The price is right?

Would you spin again?

I’ve noticed when looking around the internet that there is a varying attitude towards the price authors will apply to their work when publishing on Kindle.

Now, let’s be clear, I am not talking about the big guns, already published in print format offering their goods digitally. Not even those who have now carved a living from self-publishing.

I’m talking about the tin pots. Those, like myself, who would be lucky to gain five purchases in a year (and that is my record to date) - with maybe a few page reads on KDP.

Some seem to suggest that the price should reflect the amount of work put into it. Therefore, they may debut with a £4.99 price tag. Or even greater. Ok, so maybe they run a podcast and will get an instant spike of sales at that price. Then of course they realise that there is no longevity in such a stance, as the sales dry up. Even reducing the price doesn't change anything. Their "followers" have been and gone.

Personally, I don’t think it matters how long a project has taken. If you are unheard of, then you are simply a pin stuck to a fish in a Pacific Ocean sized pond.

You don’t stand out. You can’t stand out. You go for the lowest possible price, on the lowest possible royalty, hoping that somebody will stumble upon your work.

I am also a believer that by offering a book on Kindle KDP, there is perhaps a chance that a reader may take a risk on something unknown. It is essentially free for them to do so. Almost 60% of my royalty in 2016 came via this method. Approximately £0.76 worth.

Additionally, I do not set the DRM capability on my books. This may be naive, but I trust in the morality of the human race. If a customer reads, and likes, then I'd like to think they would press that little old purchase button anyway.

So my advice. Please don’t  think about the effort as a measure, and be realistic. Self-publishing in the most is not publishing. It took me one and a half years to finally be ready to publish. This included writing the thing, editing, re-writing, recording my reading the story aloud, and replaying it numerous times until happy. A lot of work, but also done personally.

Does that all warrant a high price tag? No chance.

Print publishing can be onerous and potentially comes at a price to the author. It also exists for a reason. I recently borrowed a history book on the KDP unlimited plan. Quite frankly it was awful. Spelling errors everywhere. I went for a print alternative instead. It was "worth" £2.99.

Only go high if you already have an internet presence (podcaster for example), but remember that fan/follower loyalty only lasts for the number of fans/followers that you have, and that there is no guarantee they will share among their friends either.

That in itself could lead to those more astute within the flock turning against you, in realisation that you have possibly increased the price artificially to take advantage of them.

So in summary, go low, and always expect the worst! Then you can only ever be pleasantly surprised. As I am with my 79p this year.