Self-publishing can be challenging for you if you have never done it before and that is why we are going to talk about how to correctly price your ebook.

 

This self-published ebook pricing guide will help you understand the important tips for pricing self-published ebooks.

 

Before we do that, we need to understand how pricing works and it can be different for different platforms because digital book pricing is determined by a lot of factors.

 

In order to understand these factors, we need to ask a few important questions before we even talk about ebook pricing strategies.

 

Important Questions to Ask Before Planning eBook Pricing

 

Have You Determined the Genre of The Book?

 

If you need to know how to price a self-published book then you should not just set a price in the dark without doing any market research.

 

Instead of that, you can take inspiration from examples and the best way to do that is to understand the genre of your book. In order to do this, you need to find similar books just like your book.

 

When you find the genre, you will get a better understanding of ebook sales and pricing of that category.

 

That is why you need to choose the perfect genre for your book and you might get two or three genres that fit the book but you must choose the one that is the best performing in the market.

 

Where Do You Plan to Sell the eBook?

 

Not all platforms are the same and if you want the best benefits then you can choose two options and one would be to release your book exclusively on a single platform.

 

This will ensure better royalties and also better ebook launch pricing. It will also guarantee you better ebook pricing models.

 

The problem with this kind of an approach is that you will be limited to a single platform and if it does not perform well on that platform then you cannot simply recover the revenue from other platforms.

 

The second thing you can do is probably the option that everyone chooses because it is quite popular and also quite logical. This option will also mean that you do not have to take big risks with ebook marketing and pricing.

 

We are of course talking about launching your ebook on all the ebook platforms that you know which can include everything from Amazon to Barnes & Noble as well as Overdrive and Kobo and much more.

 

This will mean better ebook price optimisation as well as more chances of recovering the revenue and much more.

 

Did You Consider the Length of the eBook?

 

A lot can happen over the length of the book and that is why you must always consider the length in mind when you are trying to fix the pricing of your ebook.

 

The length is important because the bigger the ebook the more it is perceived to be valuable this is because it is just what the readers think like.

 

While having a bigger book will not make much of a difference when it comes to ebook production costs. If you were trying to publish a printed book then a bigger book would also make the costs higher.

 

But you must understand that when you are comparing pricing with your competitors you might ignore the length of the books but that is an important marker of value.

 

Your competitors might have a similar book but their book might have fewer words and that is why you can price your ebook much more than that competitor.

 

What Is the Size of Your Audience?

 

When you are thinking about ebook distribution and pricing, one of the most important questions you should ask is what kind of audience you have.

 

If you have a very large audience then it only makes sense to keep the pricing low because you can recover that pricing just why the sheer number of purchases. In fact, if you have a certainty that a lot of people will buy your book then it will be attractive to keep the costs low.

 

But if you are writing on a niche category with exclusive information then the ebook royalties and pricing will be different. Since it is a niche category you should not keep the pricing very low.

 

Low pricing on a niche category book will mean that the quality of the book is not good and the readers will associate the book with lower quality and value.

 

If you are writing on train timetables then it logically makes sense to keep pricing low so that more people can buy the book but if it is about coffee tables and its history then you should keep the price high.

 

There are other important questions but these were some of the most important questions that you must ask yourself before you set the pricing for your ebook no matter the platform.

 

Let us now go in depth about one of the most popular ebook publishing platforms that is the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) by Amazon. Let us look at the benefits of using KDP and it will give you a better idea on how ebook self-publishing works.

 

Here Are the Benefits of Self-Publishing Your eBook on KDP

 

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International Market

 

The best thing about doing anything on Amazon is that you are going to get access to the international market this is also the same with publishing your ebook on Amazon.

 

This means that you can set different prices for different regions and you can plan your marketing strategy a lot better now that you have the entire international market.

 

If you can utilise this then you will be unstoppable in the world of self-publishing.

 

Easy Learning Curve

 

People get nervous when they are asked about self-publishing because self-publishing might be difficult and the process might take months to understand.

 

That is what used to be the case but with platforms like Amazon, you do not need to know a lot in order to self-publish your ebook.

 

There are very simple instructions online and you can even watch YouTube videos to understand how you can self-publish your book with a few simple steps.

 

This is why so many people are choosing Amazon KDP for self-publishing their ebooks.

 

Pricing Control

 

Pricing control is not just about setting the price but it is also about changing the price depending on the time of the publishing as well as the time that has passed.

 

KDP by Amazon will give you excellent control over pricing and you can even change pricing strategy flexibly so that you can experiment with new pricing and find out if the market takes it better.

 

Pricing control is important because of demand and supply and every market and every industry is influenced by demand and supply. That is why if you can regulate your pricing according to that then you will always stay profitable.

 

Good Royalty Arrangements

 

Amazon has one of the most competitive and best royalty agreements where authors can expect even a 70% royalty rate.

 

Of course, this rate depends on the type of book you are selling and the format but you will be glad to know that ebooks have a good royalty percentage.

 

This is because you do not need to print the ebook and that means nearly 0 production and printing costs which means you are going to get most of the profit and keep it.

 

Quick Process

 

One of the qualms of regular publishing or print publishing is that it can take months for publishers to accept your manuscript.

 

But with Amazon KDP you can expect your book to get approved within hours or a couple of days.

 

This is in line with the fast-paced publishing world of 2023 because your readers do not have to wait for months for your book and it can be on Amazon within a few days.

 

Marketing Tools

 

It is not just enough to self-publish your ebook on Amazon because you need to sell it in order to make a profit and that is why Amazon has excellent marketing tools.

 

These include free book promotions as well as pre-orders and even countdown deals. These tools will allow your book to be more visible to the readers and thereby ensure better promotion.

 

Brand Power

 

We all know Amazon and Amazon is such a brand that it has international recognition which means Amazon is also the platform with the most people.

 

This is the brand power of Amazon that if you publish your ebook on it, you will have better chances of your ebook getting noticed by the readers.

 

This is not the case with less-known names such as Kobo etc.

 

Good Analytics

 

Data is everything if you want to become successful in today’s market no matter the industry and that is also the same case with self-publishing your ebook on Amazon.

 

The best thing about Amazon is that you are going to get a lot of data and analytics and you can have easy access to that data.

 

This will help you make changes to your marketing strategy so that you can always have control over the performance of your ebook.

 

There are so many other reasons why it is good to self-publish your ebook on Amazon such as good retention of rights as  well as easy print option if you want to convert your ebook into a paperback book etc.

Let us now look at a week-by-week pricing strategy that might be beneficial to you if you decide to self-publish your ebook on any ebook platform.

 

Pricing Strategy for Every Week

 

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Launch Week

 

This is the most important week because you just published your ebook on the launch date and that is why you need to have the best strategy in the first week.

 

The best strategy according to us would be to keep heavy discounts so that the ebook can get visibility.

 

Your job for the first week would be to make sure that the ebook gets seen by a lot of people and if you keep the prices low then more people are going to see the ebook.

 

You can research your prices later on but all you want in the first week is for more people to buy the book and leave reviews because these reviews will help you later on.

 

Second Week

 

This is the second week and you are seeing that your book is gaining popularity and you might also see a lot of positive reviews.

 

This is the point where you can raise the prices a little bit because the initial popularity will die down a little bit.

 

The second-week pricing should not be the same as the first-week pricing.

 

This is because the second week should be all about selling the book based on the reviews. This is also the week where you can start paid promotions and if you have started it you can put a little more money into paid promotions.

 

Third Week

 

While we are not going to suggest any prices for you because that is totally up to you but you can decide to keep the same prices as the second week or raise the prices a little bit.

 

If you see that you are getting a good response in the third week then you can raise the prices because your ebook still has the initial traction of the first week.

 

But if you feel like that the traction has been slow down then we would suggest you not to raise the prices but to spend more money on promotions. You can also try different types of promotions and you can approach social media influencers as well.

 

Fourth Week

 

If your ebook is performing well then you are going to see good sales even in the fourth week.  You can decide to raise the prices if you want because your book now has traction and good reviews.

 

But you must always make sure that every decision you take about your book should be based on data and not just intuition.

 

You can utilise alternate modes of promotion such as YouTube videos and even promoting it in offline locations as well.

 

Fifth Week

 

This is the fifth week since the launch of your ebook and 5 weeks are enough for you to understand how your book is performing.

 

But that does not mean you need to sit down and relax because you need to spend even more money on promotions but make sure you do it within your budget.

 

You need to make sure to go to different events and promote your book and keep the promotions active for at least 10 weeks.

 

Sixth Week

 

Now that you are in the sixth week of your ebook launch you need to remove all the discounts so that you are selling the book at MRP.

 

This is important because you need to make money on the book and you also need the opportunity to give special discounts on special occasions.

 

If you keep the book at MRP then it will create additional opportunities for book promotion for important events and days where you can promote the book with heavy discounts.

 

You must always keep monitoring the data in order to make sure that your book is performing well and if you see the performance is slowing down then it is natural. Of course, you can spend more money on promotions but do not go over budget.

 

Here Are the Royalty Rates of Ebooks Self-Published in India

 

Amazon	Google Play Books	Flipkart Publishing	Notion Press	Pothi
35%-70%	70%	35%	40%	50%

Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) by Amazon

 

Amazon currently has two slabs of royalty percentage and they are 35% and 70% royalty. If your book is priced below ₹99 then it will fall into the category of 35% royalty.

 

If your book is priced between ₹99 and ₹3,999 then it will fall under the category of 70% royalty. Of course, the royalty rates can change and you need to check it out yourself to know the current rates.

 

Google Play Books

 

Google Play Books has one of the simplest royalty rates because everything is 70%. We are of course only talking about ebooks.

 

You are going to get 70% royalty on every ebook sale no matter the price of the ebook.

 

Flipkart Publishing

 

While it is not as popular as Amazon but Flipkart has its own publishing platform and the royalty rate is also quite simple to understand.

 

Flipkart will give you 35% royalty for all ebook sales no matter the length of the ebook or the type or even the price.

 

Notion Press

 

If you want to self-publish your ebook on Notion Press then you are going to get 40% royalty.

 

This rate is applicable for every kind of ebook no matter the price. Apart from Amazon KDP, most ebook platforms have a fixed royalty rate which is very simple to understand.

 

Pothi

 

Just like most of the other ebook platforms, if you want to self-published your ebook on Pothi then it is 50% royalty.

 

This is different from their paperback publishing which has a different kind of royalty calculation.

 

Common FAQs on eBook Publishing

 

What Can Be a Good Price to Sell eBooks in India?

 

The pricing depends on the type of book you are writing because if you are writing fiction then you can price your book below ₹200.

 

If you are writing nonfiction then you can charge above ₹200 as nonfiction books are usually priced higher than fiction books. These can be self-help books as well as educational books.

 

If you want to sell children’s books then you should price it below ₹100.

 

Of course, you should do your own research and set a price that you are comfortable with. These are usually the prices of books in India.

 

What Kind of Earning Can You Expect From eBooks?

 

It is impossible to give you an estimate because it totally depends on the kind of book you have and how popular the book is.

 

You can expect to earn a good living if your book is popular and this is especially the case for ebooks because ebooks do not have any printing cost.

 

You must make sure to create as well as target a specific audience for better chances of earning.

 

Is selling eBooks profitable?

 

Yes, it is profitable but you cannot expect to become a millionaire from selling ebooks just all of a certain.

 

You should keep your expectations reasonable because it is very difficult to become a popular author, especially in the category of ebooks.

 

Having said that, selling ebooks is much more profitable than selling physical books because they are no printing costs associated with ebooks which means it costs virtually zero to create copies of an ebook.

 

This makes it more profitable for the author because they can get to keep more of the profit.

 

Will eBooks Replace Paperbacks in The Future?

 

It is impossible to predict the future but what we can say is that ebooks are definitely going to be more popular with more access to technology.

 

While it is easy to read an ebook on a smartphone but if ebook readers become cheaper then people are going to prefer that and the experience is quite similar to a book.

 

Ebooks are also very affordable which also means more people are going to be interested in them. But the thing about paperback books is that ebooks can never replicate that feeling of holding a physical book and reading it.

 

That is why we predict that physical books are always going to be there, they might become more expensive.

 

Should You Set eBook Price by Wordcount?

 

The short answer to this is that you should not set your ebook price just on wordcount because wordcount is just one of the several factors behind proper pricing.

 

If you want to set the perfect price then all you need is market research in order to understand how much ebooks go for regarding your genre of book.

 

Book length is one of the factors behind the pricing but you should not set a price that is very different from the market.

 

We hope you understand how to price your self-published ebook better than before. If you are looking for the most reliable ebook and book publisher in India then we are here for you.

 

We are Orange Publishers and we are the fastest-growing book publisher in India. We will help you with your ebook publishing as well as paperback books and hardcovers.

 

We will make sure to take care of all the hassles of listing your ebook on all the popular ebook platforms and along with that we will also take care of copyright and much more.

 

We do everything in-house at Orange Publishers and we welcome you to visit our website and check out how you can publish your book or ebook with us.