How Much Should I Price My Self-Publishing Book On Amazon?

Last Updated on July 6, 2021 by Jordan Alexo

The time has come to get serious about making your new non-fiction book break bank, but there’s still one question in mind…

How much should your price your book?

Should you price your book at $9.99 or $20.99?

So let’s reveal the nuts and bolts and secrets of the self-publishers.

One Of The Biggest Mistakes Most Self-Publishers Make…

One of the reasons why most self-publishers don’t make much money is because they sell their paperbacks inexpensively. I see time and time again people selling their paperback at a price that they make $1 to $2 in return. You need always to remember there are costs involved in the production of your paperback. So, if you set their price too low, you will barely make money. Or in other words, you leave money on the table for others to grab and run to the mountains.

Usually, most publishers think if they set their book price high, nobody will purchase it. But often, that isn’t the case. Of course, if you price it too expensively, then nobody will buy it. However, if you price your book too low, then your customers may think it sucks.

Most people relate the price of a product to its quality. So you need to find in-between prices. Or you could say, a book price which isn’t too low nor high.

Furthermore, you should consider some factors before pricing your books, such as:

1. Competitors price
2. Book-length
3. Number of reviews

1) Competitors Price

Before you decide the price of your book, you should take a look at your competitors. You want to see how much their books cost. Often this depends on niche to niche, and prices may vary. Here’s an example on “real estate”:

As you may see, most of the ebooks cost $10.59. For this reason, you could sell a more expensive ebook here. However, one of the problems with real estate is most books have over 300 pages. So, you would need to publish a lengthy book to compete.

2) Book Lenght

The other important factor is your book-length. The lengthier your book, the more expensive you can sell it. Nowadays, most of the books I publish have 30.000 words, which’s about 120 pages. For this reason, I can price them at a higher cost because they provide more content.

If you publish a shorter book, which often depends on the niche, you should lower its price. For instance, on the non-fiction for kids niche, most books many times have less than 50 pages.

3) Review Count

Reviews are one of the most important metrics on your book. It provides social proof to your customers. If your book has over 40 or more reviews and a good rating, you may price it higher.

Okay, so as you may see, you should consider several variables before setting the price of your book. Anyway, I have a rule of thumb. Here’s what I do:

How Much Should You Sale Your Books?

Well, for starters, you have two different formats such as:

• Ebook
• Paperback

You can’t do much about your audiobook price. ACX has a defined price depending on the length of your audio. Anyway, you should price your ebook and paperback differently.

Often my main source of income is my paperbacks. You can also make plenty of money with ebooks and audiobooks. However, since you can price your paperbacks more expensively and most people prefer to have a physical copy of your book, they tend to sell better.

30.000 Word Book

Usually, I price my ebook at $2.99 and paperback at $16.95. Once more this price depends on your competitors. You may test a higher price if you have one or more of the justifications I explained above. For instance, let’s say your book has over 40 reviews, then you may increase its ebook price to $3.99 and paperback to $17.95. Afterward, analyze your results and make sure only to raise $1 each time. Otherwise, your book may stop selling if priced too high all sudden.

I also increase the price of both formats once my book has around 90 or more reviews.

15.000 Word Book

I set my ebook at $2.99 since you can’t go lower than this without changing the royalties to 35%, and the paperback at $13.95. I found these prices to work well. The main difference here is that you’ll have a more challenging time setting your ebook later more expensively because of its shortness. However, you can always try to increase your paperback price by $1.

If you have a lengthier or shorter book, you may consider decreasing or increasing its price. Just look at your competitors’ average price to get an idea.

Now let’s quickly reply to some frequently asked questions.

How Do I Change The Price Of My Book On Amazon?

Go to your Kindle Direct Publishing Bookshelf. Click on the three dots of the book you want to change and select “Edit eBook Pricing.”

On the next page, you may select the price you want for your book. Note, you need to choose the 35% royalty option to set your ebook lower than $2.99.

On your paperback, you only have the option to receive 60% royalties, which is fantastic! I also recommend you select the expanded distribution option.

Although you only get 40% royalties here, this option lets you make a lot more money. Expanded distribution helps your book reach more readers through bookstores, online retailers, libraries, and academic institutions.

How Much Does It Cost To Print a Book On Amazon?

I suggest you check Amazon’s page here for more specific information. You can use their calculator to get an idea of the costs and potential royalties you may earn. However, for my black&white with about 130 pages (30.000 words) paperback, their production costs are around $2.40. I often price them at $16.95 and make a $7.75 royalty per sale.