalties of 35% or 70%, each one with their pros and cons. For a long
time the income didn’t really bother me so I had it set for 35%, this was
getting me $0.32 per copy sold. That said, it has taken me years to gain enough money to even buy something at McDonald’s.
By changing to 70% royalties I actually get to have a much larger sum
of money. One of the disadvantages of the gained royalty, however, is a forced
increase of the ebook price. I was unaware of this but, apparently, if you want
70% royalties, you must price your ebook at a minimum of $2.99. That’s okay
though because I was already deciding between raising it to $1.99 or $2.99.
Okay, so the price for the consumer goes up a staggering 300%, it
sounds bad when you put it like that but let me show you something
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| Yes with 70% Amazon charges me for shipping the ebook to you. |
Where before I was making $0.32 cents in royalties per copy I would now be making $2.05. You pay 300% more than you did previously but I now make 640% more.
More profits means I can work harder at this writing thing. Becoming a full time author has been my dream since I was fourteen years old writing a terrible novel on loose sheets of paper with a pencil until my hand cramped.
Each copy sold, especially now, means I get one step closer for that dream to come true.
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