How to Price Your eBook

You've written and compiled an ebook. Now you have todecide how much to charge for it. Finding the rightprice is essential to the success of your product. Ifyou charge too little, people will think it's oflittle value, and they won't purchase it, or even itthey do buy your book, you will have to sell thousandsof copies to get to the point where you can begin tosee a profit. If you price it too high when comparedwith your competition, you will find yourself steadilylowering the price, which will cause you all kinds ofnew problems in the future. For example, if you sellyour ebook at first for $39.99, and later reduce it to$24.95, don't you think the people who bought it for$39.99 are going to be PISSED?

Choosing the right price for your ebook is one of themost critical parts of the marketing process. Thefirst rule of pricing ebooks is to never underprice.Determine the highest price your audience can afford,and then if you find your book isn?t selling, you canalways reduce the price. Before you take that step,make sure you are promoting your book like crazy onthe Internet and on websites. The price should beaimed at bringing in profits, but you should neverforget that price is one of the factors that peopleuse in judging the value of your ebook ? before theybuy it. So always start with the highest price, andthen launch a mega-marketing campaign.

Pricing an ebook is particularly difficult becauseebooks are a fairly new commodity. Since they aredigital, the value of an ebook is as confusing as theunderstanding of what digital actually is to theaverage layperson. This means that we must look atebooks in a different light in order to determinetheir actual worth in this brave, new cyber world.

Let's look at the difference between a book in printand an ebook. A printed book is an object you can holdin your hand, store on your bookshelf, even hand downto the next generation. It is priced on factors suchas paper stock, design and production costs, andmarketing.

But the fact that unites ebooks and print books isthat they are composed of ideas. It is the ideas inthese books that have the ability to change, orpossibly transform, people's lives.

What do you think an idea is worth when evaluatedagainst the cost of paper and ink?

It is the IDEAS that are valuable! That is how youdetermine the cost of your ebook.

What should I charge for my ideas?

There are all different formulas and methods fordetermining the correct price for your ebook. Let'sbegin with honing in on your ultimate goals.

Decide if your goal is to get wide distribution andmaximum exposure. This goal is aimed at drawingcustomers to your Business or service, or toestablishing the credibility of your reputation. Ifthis is your main goal, you should aim to keep yourprice on the low side. Some authors have even pricedtheir ebooks at a profit loss to draw a high number ofnew customers. The key is to find a price thatmaximizes your profits and the number of books yousell.

This is an excellent pricing strategy if you arelooking to acquire long-term customers. Long-termcustomers are extremely likely to buy from you againand again ? as long as the first ebook they buy is ofexceptional quality and beneficial to the customer.