How should I price my book?
Price to the genre, not to your costs. Ebooks generally sit at $2.99 to $5.99, paperbacks at $12.99 to $17.99, and audio editions are usually priced by the storefront rather than by you. Readers judge price against the shelf beside you.
Work it out yourself, free
The Reader's Clock →Free: your book's true runtime, which is what an audio storefront prices against.
The bands that work
Ebook: $2.99 is the floor where the better royalty rate begins at most storefronts, and $4.99 is the common sweet spot for a standalone novel. Under $2.99 you halve your own rate.
Paperback: set by page count and print cost, then rounded to the genre's expectation. Check three comparable titles before deciding.
Audio: most storefronts set the retail price themselves from runtime. Your decision is which storefronts to sell through, not what to charge.
Series pricing
Book one is a sample, not a product. Pricing it low or free is how readers reach book two, where the money is.
Never discount the later books in a series to match the first. The reader who finished book three will pay full price for book four.
What price cannot fix
A book nobody has heard of does not sell better at 99 cents; it just earns less when it does sell.
Production quality, cover and discovery move sales. Price moves margin.
Asked and answered
- Should my first book be free?
- Only if there is a second book to walk into. A free standalone earns nothing and teaches you little.
- Why is $2.99 the magic number?
- It is the threshold where most storefronts pay the higher royalty rate. Below it you earn a fraction per copy.
- Can I set my own audiobook price?
- Rarely. Most audio storefronts price by runtime, which is why runtime — not word count — governs what a listener pays.
Also asked
Every answer in the hall
- How much does it cost to make an audiobook?
- What is a film book?
- How long is an audiobook by word count?
- Book trailers: how do you make one, what does it cost, and how is it different from a film book?
- How many voices does an audiobook need?
- How do you turn a book into a video?
- Can I narrate my own audiobook?
- How long does it take to make an audiobook?
- How do you make an audiobook?
- Should I use ACX or a professional audiobook producer?
- How much does a film book cost?
- How do I get my audiobook on Audible and Spotify?
- What does audiobook production for indie authors involve?
- How much does an audiobook narrator cost?
- How do I record an audiobook?
- How do I publish an audiobook?
- What do book marketing services actually do?
- How do I self-publish a book?
- How many words are in a novel?
- How do I copyright a book?
- What is BookTok?
- How much do authors make per book?
- How long does it take to write a book?
- How do I find the best narrator for my audiobook?
- How do I get reviews for my book?
- What should be on my book launch checklist?
- How do I write a book blurb?
- Will AI replace authors?
- Is AI narration good enough for my audiobook?
- Do I have to disclose that I used AI?
- Can I copyright a book written with AI?
- Is AI voice cloning safe for authors?
- How do I market my book?
- What is an author platform and how do I build one?
- How do I grow an email list as an author?
- How do I use video to sell my book?
- How do I promote my book with no money?
- How much does it cost to publish a book?
- How do I get an ISBN?
- How do I write a query letter?
- How many chapters should a book have?
- KDP or IngramSpark — which should I use?
- Do I need an ebook formatting service?
- How much does a book cover cost?
Strength and Solidarity LLC — 45 answers kept in this hall