How much is a self-published eBook worth? Today, one author answered that burning question on the Morning Media Menu.
Our guest was David Carnoy, an executive editor at CBS Interactive and author of the thriller, Knife Music. Carnoy explained his novel’s long journey to publication, as the novelist went from self-published author to landing a two-book deal with a traditional publisher. He also shared advice for pricing eBooks for the Kindle, iPad, and other eReaders.
Press play below to listen.
Carnoy shared his favorite price point for self-published authors: “I like $3.99 because it made it seem like the book had some value, and, at the same time, it was cheap enough. I always thought of it like someone buying a cappuccino at Starbucks. If they could rationalize that they would try your book for the same price, it wasn’t that big of a deal.”
Carnoy concluded: “Now Amazon has cleaned up its database, there’s a separate top eBooks paid and free list. Before they were all mixed up. You still have an advantage–especially with eBook prices going up with the whole agency model, you see books at $9.99 and up now. I think we’re going to see, once Apple gets out of their year trial with eBook price, you’re going to see more and more eBooks come down in price. Right now publishers do have an advantage if they have lower priced eBooks. People are really sensitive about pricing these days.”