Finding the worth of your book and deciding on the price is way tougher than writing a book itself.
Price & cost your book too low, you will lose your worth. Price it too high, you will lose potential sales.
So it is extremely important that you think about the pricing from the start. Don’t keep it for the end to think over.
After writing, you either underestimate your skills or overestimate them. Start making your mind about the pricing from the beginning.
Close the chapter named ‘ego’ from your life, press your humility just a tad further and let yourself step into the mystical world of pricing a book.
Page Contents
Why is Book Pricing Important
Pricing matters because in the end, after all your tears, frustration, and hard work, this is the form of an outcome that you get.
Why would you waste your priceless investment of months and years just out of idleness?
How to decide the bookselling price?
You have spent more than seven months writing a book and you decide to sell each copy of your book for $9.99 which means you get around $0.05 per day to write.
Gosh, you will have to sell quite some copies to barely live with that wage. However, cost book isn’t that important for you to write with passion.
When you write for yourself, any customer buying your book is like a gift and more like a validation as a writer to you.
This is why you might have heard that pricing a book is an art as well as science. As cliche as it sounds, you can either set a price range by taking a more strategic approach or you might as well think that it doesn’t matter as long as the reader approves your artwork. There are factors that contribute to the price-setting of your books like your experience as a writer and your ability to portray and let readers feel the emotions and the demand in the market of the domain you have written in.
How To Know And Set The Right Price For Your Book in 2023?
Let’s settle the right sum that is worthy of your book. Here is the ultimate guide to letting you choose your number for your years of investment.
1. Setting Expectations That Are Realistic
The most important thing while handling the price part of your book is to be extremely realistic.
The more realistic you stay, the more positive outcome there will be. Unrealistic prices can give you a bad experience as a writer.
To get an idea, you can have a survey of the relevant marketplace and statistics.
An average self-publishing writer is able to sell 250 copies approximately in his lifetime according to the statistics.
Example to Set The Average Price of Books
For instance, in this case, if you sell your copy for $9.99 the total amount you earn would be less than $2500, and catering to the expenses of printing and publishing, you will be left with way less than that.
2. Look For A Emotional Point To Base Your Prices On
Sometimes you can even set $100 for each copy and your book will sell because in the end, it is all about your reader finding an emotional hook with your book that the price doesn’t mean much.
The goal you should set is to set whatever price you want to as long as there are buyers waiting for your book launch.
Let’s take the example of Margaret Kent who sold each copy of her dating book at 100 dollars! It’s insane, right?
After being controversially featured in the Oprah Winfrey show, the book sold millions of copies.
On this Kent said on the show that readers were not buying a book but a spouse in fact.
It is all about positioning and although the price after a few years dropped to the lowest of $9.99 but Kent earned all the profit she could have with this book by just finding an emotional aspect to hook the readers with.
You have to identify which emotional part of the readers your book compels and then market your book accordingly to attract readers.
If you want readers to buy your book in spite of the high price, then target their primal emotions.
3. Do Your Homework Thoroughly
Checking out your competition and doing a thorough check with their prices and pricing strategies is important. What approach they take will help you alter yours accordingly.
Before you self publishes your book, you should keep an eye out for your competitors as their audience is no different than your targeted one.
They will be alluring the attention of your audience, and as a writer of the same genre, the knowledge of what your readers are currently buying is important.
Even if the book you release is far better than that of your competitors, the readers have no knowledge of that yet. The readers, in fact, will notice the new introduction in the market and will judge your book by the cover, reviews, and blurb.
You have to make sure the price range of your book lies within or is less than that of your competitors in order to give the reader a strong reason to make a purchase.
This point is highly vital as your reader will not want to pay a high price for the fun and thrill he is already getting at a low price.
However, by the low price, it doesn’t mean that you undercut your self-published book. This can pull down the standard image of your book that the reader might not be interested in because the low price makes your book look less desirable.
4. Go For The Old School Pricing Strategy
He tried and tested the pricing formula that is the best and works for almost everyone.
Pricing is basically playing with the minds of the readers. Sure the unfortunate truth is, but if you are good at playing mind games, you are going to win this tournament of your life.
One of the most popular and oldest pricing tricks that psychologically work is fixing a price and displaying it as an odd number.
Even if it is only a penny, $4.59 looks so much more affordable than $4.60 and that is why this technique actually works when it comes to increasing your sales or propelling a reader to buy your book.
What is the average price of ebooks?
For ebooks, the price of $3.99 is considered the perfect combination of numbers.
- It is an odd number
- Price is globally the most used one to fix for ebooks therefore is easily
- The price is low enough that readers can take a risk. It will cost them less than a fancy copy so there will be more readers who will not hesitate before making a purchase.
5. Adjusting Royalties
How much you profit each time a reader buys your book is your royalty.
Your royalty depends on the price list as well as the online retailer you pick. For example, publishing your book on Amazon gives you 35 percent of profit if the price range per book is $2.98 or lower.
Above $2.99 priced books will get you 70 percent of the sale and $10 to $100 will take you back down to 35 percent of royalty.
To all those thinking, Amazon really takes all the profit, it is true to some extent but publishing on Amazon benefits a writer immensely.
You get to sell your book to a well-known and credible platform, as well as your book, is available to millions.
But there are tons of better options than Amazon that let you have the 40 – 45 percent royalty as well. Because not all writers can afford amazon and get satisfied with 35 percent royalty.
With the printing costs, you will get very little royalty by publishing on Amazon.
When making a settlement on the price with an online retailer, think and consider all the extra expenses, like that of printing and shipping.
The point to remember is that no matter which retailer you are selling your book to, be it Amazon or iBooks, your selling rate will stay the same. You can’t charge less or more depending on the retailer to retailer.
What Are The Average Book Prices 2023
The average price of books varied from fiction to nonfiction and ebooks. All have different pricing strategies.
- Price Of A Fiction Book
Most paperback novels with a considerable size range from $13.95 to $17.95. So if your novel has 365 pages, it is completely okay to set a price around $16.96.
The range applies to most of the books but not all. This being said, to set a price that is best for your novel, always do the research over the market prices going on for novels similar to yours.
Don’t be too confident and overestimate your book, because overly inflated prices take the book to be kept at the back and most upper-level parts of shelves in libraries and bookstores.
- Pricing Your Ebook
There are several factors that majorly impact the prices of ebooks. From quality to royalty percentages and length of the book.
You need to consider your royalties by keeping in mind the expenses of printing and shipping. Choose your online retailer wisely to get the utmost profit possible.
- Non-Fiction Novel Prices
A book representing and showcasing, a considerable amount of background research, additional notes, and charts, and other graphic details, it is obvious that the price of that book will be higher.
The more unique the book is, the higher the price. The price also depends on the trim size and number of pages of the book.
These are the factors and tips to consider before pricing your book. But above all consider what message your price of the book is sending.
The topic is much more complicated than summarizing in two lines so without further ado, let’s look at it more closely.
Message The Price Is Sending
Let’s figure out what the price of the book says about you in 2023.
- Low Price: Cheap Content?
If you have written a book with a substantial number of pages and you have set a very low price as compared to the competitors. This low price might be sending an image to the buyer or reader that your book is not of premium quality that is why the price is so low, it does not merit a higher price.
You should research how books are priced that are similar tours and are paying off. Be realistic about your prices and refrain from fixing a price without a competitor research
- High Price Setting High Expectations
Sometimes, a high value of a thing that doesn’t cost too much may build up an impression of that 5thing being unique, high in quality, and bringing something new. Customers are more attracted to that high price thing.
The case is similar when it comes to books and sometimes setting a high book cost really pays off.
In the end, it’s all about background research and if you set a price a tad little higher than your competitor, the risk is there but if done properly, you can have gold profits coming your way.
Bringing It All Together
Pricing a book is surely a daunting task and if not done properly, you might see all your efforts going in vain.
This book pricing guide can help you a lot but if you still are not clear with what you want or need and are still confused about setting a price for your book.
If you still have questions regarding how much does a book cost then Mczell Book Writing offers you a platform where you can publish your book as well as take help regarding book prices.
Reach out to us now and let us solve all your problems related to publishing and pricing a book.
Accord us all your book-related problems and live a stress-free life as a writer!
FAQs
How do you determine the cost of a book? ›
Go to any bookstore and take a look. You can learn a lot by observing the books your book will be rubbing shoulders with, including the average price readers expect to pay for the type of book you've written. You can also ask a bookseller at what price point they typically sell a book like yours.
How much should an average book cost? ›Most average-sized trade paperback novels fall into the $13.95 to $17.95 price range. That being said, this range is true for most books—always do the research into comparable books and price your book accordingly.
How much should a 300 page book cost? ›For a typical 300-page paperback, you could be looking at a cost of something like $9 or more. With that cost, you'd end up charging $18 for your paperback to get a 100% markup.
How do you price books to sell? ›For books listed as like new, start from a base price of 70-75% of retail price. For example: if the book is currently retailing at $15.99–you shouldn't list it any higher than $12. If it's in excellent condition, you can price it for about 55% of retail. For good condition, think 40% retail.
How much does a 200 page book cost? ›The average retail cost of a paperback book with about 200 pages ranges from $9.99 to $18.99.
What makes a book more expensive? ›Have you ever wondered why they are so expensive? Books are expensive because of the rising cost of printing on paper, royalties, the economy of scale, return policy, and transit costs.
How much does a typical book sell? ›Research suggests that the “average” self-published, digital-only book sells about 250 copies in its lifetime. By comparison, the average traditionally published book sells 3,000 copies, but as I mentioned above, only about 250-300 of those sales happen in the first year.
Is a 300 page book a lot? ›300 pages is a lot, and sometimes, even if you're interested in the book, you can start to slow down after a while. My suggestion would be to read 50–150 pages of one book and then read 50–150 pages of another book in one day, and then the day after do it all over again.
How many copies of a book is average? ›Thus, the average book published today is selling less than 300 print copies over its lifetime in the US retail channels.
Can you finish a 250 page book in a day? ›Answer: the average reader takes about 6.9 hours to read 250 pages. You might take more or less time than 6.9 hours to read 250 pages, depending on your reading speed and the difficulty of your text. The average person's reading speed is around 300 words per minute (WPM).
What is a good amount of pages for a book? ›
When wondering how many pages a book should be, it is notable that the average book length is between 200-400 pages. With this in mind, what considerations should be taken when deciding how long a book should be? Check comparable titles. Go to a bookstore and find your book's genre.
How long should a 200-page book take? ›That's about 4.5 hours to read a 200-page book (55,000 words). By increasing your reading speed to 600 words/ minute, you could read a 200-page book in 90 minutes. The best speed readers can reach 1000 words per minute which equates to approximately 55 minutes to read a 200-page book.
What is the most effective way to sell a book? ›- BookScouter. The first thing you should do is go to BookScouter. ...
- Amazon. If you like more complicated ways, you can go directly to Amazon and try selling your books there. ...
- eBay. ...
- Etsy. ...
- Decluttr. ...
- Powell's Books. ...
- Half Price Books. ...
- Local Bookstores and Book-Buying Markets.
Publishers typically pay a $5,000 to $10,000 advance to good first-time authors. This means they would need to sell around 1,000 copies of a book that costs $20 per copy to break even after printing and distribution costs. Following that, the author will receive royalties, typically about 10%.
What is a 100 page book called? ›Definition of a novella
The novella typically runs about a hundred pages, though it can run a bit longer.
Answer: the average reader takes about 2.8 hours to read 100 pages. You might take more or less time than 2.8 hours to read 100 pages, depending on your reading speed and the difficulty of your text.
Is 100 pages enough for a book? ›No. A 100-page book is too short to be considered a novel, regardless of the genre. Here's why: stories are classified according to their word counts. We'll dive deeper into that a little later, but for now, remember that if it's 100 pages long, or fewer than around 40,000 words, it's not a novel.
What gives a book its value? ›book which has an enhanced value because the demand for the book exceeds the supply, usually because of its importance, scarcity, age, condition, physical and aesthetic properties, association, or subject matter. If there is no demand for a book, it will probably not become a rare book even if the other factors exist.
How do I know if a book is expensive? ›In determining the value of a book there are three basic elements: 1) rarity, 2) condition, and, 3) demand. Books with the most value normally have all three of these elements, and the loss of any will likely result in a loss of value. Age of the book is not always a key factor in value.
What adds value to a book? ›Importance. If your book was historically influential in any way, it is more likely to be valuable. Whether it was a book that changed the course of history or revealed a new scientific discovery, the stories attached to these books increase their value.
How many books does the average first-time author sell? ›
Most self-published authors sell 250 books or less, regardless of how many different books they write. Traditionally published books sell around 3,000 copies on average, with only 250 of those sales in the first year. It's rare that books sell over 100,000 copies and even rarer to sell more than a million.
How many copies must a book sell to be a bestseller? ›The category and window of your release all significantly impact the number of copies required to hit the NYT bestseller list, but 5,000 copies during any one-week period is the minimum.
How many books do I need to sell to make a living? ›You need to sell almost 10,000 copies to just break even on costs. For a 80,000 word book you'd need to sell almost 60,000 copies to make an average amount of money for the time spent on the book.
How many pages is considered a long book? ›For example, i consider a 350+ pages book a long book, but for many a 400 pages book is relatively short.
What page size do most books use? ›The page size tends to vary depending on the publisher but can usually be found in the range of 5.5″ x 8.5″ to 6″ x 9″ (please see our page size guide for measuring hardcover books). Mass Market Paperback books, which are usually around 4.25″ x 6.75″, are also a popular option.
Can you read 100 pages in an hour? ›Depending on your reading speed, it should take you between two and three hours to go through 100 pages. It takes an average reader approximately 2.8 hours to read 100 pages.
How many pages is a good first book? ›Number of pages in a book for a first-time author
How many pages in a novel? For a first release, 200 pages are enough. One can also look at authors like Chetan Bhagat, who continue to release books well below the 300-page mark even today.
How much can authors expect to earn from their books? A first-time author with a traditional publishing deal might expect an advance of $1,000-$10,000 and 5-18% royalties once they “earn out” their advance. Self-published authors do not receive advances, but their royalties can reach up to 70% for ebook editions.
Can you copy 10% of a book? ›About Copyright
The Copyright Act does not allow making multiple copies of a single item. You are allowed to make a single copy for your personal study purposes. The following limits also generally apply to anyone making a copy: Books: the Copyright Act permits an individual to copy one chapter or up to 5% of a work.
Nancy Pearl rule of 50
If a reader is under 50 years old, then consume 50 pages before dropping a book. If a reader is over 50 years old, take the number 100, subtract your age, and this is the number of pages to read before switching to the next book.
Can you read 50 pages in a day? ›
Answer: the average reader takes about 1.4 hours to read 50 pages. You might take more or less time than 1.4 hours to read 50 pages, depending on your reading speed and the difficulty of your text. The average person's reading speed is around 300 words per minute (WPM).
How many pages can a person read in a day? ›Most people can finish reading 20 pages within 30 minutes. And if you do it first thing in the morning, then the urgencies of the day don't get in the way. Finally, 20 pages seems small but adds up fast. It's a great average speed.
How many pages is a 30 minute book? ›How many pages can you read in 30 minutes? The short answer is 20 pages with an average reading of 300 words per minute.
How many chapters should a book have? ›However, there is no exact minimum or standard for how many chapters a novel should have. Because chapters are just places where the author decides to break up the flow of their story, you could go a more traditional route and end up with 12-28 chapters or choose to be more experimental and have as many as 200.
How many pages is a chapter? ›Many novelists these days prefer chapters that are between 1,500 words—or six book pages— and 8,000 words, or 32 book pages. But, there are hundreds of famous exceptions. Donna Tartt's (624-page) novel The Little Friend has only six chapters, ranging in length from 52 to 166 pages.
How long does it take to finish a book with 500 pages? ›Answer: the average reader takes about 13.9 hours to read 500 pages.
How many hours does the average book take to read? ›The average novel ranges between 60,000 and 100,000 words total. If your reading speed is right in the middle of the pack at 300 words per minute, and you're reading a middle-of-the-pack novel at around 80,000 words, you'll be able to knock it out in around five hours or less.”
How long is a 500 page book? ›The average reader will read 500 pages in 13.9 hours when reading at a speed of 300 words per minute (wpm). Typical documents that are 500 pages or more include full-length novels. A typical single-spaced page is 500 words long.
What makes a book a #1 best seller? ›Most publishing studies reveal that a new book, on average, will sell around 250 copies and no more than 2000 copies in its lifetime. Since this is what the majority of books do, then selling more than this amount would technically make your book a bestseller.
How do you know if your book is selling well? ›Visit online retail sites such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Buy.com to view the sales rank of a volume relative to the other books listed on the website. Many sites also offer the ability to view a book's sales rank within a particular genre.
What size book sells the best? ›
These are the most common book sizes for most fiction and nonfiction books. The two most popular sizes in the U.S. are 5.5” by 8.5” (“digest”) and 6” by 9”.
Is it hard to sell a book? ›Unfortunately, book sales never come that easy for anyone. It is hard to sell a book if you haven't correctly identified your target audience and marketed to them appropriately. Authors also face challenges with book sales if the book is poorly priced or its cover isn't appealing.
How can I sell my book without fees? ›The free option is to sell your books through TextbookRush or Ziffit. Neither TextbookRush or Ziffit require you to pay for your shipping label — every book buyback gets a free trackable FedEx mailing label — but you'll have to provide your own box.
How can I sell my books cheap? ›- eBay: eBay is a great place to try reselling your used books. ...
- Local bookstores and book-buying markets: If you don't want to fuss with packing and mailing your books, take them to a local used bookstore, put them in a kids' consignment sale, or try selling them through Facebook Marketplace.
Royalties are calculated as a percentage of book sales. For example, an author might earn 7.5% royalties on every paperback sold and 25% on every eBook sold. Royalties are typical in traditional publishing, where Authors sell the rights to their book to a publisher.
How many books do you have to sell to make 100k? ›To make $100.000 / year, you have to sell 50.000 books, which equals to 50.000/12 = 4.667 books per month. After the first year, you'll have 12 books published. To make $100k with those 12 books, you'd need to sell 348 copies of each book each month.
How many books does an author have to sell to make a million dollars? ›The important stats: The top 12 books per year sell more than a million copies. The next 100 or so books sell between 100,000 and 1 million copies.
Is 50000 enough for a book? ›For most publishers, a book is “novel-length” when it's between 50,000 and 110,000 words. At a writers conference I recently attended, publishing veteran Jane Friedman said 80,000 words is good for most fiction, below 60,000 isn't novel length territory, and above 120,000 is likely too much.
How much does it cost to read a 70 page book? ›Answer: the average reader takes about 1.9 hours to read 70 pages. You might take more or less time than 1.9 hours to read 70 pages, depending on your reading speed and the difficulty of your text. The average person's reading speed is around 300 words per minute (WPM).
How much does a first book sell for? ›How much can authors expect to earn from their books? A first-time author with a traditional publishing deal might expect an advance of $1,000-$10,000 and 5-18% royalties once they “earn out” their advance. Self-published authors do not receive advances, but their royalties can reach up to 70% for ebook editions.
How much does 1,000 books cost? ›
It's almost impossible to quote a price here without knowing the quantity of books you'll be ordering. For example, 1,000 books will usually cost you between $5 and $7 apiece, whereas if you print 5,000, the price goes down to around $3, and more than 10,000, the price often drops below $2.
How much of a book can you legally quote? ›Unfortunately, quoting or excerpting someone else's work falls into one of the grayest areas of copyright law. There is no legal rule stipulating what quantity is OK to use without seeking permission from the owner or creator of the material.
How many dollars do authors make per book? ›Publishers typically pay a $5,000 to $10,000 advance to good first-time authors. This means they would need to sell around 1,000 copies of a book that costs $20 per copy to break even after printing and distribution costs. Following that, the author will receive royalties, typically about 10%.
Is 100 pages too short for a book? ›A 100-page book is too short to be considered a novel, regardless of the genre. Here's why: stories are classified according to their word counts. We'll dive deeper into that a little later, but for now, remember that if it's 100 pages long, or fewer than around 40,000 words, it's not a novel.
How long should a 100 page book take? ›Answer: the average reader takes about 2.8 hours to read 100 pages. You might take more or less time than 2.8 hours to read 100 pages, depending on your reading speed and the difficulty of your text. The average person's reading speed is around 300 words per minute (WPM).
How long does a 100 page book take to write? ›A 100 page book is about 30,000 words. If you write more than 1500 words per week, you can expect for it to take 2 – 4 months to write a 100 page book.
How many books do first time authors sell? ›Most self-published authors sell 250 books or less, regardless of how many different books they write. Traditionally published books sell around 3,000 copies on average, with only 250 of those sales in the first year. It's rare that books sell over 100,000 copies and even rarer to sell more than a million.
How many books do you need to sell to be a bestseller? ›The category and window of your release all significantly impact the number of copies required to hit the NYT bestseller list, but 5,000 copies during any one-week period is the minimum.
How many books do you need to sell to make money? ›You need to sell almost 10,000 copies to just break even on costs. For a 80,000 word book you'd need to sell almost 60,000 copies to make an average amount of money for the time spent on the book.
Is selling 5000 copies of a book good? ›A book is considered a bestseller if it has sold more than 10,000 copies in its lifetime by Publishers Weekly and the New York Times. A book that sells more than 250 copies on average is considered to be a bestseller. If you want your book to be a bestseller, you should aim to sell at least 5,000 copies within a week.
How many books sell over 100000 copies? ›
At the top end, only 0.4% of books sold 100k copies or more. For a book to be commercially viable, it needs to sell over 5,000 copies. The more frightening statistic is that 86% of books published sell less than the magic 5k break-even number. The fact is, most books don't sell a lot of copies and don't make any money.
How many boxes do I need for 500 books? ›So for 500 books that's about 6 or 7 boxes.