How Much Should My Book Cost? Tips for Pricing Your Book | IngramSpark (2023)

FAQs

What is a fair price for a book? ›

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.

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.

The average retail cost of a paperback book with about 200 pages ranges from $9.99 to $18.99. It's important to recognize that this price range includes traditionally published and self-published books and holds true for fiction and non-fiction titles.

In general, review prices range from $100 to $595. A great way to choose a review service is by reading each publication's past reviews. This is the best way to get an idea of the quality, detail, and depth of critical attention indie authors can expect.

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.

A determination that a price is fair and reasonable is really a conclusion that the proposed price is fair to both parties, considering the quality, delivery and other factors. The basis for reaching the conclusion is found in the facts and information considered and analyzed by the buyer.

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.

Then I'd say if you're getting an advance on your first novel, it's most likely going to run somewhere between $5000 and $15,000, depending on the publisher and the story you're telling.

Average book sales are shockingly small—and falling fast.

Thus, the average book published today is selling less than 300 print copies over its lifetime in the US retail channels.

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).

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.

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.

Standard length is 4-5 typed pages (approximately 1000-1250 words).

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.

If you're going to quote someone's words, even if you appropriately attribute the quote to the rightful owner, you should have their permission. Many commonly cited authors don't mind having their famous lines reused, but some do, so tread carefully. Always get legal advice, or if in doubt, leave it out.

30,000 words are enough for a novella but would be considered too short for most fiction novels or a nonfiction book. As you can see, having the right number of words per page is important to its success.

Translation: Don't use a quote if you don't have written permission or it's not in public domain. Better safe than sorry when dealing with legal issues. Penalties for copyright infringement are high and can reach up to $150k for each work infringed.

Fair price is a selling price that considers quality, performance, supply conditions, time of delivery and payment options. It is calculated at the level that is fair for both sides. The seller gains some margin, which is not excessively too high. Therefore, both sides of the transaction should be glad with that price.

What is fair price example? ›

Example of Fair Value

The management of company B believes they could sell the stock at Rs. 40 per share after they acquire. Thus, the management decided to buy one lakh shares at the original price. Therefore, it is considered to be the fair value because the price is agreed upon by both sides.

It's something fresh and interesting. You must find an idea that will get readers excited to pick up your book. This goes for fiction, nonfiction, advice, how-to, and memoir. A small idea for a book results in small sales.

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 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.

Sometimes called a traditional book deal, this is when the gatekeepers of the legacy publishing industry offer you an advance on book profits in return for several benefits. How much do you get for a book deal? You can get an advance between $5,000 and $100,000 if you land a book deal.

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%.

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.

Independent authors who sell their books on their own websites receive up to 96%. The average self-published book sells 250 copies. The average self-published author makes $1,000 per year from their books. 33% of self-published authors make less than $500 per year.

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 the average self-published author sell on Amazon in a year? Again, it's important to be realistic about how many books the average indie author can expect to sell. Some research shows that 250 to 300 books per year is pretty average.

Is 20 pages an hour slow? ›

While a slow reader will only get through 30 pages per hour, the average person can read around 40 pages per hour. Statistics show that quick readers can even go through 50 or 60 pages in one hour.

The average person should be able to read between 200 and 300 WPM. These statistics apply to college students and fully-grown adults. Avid readers can read even faster, with an average speed of 350 words per minute.

It's makes sense to have some idea of how much you can expect to write every day so you can plan around your other commitments. Stephen King has claimed to write 2000 words a day but most new writers end up writing around the 500 – 1000 words a day mark.

Most nonfiction books have between 5 and 20 chapters. Any less than 5 and your chapters may be running long or may contain too many ideas. That said, there are plenty of books with 30 or 40 chapters. And some books, usually with very short chapters, can have 50+.

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.

350 pages is 175000 words single-spaced or 87500 words double-spaced. Typical documents that are 350 pages or more include full-length novels. A typical single-spaced page is 500 words long.

Answer: the average reader takes about 13.9 hours to read 500 pages. You might take more or less time than 13.9 hours to read 500 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).

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.

An 80,000-word book is about 320 pages. A 90,000-word book is about 360 pages. A 100,000-word book is about 400 pages.

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 long is a decent book? ›

Literary agent Juliet Mushens of Mushens Entertainment says that 80,000 to 100,000 words is often given as the standard for adult novels, and much of what authors are trying to do can be done within that word count.

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.

The book review format includes an introduction, body, and conclusion. Describe the book cover and title.

The four stages of writing a book review are: introducing the book, outlining its contents, highlighting parts of the book by selecting particular chapters or themes, and giving a detailed evaluation.

According to the Goodreads system, three stars means “I liked it” and that's exactly how I feel. In every book that I have rated three stars, it still meant that overall I enjoyed reading the book. There are many, many three star books that I would (and do) whole heartedly recommend to others!

Book Cost, sometimes referred to as Book Value, is the total cost of purchasing a security. It includes any transaction charges related to the position (such as commissions) and is adjusted for reinvested distributions, return of capital, corporate actions and any subsequent purchases.

Is Book Value the Same as Fair Value? The book value of an asset refers to its cost minus depreciation over time. It is the value of an asset based on its balance sheet. The fair value of an asset reflects its market price; the price agreed upon between a buyer and seller.

Mathematically, book value is the difference between a company's total assets and total liabilities. Suppose that XYZ Company has total assets of $100 million and total liabilities of $80 million. Then, the book valuation of the company is $20 million.

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.

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%.

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.

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.

Fair Value = Cash [1 + r(x/360)] – Dividends

Here, cash denotes the current value of the security, r is the prevailing interest rate charged by the broker, x is the number of days left in the contract, and dividends refer to the number of dividends that the investor will receive before the expiration date.

What is “fair” pricing and a “reasonable” consumer surplus? Value-based pricing is a pricing strategy that is based on creating differentiated value for the right, target customer segment(s) and capturing a fair share of the value created.

The average book in America sells about 500 copies. Those blockbusters are a minute anomaly: only 10 books sold more than a million copies last year, and fewer than 500 sold more than 100,000.

Want to hit top 10? You'll need to sell roughly 300 for print, or 2,000+ copies for combined formats. Those numbers aren't exactly set in stone, but they're a pretty close approximation. To get onto Amazon's Bestseller Top 100 radar across all titles you're usually looking at about 1,000 sales of your book.

Since we covered this above for the most part, let's give a quick overview of what author royalties look like. Self-published authors can make between 40% – 60% royalties on a the retail price of a single book while traditionally published authors usually make between 10%-12% royalties.