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To Kindle Or Not Kindle???

by information maven
10 replies
I am about to produce my first ebook. I am not sure whether to upload the ebook to Amazon -- concerns are the limitations imposed by Amazon particularly in terms of pricing. To secure the 70% royalty the ebook needs to be priced below $9.99. Most books seem to be priced under $4. The alternative is having my own web site which will allow more flexibility in terms of pricing but carries with it the problem of generating traffic. Having a website and Amazon still means that I have limitations on pricing -- can't offer a book at say $15 on my website while it is selling for perhaps $4.99 on Amazon. What should I do. Go the independent route and sell through my website or suck it up and sell via Amazon. Any ideas greatly appreciated.
#kindle
  • Profile picture of the author Broderick Boyd
    Why can't you sell the book for $4.99 on Amazon and $15 on your own site?
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    • Profile picture of the author information maven
      thanks for the reply. Just feel that its not fair to sell the book at two different price points. The people purchasing at the higher price would feel justifiably out of pocket.

      Originally Posted by Broderick Boyd View Post

      Why can't you sell the book for $4.99 on Amazon and $15 on your own site?
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    • Profile picture of the author goindeep
      If you are planning on selling for a higher price on your site I would love to know the results.

      My theory is you wont see any more sales on your site.

      Couple reasons:

      Your customer will just Google and see where they can buy for a cheaper price.

      Amazon has much more search traffic than your site, better management, ability to process for much more volume.

      And on top of that if your customer finds out he can get your book from Amazon, and you try selling it to him for a lot more don' you think your customer will be p***ed off?

      A better option would be to set your site up to pre-sell the book and then setup to have it sold via all the major sellers and provide links to them. I have seen this work very well before.
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      • Profile picture of the author sethdrebitko
        If it came down to it you could use your personal site as an upsell. Make it a 2 part book with the whole thing for $15 on your site, and the second half only at a discount. Then your Amazon version represents the first half of your series.
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        • Profile picture of the author JMSD
          Originally Posted by sethdrebitko View Post

          If it came down to it you could use your personal site as an upsell. Make it a 2 part book with the whole thing for $15 on your site, and the second half only at a discount. Then your Amazon version represents the first half of your series.

          I think Seth offers an excellent solution to your problem.

          If your book lends itself to splitting it into parts - Standard, Intermediate, Advanced, for exmaple, then you could charge $6.99 for each of them on Amazon and sell a discounted price @ $15 for the three volumes, combined from your own site.

          You may notice that Amazon does this bundling up of volumes (yours or someone elses "Buy this and that and that for only $xxs") very well.
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          • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
            Another approach is to put the ebook on Kindle, then offer a package (i.e., PDF version, audio version in mp3, supplemental items like resource lists, check lists, etc.).

            Add a page to your Kindle version laying out the bundle contents and offer a 'customer discount' on the upsell.
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      • Profile picture of the author information maven
        Hi,

        can you explain the following in a little bit more detail.

        Thanks

        Originally Posted by Andrei Rotariu View Post


        A better option would be to set your site up to pre-sell the book and then setup to have it sold via all the major sellers and provide links to them. I have seen this work very well before.
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        • Profile picture of the author goindeep
          Originally Posted by information maven View Post

          Hi,

          can you explain the following in a little bit more detail.

          Thanks
          Please forward me my 3k consultation fee...

          lol just kidding

          So something like this as an example:

          Bending God: A Memoir | Bending God the Memoir of Eric Robison

          You see what I mean, its a very simple page but you could do it differently so long as you maintain the same strategy.
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  • Profile picture of the author mikewithsfi
    Just a thought, depending on your niche, maybe you could try paydotcom or other affiliate sites such as clickbank.. My reasoning and some on this forum would not agree but you can offer your ebook at a higher price and have thousands of potential affiliates promoting your ebook.

    But if you do offer your ebook on amazon at 4.99 there is still potential to making a nice income, since amazon is huge. Plus if the book is good, then you also have thousands of potential affiliates selling your ebook on their website or news letter.
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    41 Million Dollar super affiliate wants to train you, make
    a change in your lack of online profits,     (<--- click there) successfully build your list and profit from it,take you by the hand and be your mentor

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  • Profile picture of the author grover69
    I'm getting ready to start some Kindle publishing and this same thought has been going through my mind...how to set the price? Personally, I may just keep it the same everywhere so there is less confusion. And yes, I can promise you people will search just to find the best price of your product.
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