E-book Pricing Survey

Background

E-book readership is growing rapidly (though still small in total). Publishers who've been in the ebook business for a while, like Baen and Fictionwise, have taken the approach of pricing ebooks low, often less than mass-market paperback prices. Now that more and larger publishers are entering the space, they're pricing their ebooks to compete with hardback and trade paperback prices.

Then there's the question of pricing for shorter works, like short stories.

What are your thoughts? What is a fair price for ebooks?

Thanks for your input!

—Andrew Burt

Survey Questions

  1. What's a fair price for a novel or other full-length ebook?

      New release: $ (enter numeric dollars and cents, e.g. "3.99")

      Back list: $ (that is, a book that's been out for a while)

  2. What's a fair price for a short story, article, or other shorter-length ebook?

      New release: $

      Back list: $

    Half-baked, off the wall concept: Variable pricing. I've been thinking about a different pricing model based on reader satisfaction. Technically it's feasible to collect payment after reading, which could then be based on what the reader felt the piece was worth. More people may be willing to take a chance if they know they aren't forced to pay what they might afterwards consider too high a price. While mainstream publishers are less likely to offer this, might it be preferred and make sense in cases of authors offering their older, out of print works directly to readers?

    (What got me to thinking about this was thinking about the concept of tipping a restaurant server, where one might tip 20-25% for great service, 15-20% for average, and 10-15% for poor service.)

    The following questions explore this:

    If you liked it... If you thought it average... If you weren't feelin' it...
    What's a fair price for a novel or other full-length ebook $ $ $
    What's a fair price for a short story, article or other shorter-length ebook $ $ $

    If you want to elaborate on your thoughts or have other comments to make, please share them here.

To prevent automated responses, please enter the two words below:

[View Survey Results]

[Discussion Forum]

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