# HELP! What kindle price is too low for a quality book?



## DriftingalongtheEdge (Mar 27, 2009)

I will be putting my book on kindle pretty soon. I was going to price it  $3.99 but I think people will think that means it is a low quality book. I am thinking about moving it up to 4.99 or even 6.99(highest price in mind) so people won't think it's poor quality.

What price do you assoicate with low quality?


----------



## PraiseGod13 (Oct 27, 2008)

I honestly don't mentally link a book's price with the quality.  I've paid quite a bit of money for some books and would rate their quality as average to poor.  And, I have bought MANY books that were less than $2.00 ..... and they were excellent books.  To me, a higher price does not indicate higher quality at all.


----------



## pomlover2586 (Feb 14, 2009)

I don't associate price with quality.......I purchased Pride and Prejudice for $0.25. I'd be more likely to purchase/try an unknown author with a cheap book than a high priced one. I wouldn't spend 6 bucks for a book I wasn't positive about.  JMO


----------



## DriftingalongtheEdge (Mar 27, 2009)

PraiseGod13 said:


> I honestly don't mentally link a book's price with the quality. I've paid quite a bit of money for some books and would rate their quality as average to poor. And, I have bought MANY books that were less than $2.00 ..... and they were excellent books. To me, a higher price does not indicate higher quality at all.


 I looked at the books on kindle most are like 9.99  I was scared I would have to jack my price up just to get people to download. Thanks for the feedback


----------



## mom133d (aka Liz) (Nov 25, 2008)

I can't speak for everyone, but I don't equate price with quality. I've gotten tons of free books and 99 cent + books that have been excellent. Many classics are even available for free or 99 cent and I wouldn't consider them poor quality.

I will say that I am hesitant to purchase anything over $9.99 and sometimes $6.99. What I really care about now with the ebook format is good editing (important regardless the format) and good formatting. We often see books that just haven't been "converted" to ebook well and they have odd indents and such.

Best of luck with your book and let us know when its available!


----------



## DriftingalongtheEdge (Mar 27, 2009)

pomlover2586 said:


> I don't associate price with quality.......I purchased Pride and Prejudice for $0.25. I'd be more likely to purchase/try an unknown author with a cheap book than a high priced one. I wouldn't spend 6 bucks for a book I wasn't positive about.  JMO


Thanks, you guys make me feel much better about pricing it low


----------



## DriftingalongtheEdge (Mar 27, 2009)

mom133d said:


> I can't speak for everyone, but I don't equate price with quality. I've gotten tons of free books and 99 cent + books that have been excellent. Many classics are even available for free or 99 cent and I wouldn't consider them poor quality.
> 
> I will say that I am hesitant to purchase anything over $9.99 and sometimes $6.99. What I really care about now with the ebook format is good editing (important regardless the format) and good formatting. We often see books that just haven't been "converted" to ebook well and they have odd indents and such.
> 
> Best of luck with your book and let us know when its available!


Thanks for the information. I will let you guys know.


----------



## Kindle Convert (Nov 8, 2008)

I never equate price with quality either.  That's why it irritates me when people give books low ratings because of their prices.  ie: new releases being priced higher than $9.99.  I think if you have a problem with the pricing on the book, you should be emailing the publisher or Amazon, or make a comment, if you feel the need to in your review, but the review should be a true review of the book itself, not the price.  Just my 2 cents!


----------



## LDB (Oct 28, 2008)

The last 3 books I read were .99, 1.59 and 1.59 respectively. They were some of the best books I've ever read. I don't associate price and quality in books at all. In other things they do equate at varying levels. My personal standards are related to the synopsis and any reviews I read. If those are appealing I'll get the sample. Some of them give enough actual book to make a decision but many don't. 

If I have nothing but synopsis/reviews to go on and find them remotely intriguing my scale generally is .99 or less automatic buy, 1.00-2.99 likely buy, 3.00-4.99 possible buy and 5.00 up not likely but I rarely pay over 4.99 anyway. If I can't get the ebook for less than that I'll wait and buy a used paperback when it eventually shows up in my local used bookstore.


----------



## Britt (Feb 8, 2009)

I agree--a good book is a good book, regardless of the price. If it came down to choosing between two equally good books, I'd choose the cheaper one.


----------



## David J. Guyton (Jan 6, 2009)

I will tell you that when I reduced my price from *$1.59* to* $0.99*, my sales increased by about *400%.*

The Traditional Publishers are flooding the market with penny books and free books, many of them bestsellers, so the Kindle readers are seeing great books at low prices anyway....if anything, having your price much higher than $0.99 is going to get you pushed to the bottom of the pile.


----------



## mumsicalwhimsy (Dec 4, 2008)

No price is too low.  We, as a group, are easily hooked by the low prices.  Once hooked, reel us in and we buy your other books.  We thirst for the new author and the good deal.  
Good luck with your new book!


----------



## CS (Nov 3, 2008)

Too low?


----------



## sem (Oct 27, 2008)

Have purchased "good books" for free or $.99 and also some stinkers for 7.99+. Price is not an indicator of quality. IMHO


----------



## Thumper (Feb 26, 2009)

Price low, sell more. I'm fighting (well, arguing; I haven't hit him...yet) with my marketing guy about the price of the Kindle editions of my books; they're priced at $7 (Amazon discounts them, though) but I think I'd make *more* if they were priced at a dollar. And my books is GOOD books


----------



## DriftingalongtheEdge (Mar 27, 2009)

Wow, so many useful answers. I am now thinking about a 2.99 price for kindle.


----------



## Ephany (Mar 9, 2009)

LDB said:


> If I have nothing but synopsis/reviews to go on and find them remotely intriguing my scale generally is .99 or less automatic buy, 1.00-2.99 likely buy, 3.00-4.99 possible buy and 5.00 up not likely but I rarely pay over 4.99 anyway.


I completely agree with this. I have a set budget amount each month for books and I like to get the most bang for my buck. I'm much more willing to spend $2.99 on a new author than $9.99. I've discovered some really good books and authors that I most likely wouldn't have purchased if their books were more expensive. Plus, if I like your first book at .99 cents, I'll be more likely to buy your second at $4.99. I'd been looking at 'His Majesty's Dragon' in the bookstore for months, I actually purchased it because it was free. The promotion worked because I ended up buying every other book in the series also.


----------



## koland (Nov 24, 2008)

DriftingalongtheEdge said:


> Wow, so many useful answers. I am now thinking about a 2.99 price for kindle.


Looks like a lot of authors are doing a "limited time" 99 cent intro price (which gets your sales numbers up), the raising the price to the "final" price after a month or two (or not), especially if another book is coming out.


----------



## drenee (Nov 11, 2008)

We have a thread titled free books.  The mod starts a new thread for each month.  This month that thread has had 14,590 views, folks looking for free books.  We also have a bargain books thread for each month, and the March thread has a tremendous amount of views as well.  We love a bargain.  
deb


----------



## V (Jan 23, 2009)

Ephany said:


> I'd been looking at 'His Majesty's Dragon' in the bookstore for months, I actually purchased it because it was free. The promotion worked because I ended up buying every other book in the series also.


That's how I wound up with Brent Week's Night Angel Trilogy -- and I shelled out for those other 2 books at the top end of my willing-to-pay range.

It's like shareware and crack dealers: first hit's free butcha pay for the rest, there's a nice addict. It works too.


----------



## JimJ (Mar 3, 2009)

Kindle Convert said:


> I never equate price with quality either. That's why it irritates me when people give books low ratings because of their prices. ie: new releases being priced higher than $9.99. I think if you have a problem with the pricing on the book, you should be emailing the publisher or Amazon, or make a comment, if you feel the need to in your review, but the review should be a true review of the book itself, not the price. Just my 2 cents!


That's one of my pet peeves with Amazon, too many reviews that aren't really reviews at all. They throw off the star rating. The worst are the ones that give a one star review and it says something like "Never received item from seller."


----------



## Kindle Convert (Nov 8, 2008)

JimJ said:


> That's one of my pet peeves with Amazon, too many reviews that aren't really reviews at all. They throw off the star rating. The worst are the ones that give a one star review and it says something like "Never received item from seller."


EXACTLY!!!


----------



## Britt (Feb 8, 2009)

JimJ said:


> That's one of my pet peeves with Amazon, too many reviews that aren't really reviews at all. They throw off the star rating. The worst are the ones that give a one star review and it says something like "Never received item from seller."


I hate that! There were "reviews" of the K2 before it was even released--just speculation about what it was going to be like. You can't review something you have never even seen!!!


----------



## Steph H (Oct 28, 2008)

V said:


> That's how I wound up with Brent Week's Night Angel Trilogy


Ditto -- the first one was offered at $1.00 as a special publisher promo back in January; I probably never would have run across it otherwise or perhaps not taken a chance on it at regular price, as the book description left me unsure initially. I would've missed out on something special, that is a GREAT trilogy (just finally read it a couple of weeks ago). But for a buck to try it out, it was something of a no-brainer when it did sound somewhat interesting and had good reviews. Now that I've read it, I'd recommend it at regular price to anyone who likes a really interesting fantasy series.


----------



## Forster (Mar 9, 2009)

Steph H said:


> Ditto -- the first one was offered at $1.00 as a special publisher promo back in January; I probably never would have run across it otherwise or perhaps not taken a chance on it at regular price, as the book description left me unsure initially. I would've missed out on something special, that is a GREAT trilogy (just finally read it a couple of weeks ago). But for a buck to try it out, it was something of a no-brainer when it did sound somewhat interesting and had good reviews. Now that I've read it, I'd recommend it at regular price to anyone who likes a really interesting fantasy series.


I was unfortunate enough to miss the the cheap intro price, but the low price did generate quite a few buyers and positive reviews which pushed me over the edge to pay full price for the whole series. Glad I did, great books.


----------



## Anju  (Nov 8, 2008)

I agree with everyone here.  My budget is no more than $5.00 for a book, there are too many really great new authors out there trying to break in offering low or free.  I have had wonderful experiences with these.  There is one trilogy that others loved (free) and I barely got into the first one and deleted, that out of hundreds of books I have downloaded and read, the more reasonable the price the better for me.  I don't think I have spent 9.99 for anything other than a Bible, and one other book for $6.39, the rest are .99 or .01 or similar.


----------



## LauraB (Nov 23, 2008)

My advice would be to have a high quality sample that allows the reader to read at least the first 10 pages of the actual story.  Then they will feel better about the purchase.


----------



## DriftingalongtheEdge (Mar 27, 2009)

red1 said:


> My advice would be to have a high quality sample that allows the reader to read at least the first 10 pages of the actual story. Then they will feel better about the purchase.


Thanks everyone for your answers. How can I control how long the sample is(is it in the set up options? I thought Amazon did it at 10% everytime?


----------



## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

DriftingalongtheEdge said:


> Thanks everyone for your answers. How can I control how long the sample is(is it in the set up options? I thought Amazon did it at 10% everytime?


It does do 10%, that is correct. You might want to think about moving some of the front matter of the book to the back. This would ensure that the story is right at the beginning and will be the content that is sampled.

L


----------



## Rhin (Mar 26, 2009)

Almost everyone expects Kindle books to be cheap now (especially with the major publishers- like Mr. Guyton said- sometimes even giving away books).

I started my book (The Rebirth of Rhin) out at $4.99. I recently started a promotion, dropping the price to $0.99. My sales have gone up significantly compared to what they were before.

So, honestly, it all depends on whether you are a new or obscure author, if this is your first book, and whether you're doing it for profit or recognition.
But the fact is that most people don't want to spend much on new authors (and I'll be the first to complain about how much that sucks)


----------



## DriftingalongtheEdge (Mar 27, 2009)

THanks again everyone!  so helpful. If anyone else has written a book you guys should go ahead and list them.


----------



## DriftingalongtheEdge (Mar 27, 2009)

Rhin said:


> Almost everyone expects Kindle books to be cheap now (especially with the major publishers- like Mr. Guyton said- sometimes even giving away books).
> 
> I started my book (The Rebirth of Rhin) out at $4.99. I recently started a promotion, dropping the price to $0.99. My sales have gone up significantly compared to what they were before.
> 
> ...


I just checked out your book.. the physical copy is 20 bucks and only .99 for kindle wow that is a big drop in price.


----------



## Rhin (Mar 26, 2009)

DriftingalongtheEdge said:


> I just checked out your book.. the physical copy is 20 bucks and only .99 for kindle wow that is a big drop in price.


Certainly is. I didn't set the price for the paperback book-- the company I worked with did. Don't ask me why it's so high, I just don't know 
Just makes it more appetizing for Kindle owners, yes?


----------



## DriftingalongtheEdge (Mar 27, 2009)

Rhin said:


> Certainly is. I didn't set the price for the paperback book-- the company I worked with did. Don't ask me why it's so high, I just don't know
> Just makes it more appetizing for Kindle owners, yes?


Yup!


----------



## MikeD (Nov 5, 2008)

V said:


> That's how I wound up with Brent Week's Night Angel Trilogy -- and I shelled out for those other 2 books at the top end of my willing-to-pay range...


I did exactly the same thing. Bought the $1 offering and it was so good that I immediately bought the next 2 at normal price. Now Mr. Weeks has a reader that will buy his future books as soon as published. I got a deal, he got a dedicated reader.

Same with David Liss. Got Whiskey Rebel for free, now working my way through the rest of his works.

Several new authors and series from Baen Books, same deal.

Neighbor read the very recent free copy of Persuader and told me that he is going to work his way through the rest of Child's Reacher series.

And so on. Seems to me a low price will entice readers and then it is up to the author to capture them with his art. Unlike material things, I don't think readers compare content to low cost. Instead, I think we consider it a plus.


----------

