# EBook prices slowly going up?



## Brownskins (Nov 18, 2011)

For about a year and a half, after the agency model settlement, I have enjoyed new ebook prices ranging from $6.99 to $9.99.  But now my impression is that prices may be going up again.  Pre-order for Saint Odd (Thomas) is $11.99 and over at Writer's Cafe, indie authors are now able to successfully price and sell their ebooks at over $7.99.  

I haven't done stats or full research, this is just my personal general impression and it only factors in books I tend to read.  

Whether true or not, my resolution is - I will have to be more responsible about impulse buying - and re-train myself to look at library availability first.  If ebook prices do go up by an average of $2-3 dollars, at my purchase rate of 5 books/month or approx. $45/month, my book expense can easily jump up from my usual $500 to over $700 a year (that is on top of an ereader upgrade allowance of $200).  This may be peanuts for others, but for a family man, I need to be responsible.  Anyway, I may be wrong and prices remain relatively flat...


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I figure prices are going to fluctuate on pretty much anything. Usually the trend is upwards, but there are also anomolous downward blips (i.e. current gasoline prices). There are still a LOT of books priced well under $10, but it does seem to be that mainstream books are, at least initially, anywhere from $11 to $15. For me, some are worth the price they're offered at and some I'm willing to wait for the price to drop.

You might want to consider the Kindle Unlimited program -- $10 a month for, essentially, all-you-can-read. You can have 10 titles 'checked out' at any one time. Many of them are shorter works, and they are mostly small press/independently published. A few are pretty scammy. You can try it for a month free -- see how many you find that you want to read and then decide if it's worth it for you. Keep in mind, too, that if others in your family are on your account, _they_ can access KU titles as well.

Libraries are a good choice too, especially for the 'name brand' bestsellers. And don't just go with your local library. I found, for example, that I can join Arlington County (VA) public library as a resident . . . .and it turns out I can also join the Alexandria City and Fairfax County public libraries as well. Even though all the kindle books come through overdrive, the different libraries may opt to purchase different titles.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Back in pre-e-book days, the only time I'd buy a hardcover is for those very few authors/series where I just _had_ to read it right away. Otherwise, I just waited for the mass market paperback to be released at a fraction of the price. The same thing hold for e-books: if you can just wait for the paperback to be released, the e-book price almost always drops lower.

As to new release e-book prices from the big publishers, you don't suppose they're all watching each other and tacitly agreeing to raise their prices a bit when they see the others do it, do you?


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## Debbie Bennett (Mar 25, 2011)

Ebook prices will be jumping in the UK from 1st January, unless indie authors absorb the VAT rate hike themselves (from 3% to 20%).


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## MariaESchneider (Aug 1, 2009)

I noticed higher prices too as soon as the new agreements were signed.  One series I was watching had books at 6.49--went to 8.99 and 9.99.  Some other books I've been watching refuse to come down from around 9 and change.  They never go on sale and some newer releases are in the 11 to 13 dollar range.  But if they are popular authors I can just get them at the library.  If my library doesn't have them, I can interlibrary loan them.

As for indies there are lots of us who haven't changed strategies very much.  I think the higher prices come from a tendency to give away the first and then charge more for the second and third to make up for the first being free.  There was also a time where it seemed that Amazon was rewarding ranking/visibility for those books that could sell at a higher price.  I think some of it is simply that Amazon isn't rewarding "Freebies" or 99 cent books with visibility anymore.  Who knows why that might be.  Possibly because no one makes much money or perhaps the market is flooded with them?  I don't know.

But honestly there are always bargains to be had.  I think when prices rise it makes forums like this one more valuable because you can find recommendations for books based on genre and price and so on.  Review blogs might get some more visitors too!  I follow a few favorite book blogs.  Sometimes the books are outside my range, but a lot of blogs also do giveaways and I've won my share.


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## MariaESchneider (Aug 1, 2009)

That's right--that UK hit is going to be a huge increase.  Government greed...!  I've seen a lot of complaints about that. 

I also am doing more shopping at Kobo books because they generate coupons every month.  The coupons are good on small press, indie and occasionally one of the bigger name publishers.  BUT if you only own a kindle, you have to know whether there is DRM and if not, you still have to convert the book to be read on your kindle (epub to mobi).  So this isn't for those who want to just buy and click and read.  Of course if you read on a tablet, you just download a kobo app and read on that instead of the Kindle app.  

We readers must do whatever it takes to get our book fix...!


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I haven't noticed this yet. But I haven't done a lot of browsing lately since I have so much owned I need to read and I also use Scribd and the library. I think some of this is the genres too. I read a lot of romance, historical and otherwise. So I checked some upcoming new releases and they are priced $5.99 (Random House), 4.99-5.99 (HarperCollins), 7.99 (Berkely I think). 

A Urban Fantasy I follow desperately has a new one coming out in January and its priced at 11.99. There is also a hardcover release so that is why. The last one also opened at 11.99. I got that at the library for that reason. I am not paying 11.99 for a ebook, so I had to lug around a heavy hard cover.  

MacMillan and Penguin are the ones that have always stayed higher in the genres I read than lets say Harper or Sourcebooks or Random House. I'll keep an eye out for it. Simon and Schuster is another that has always been consistently higher and not going on sale much at all. So glad that some of their books are on Scribd now, they aren't even in my library as ebooks so I rarely bought them. 

But I have always kept an eye out for sales from all the publishers and for the stuff I just must have, I'll put them on the ereaderiq wishlist, check the libraries for ebooks, etc. There are very few I must read right when they come out, the next Karen Marie Moning though is one of those. I still will not pay 11.99 for it. I hope it shows up in the library soon. Thankfully that RIGHT NOOOOOOOOOOOOW need doesn't happen often to me.  

I have to say though that I have seem more and more sale prices from many of the publishers. So that's good.


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## Melody Simmons (Jul 8, 2012)

Oh yes, I've noticed the general increase in prices, and the decrease in free promotions!  I have to be real careful with purchases too...


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## bethrevis (Jul 30, 2014)

Atunah said:


> I have to say though that I have seem more and more sale prices from many of the publishers. So that's good.


I think that's going to be a much more common route--a higher price for new releases/good sellers + more frequent sales.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

I haven't noticed any increase - even when the settlements first happened, there were many new releases around $12, they had come down from being $14+.


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## mish (Jun 27, 2011)

Brownskins said:


> ... Pre-order for Saint Odd (Thomas) is $11.99 and over at Writer's Cafe, indie authors are now able to successfully price and sell their ebooks at over $7.99.


Saint Odd is being released in hardcover. If there is a hardcover out first then the ebook price is usually higher than average. I'm guessing the ebook price will probably come down later when the paperback is released. I'm having the same issue with Magic Breaks. The ebook is $10.99... not happening. I'm getting it from the library... problem solved.



Brownskins said:


> ... and over at Writer's Cafe, indie authors are now able to successfully price and sell their ebooks at over $7.99.


I would qualify that to say *some *indie authors are now able to successfully price and sell their ebooks at over $7.99.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I was going to say, very few publishers price their new releases at 7.99 or above in the genres I read. Good luck with self publishers pricing in that range.


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## MariaESchneider (Aug 1, 2009)

Atunah said:


> I was going to say, very few publishers price their new releases at 7.99 or above in the genres I read. Good luck with self publishers pricing in that range.


It's working for a number of them. I do see quite a few indie authors with higher prices now, but as I said, the vast majority give the first book in a series away so the overall pricing isn't as high as it might appear just based on the price of the second or third book. I think the prices going up is also a reflection of the fact that regular publishers are raising their prices. It may be genre dependent, but it's there. Even Carina Press now has some titles that are 3.99 (They often have prices around 2 dollars). Gemma Halliday (publisher and the writer, but she publishes other books now) has been doing intro prices of 99 cents but then holding the line at 3.99 on books later. This isn't a huge increase, but I do think it's there and working.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

MariaESchneider said:


> It's working for a number of them. I do see quite a few indie authors with higher prices now, but as I said, the vast majority give the first book in a series away so the overall pricing isn't as high as it might appear just based on the price of the second or third book. I think the prices going up is also a reflection of the fact that regular publishers are raising their prices. It may be genre dependent, but it's there. Even Carina Press now has some titles that are 3.99 (They often have prices around 2 dollars). Gemma Halliday (publisher and the writer, but she publishes other books now) has been doing intro prices of 99 cents but then holding the line at 3.99 on books later. This isn't a huge increase, but I do think it's there and working.


Some of the Carina Press prices always confused me. HQ price some of their older re-released Treasury line at points like 4.32 and such, yet some of the Carina titles hover around 3. I just checked a couple of series I bought from Carina and all those titles are still the same as they were when I bought them earlier this year. A couple actually went down in price. So I am not even seeing an increase there.

First free in series got me hooked on a few series over the years, but many of those where from publishers. They used to do that more often it seems in the past. Temporary though, not always free. Fever series by Moning was one of those, Lady Grey by Bourne was another. Inhaled all the other books in those series. Those later books have always been higher though and those prices have gone down now, not up.

I guess I just see a lot more prices going down than I do up. I hope it stays that way


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## astonwest (Dec 29, 2010)

I imagine there will probably be a testing-out period, where publishers try to figure out how high they can price e-books and still get people to buy them. That said, I had a recent example where _Unbroken_ was around $13-14 in e-book form earlier this year, and now it's around $5-6. Myself, I always check the price before I press the buy button, but I'm a cheap bast***.


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## LaraAmber (Feb 24, 2009)

I haven't noticed a steady increase, but then I rarely buy a book because I have to have it right then.  I maintain a wish list on Amazon and check it every day so I can take advantage of any short term sales.  I will say I'm more likely to see a flash sale for $2.99 when I used to see them for $0.99 and free.  Right now a bunch of books that have been on my wish list for a while have dropped from $9.99 to $8.89, nearly a whole page of titles.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

LaraAmber said:


> I haven't noticed a steady increase, but then I rarely buy a book because I have to have it right then. I maintain a wish list on Amazon and check it every day so I can take advantage of any short term sales. I will say I'm more likely to see a flash sale for $2.99 when I used to see them for $0.99 and free. Right now a bunch of books that have been on my wish list for a while have dropped from $9.99 to $8.89, nearly a whole page of titles.


If you use ereaderiq.com's price drop watch list you don't have to check it everyday, they will send you an email if it goes below a certain price you set for it.


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## Brownskins (Nov 18, 2011)

Thanks for the tip history_lover.  Its not that I run out of books to read while waiting for a decent price range of newer books anyway.

Question:  For ereaderiq, if I register my main email address, does it spam it with unnecessary email ("you might also like...etc") or just price drops of my selected ebooks?  Should I use an alternate email address?


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

Ereaderiq only sends out notices.    No spam.


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## Brownskins (Nov 18, 2011)

cinisajoy said:


> Ereaderiq only sends out notices. No spam.


Thanks cinisajoy. This is my solution then for my own purchases... i may not have to increase my monthly budget after all. I just have to be more patient and read my TBRs in the meantime. The only times I find it hard to resist impulse buying is when my kids are the ones requesting (and their new books are almost always at the $8.99-9.99 range). I can manage that.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I love ereaderiq. I use their chrome plug in so when I am on an amazon page for a ebook , I can click that and tell it what I want the price to be to be notified. It also shows a graph right there with the price history of a book so you can see if its at its lowest and if you should jump on it. If you are on a page of a out of print paper book, you can then let it tell you when its released on ebook. I did 100's of those over the years. Many finally were re-released.


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## ET (Oct 23, 2014)

Melody Simmons said:


> Oh yes, I've noticed the general increase in prices, and the decrease in free promotions! I have to be real careful with purchases too...


My impression is that Amazon is trying to discourage the free promotions, and move promotions to the "almost free" level of $0.99.

Amazon now requires independent authors to choose between offering a "free" promotion, or a $0.99 promotion for a 3-month period for any particular book.

Most authors, I think, would prefer to be able to mix the two strategies; but the requirement to make an either-or choice is widely seen as an attempt to incentivize the $0.99 option.


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## Tuttle (Jun 10, 2010)

What it has been looking like to me, is like the new release price has been going up, but like the price books settle at hasn't; they're just doing more of an 'if you want it when there is only hardcovers, you're paying a premium of over $10' thing, even if the books will eventually be $6.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

Atunah said:


> I love ereaderiq. I use their chrome plug in so when I am on an amazon page for a ebook , I can click that and tell it what I want the price to be to be notified. It also shows a graph right there with the price history of a book so you can see if its at its lowest and if you should jump on it. If you are on a page of a out of print paper book, you can then let it tell you when its released on ebook. I did 100's of those over the years. Many finally were re-released.


Oh yeah, the Chrome plugin is sooo convenient as well.



Tuttle said:


> What it has been looking like to me, is like the new release price has been going up, but like the price books settle at hasn't; they're just doing more of an 'if you want it when there is only hardcovers, you're paying a premium of over $10' thing, even if the books will eventually be $6.


Yes, publishers don't want to lose money to low priced ebooks during the period when they normally would sell only hardcovers for a high price. I'm okay with that. If it's something I really want as soon as it comes out, I will pay the higher price - it's still lower than the hardcover price and I get the format I want (I hate hardcovers) so I can't complain. And if it's not something I really want, I don't mind waiting for the price to come down later.


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## Guest (Jan 4, 2015)

Hey. I'm new here but I don't see rising ebook prices. Maybe I'm a bottom feeder? Anyway, I used to go to a famous bookstore and spend a half day and never leave without at least $100 worth of books. Then came Kindle, and I have so many (too many?) choices. I never pay more than 3.99 for an ebook. I doubt if I'll ever run out of good books to read, though sure, some are losers.


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