Is it okay to charge $9.99 for an eBook that is only a few pages?

If someone had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and I had a surefire method of curing it....but it was only 2 sentences on a piece of paper.....how much would it be worth.

That should answer your question ;0)

That's actually not a bad price for an eBook that's only a few pages. If you're providing value it doesn't matter how many pages it is. I, personally, agree with you. I like eBooks that get to the point. If you drone on and on you loose me. I get frustrated and then I want to donkey punch something.

As long as it is worth $10, yes. A long time ago one person had an idea to increase revenue for a toothpaste brand (I think it was Colgate) by up to 40% and he wanted to sell the idea for $100,000. After some time they agreed, what $100,000 got them? A small piece of paper saying 'Make the whole bigger' (or maybe a little more than that but you get the idea .

If you are giving good value its ok. :-)

The value, for most people, isn't in the number of pages but in the content.

Having said that, a lot of people write short guides but leave out important details. Or write short guides because they don't know what they are doing and so they can't write more than a few pages. Or they are selling it as a frontend product with a much larger purchase required to actually do anything.

All these things reduce value.

Ask yourself some questions:

Is what you have to contribute unique?

Can it really help others solve a pressing problem or reach an important goal? How do you know - have you used the information yourself?

If you bought your own product, could you use it and accomplish the promise of the guide? What about someone that does not know the subject matter? Could they accomplish the purpose?

If your answers are mostly no, it doesn't matter how many pages you have - it's likely junk and people will see it that way.

Mark

I agree with basically everyone else here - it all depends on your pearls or wisdom that you are sharing in this eBook. Is it a revolutionary concept that is basically priceless? If so, charge whatever you like. I usually buy eBooks that interest me and I must admit I don't buy them based on the pages, I buy them based on the content and the concepts inside. I very interested to know what this book is all about actually

It isn't the length; it's the quality. (If only my wife agreed!)

- Tom

it is perfectly okay to charge that amount, just make sure the book is solving problems.

well that really depends on the content of the e-book that you are selling , but It will be a tough battle for you in the market to have someone buy it for $9.95. because most e-book are being given away for free, for the sole purpose of either sales, recommendation with a hidden content of selling.but if you are confident enough that the amount reciprocate with the content then why not. hope for the best for you buddy.

No, it's not. All warriors should put money where there comments are as a sing of appreciation for the great and life changing content. For your information, the original price of the Martian was $0.99 on Amazon. The last time I checked, although it was long ago, you could buy the Hunger Games trilogy for less than ten bucks. Again, I'm not sure about the last example, but the point is clear. My hat off to the writers who can sell a ten-page eBook for ten bucks. That's really something. Live long and prosper.

I would just becareful, if a customer doesn't feel it was worth $9.99 and they do a chargeback it will cost you a lot more money.

I DID pay five hundred bux for 5 pages of info...and from that info, I started a business for 50 cents and was making $1,000.00 a DAY within 90 days.

I pay for quality info, if I wanted quantity, I'd be buying phone books.

The "secret" is to write for the market that pays premium prices for hard to find (or requires time to find) or specific information which can be put to use.

For fluff and stuff, even 50 cents would be too much.

GordonJ

Let me borrow a metaphor from nature. How much of your food
actually remains in your body? You eat a whole meal and maybe only
5% by weight of that meal becomes a part of your body mass.
Why not take the nutrients from the food and save all that extra stuff
that we put out in the toilet?

The mind is the same. It needs mass to carry the nutrients. "Just the
facts" will be one boring meal!

-Ray Edwards

IMO, what you charge is more around the content opposed to length.
If it's worth the price, then why not?

the price does not matter is the quality of the content is very high. usually you pay for the best.

Sure it's ok if it works.

Since nobody is going to know how many pages are in your eBook unless you tell them in your advertising, it's not going to influence the purchase decision.

Give the buyer a high quality product, deliver it quickly and cheaply, charge a reasonable price, and overwhelm the buyer with your responsive service after the sale. What more could a customer ask for?

Steve

It is not important how many pages do you have. But it is too much important how much valuable the content is??? So if your content is good, the price does not matter. Thanks for your creativity.

It's important to deliver what you advertise. If your book provides answers or a solution to a problem that people are willing to pay $10 for then, of course.

But if they think they're getting a 50 page book or a more detailed solution than you give; then you'll probably be giving refunds.

Rose

its about the value rather than the length. plus if its sh*t i'd rather know its sh*t after 30 second than 30min :-p

You can charge as much as you like depending upon the value you provide. Nobody likes to read 100 pages of BS.
If you provide valuable content in a few pages which solves the problem people are willing to pay for, then why not?

Like many are saying, It's about the value of the eBook rather than the size.

Like they always say... Size isn't everything.

Hi Satosh, as many of the forum members have already mentioned: It's all about how much value you are adding, even if it's a few pages ebook. But here is a word of caution:

Nowadays, bloggers prefer 1 fully information packed blog post instead of 10 short 500 words articles. . At least, the writers I am following have always created posts that are never less than a 20-40 minute read. So, even if the ebook is adding mediocore value, if it fails to create a long-time-reading effect, you risk failing.

However, if it's something of great value (like curing cancer as one group member said lol), go ahead with $10. Or even more!

Thanks
Junaid Khawaja

As most have already pointed out, it will depend on the perceived value to the customer. In addition, it will depend on the niche. For example, I don't personally like reading long winded dieting books. Just enough to give some background information/scientific inquiry and get straight to the plan.

Back in the days of print advertising, it was standard practice to give dimensions and page count.

i.e. 8 1/2 x 11, hardcover, 191 pgs.

Now that you have created a buzz about your book, what is it about? let us see if it is worth it, don;t publish it here just let us know what is the topic and what issues are you addressing.

I agree with you 100%

Of course you can (and that also answers your question in the thread title).

You can also use the shortness of it as a benefit.

Something like:

"And it's only 7 pages long...

Which means you quickly digest it and then start (getting whatever they want) as soon as possible"

You could charge $1,000s for just a few sentences if the information had enough value.

I also prefer information that is short and to the point. If I want to read a novel I'll buy an actual book.

And for the record I have paid more than $10 for very short ebooks many, many times

What every you do... do not sell it on amazon. They claim that short e-books are a rip off as they do not provide a good user experience. Most people have to live on reviews. I made the mistake of creating short e-books early on. That is when kindle first started up. Do learn from my mistake as people asking for a refund can crush your rankings on amazon.

Also, you can get kicked out of kindle if the content level is near zero. OK so my rule of thumb for creating e-books is one penny per page. Therefore a 99 cent e-book should have at least 99 pages. 450 words is said to be one page. Hey, we are talking about text now. Please also throw in some diagrams, interesting info graphics, and other images.

it doesn't matter if its a 1 page ebook, as long as the content is helpful i don't see why you cant sell it at whatever price

I think it depends on the content. Our culture is more and more geared toward getting more from reading less words â€" no filler or fluff â€" so I think a short ebook is okay as long as the content hits home and really solves the problem that the reader bought the ebook for. Good luck!

If that is your price . . . then so be it.

You really need to know if you will sell many copies, and discover if folks are prepared to pay your price.

I feel a lot will depend on the information you provide.

Time will tell.

I have over 100 small books and i'm doing very, very well with them on Kindle

Value is the key, far too many guides are full of fluff to bulk them out, as long as you provide value to your buyers. Just be sure your sales page accurately reflects what your book covers if you are still worried you could even put on there "This short fluff free guide will have you up and running in no time" or "This laser target 5 page guide cuts out the fluff to get you up and running x times faster" etc

I am seeing a consistent change in this regard here lately. People constructing short but very valuable reports and selling in at these Prices.


- Robert Andrew

Sure, depending on what you're selling. I'm growing my hair out now (dreads). It's working too. But before i got on my hair regimen, if there was a book from a dude with super long dreads for $9.99 - and it was only 4 pages long in content... i'd buy it. That's how much i want to pursue the dreads.

As everyone has already pointed out, in non-fiction, it’s the content rather than the length. If you can teach someone in 3 pages to start making $500 per month in a few weeks, for example, then those 3 pages will definitely be worth $10 and even more. And yes, I purposely used a small income amount as an example because it’s more realistic and would still be worth it. After all, $500 a month is $6,000 a year and so on.

However, angelap999 said something I think is even more important -> it depends on the perceived value to the customer and it depends on the niche.

All the great folks who have chimed in here have been doing this online thing for quite a while and most of them are tired of reading the same old garbage repackaged under a new label. It’s pretty much BS fatigue, which is why they want straight and to the point stuff. To either get to the good stuff quickly or figure out if there is actually any good stuff just as quickly.

However, consider a completely different niche. Maybe something like self-improvement. I’ve read numerous books that could practically be boiled down to a few pages, but that’s not what most people expect. They might complain about long, drawn out explanations, but those long explanations and thick books are perceived as having greater value than something short, like a blog post. Despite the fact that you can often find the same or similar information for free, posted somewhere as blog post. But people still pay for those books.

So, in my long-winded way, what I’m trying to say is you first need to understand your target audience and what they’re expectations are. Like those here, they might think it’s awesome that you’re giving them the information without beating around the bush, while others might perceive it as a ripoff just because it’s so short.

It depends on the quality information that is in that ebook

I think it depends on the content. Our culture is more and more geared toward getting more from reading less words â€" no filler or fluff â€" so I think a short ebook is okay as long as the content hits home and really solves the problem that the reader bought the ebook for. Good luck!