For ebooks, I charge between $1 and $5, depending on size of the book and how long it's been out (with each new release in my series, for example, I may lower the price of an earlier volume). For paperbacks, I try to keep the price between $12 and $15, depending on what KDP tells me I can charge based on printing fees and the like to still earn a royalty per sale.
And because I have plenty of hard copies on-hand (unsold inventory from my convention days), I also offer the chance to buy paperbacks directly from me, for a flat $10 rate (or a bundle price if someone's buying more than one book), that way they get a discount as opposed to buying from Amazon or BN.com.
I gave up on being on physical bookshelves (aside from small, local shops who support local authors) a long time ago, because the manager of my local B&N told me it's corporate policy not to stock POD books on store shelves because there's nowhere to send back unsold inventory.
I am an indie author currently writing book 4 in a 6-book cross-genre series.
(My books have won a handful of awards, including a Publishers Weekly Starred Review and an Indie Book Award, so at least one or two people think the books are worth reading. 😜)
Here are my sales numbers:
I give away book 1 (ebook & audiobook) for free (wide). I sell books 2 and 3 for $3.99 (ebooks & audiobooks, wide). At Amazon, my cost to print the book 1 paperback is $9.44. I sell it for $9.99. (I also sell hardcover editions of all my books via IngramSpark, but I have sold less than 25 hardcover editions in the 7 years since I started publishing. My net on a $29.99 hardback is less than two dollars).
If someone buys all three of my ebooks, I make $5.12. If someone buys all three paperbacks, I make $2.12. If someone buys all three of my audiobooks, I make between $0.12 and $12.36 (average is $0.45 per audiobook, so $1.35).
If I don't advertise, I give away around 10 ebooks per month and sell one or two (at Amazon). If I advertise ($300/month), I give away ~500 ebooks (Amazon) and ~400 audiobooks (via Findaway Voices and ACX), and sell about 10 ebooks and 50 audiobooks. (I also give away and sell books at other websites (B&N, Kobo, Google, iBooks, etc.) but Amazon and Chirp Audiobooks are my best sales channels.) If I had six books (plus audiobooks) published (instead of three), I might break even.
It takes me more than a year to write, edit, and publish a book (and then three to six more months to get the audiobook out). Ignoring my time to write and edit, I spend around $20,000 per book to publish: Professional Editor ($6,000), Copyediting ($2,000), Proofreaders ($2,000), professional audiobook production ($6,000), plus cover art, series cover art, typesetting tools (I use Vellum), book jacket art and layout, and advertising etc. I work hard to make my books to be of the highest possible quality, and I'm lucky enough to have the time and money to aim for that. I regularly read traditionally published books of lower quality (typos, grammar issues, layout, TOC errors, etc.)
My average monthly income is less than $100 right now (yes, sad), so my net is -$200+ per month when I advertise. (I haven't published a book in a couple of years due to life getting in the way of writing. My income jumps up right after I publish a new book to around $500+ per month but tails off quickly). I hope to break even once I have all six books in the series published (and then start working on getting a black swan to kick-start the series sales to find a wider audience.)
In seven years, I have given away more than 100,000 ebooks and sold around 3,000. For Audiobooks the numbers are around 30,000 free and 5,000 paid.
TLDR: Despite writing full time, I lose money almost every month, so it's an expensive hobby (not a way to support myself). But then, I don't write to make money (although it would be nice), I write because I enjoy doing it, and the occasional email from a reader who loves my books makes it all worthwhile.
Favorite quote about writing:
The one thing that all "successful" writers have in common: They refused to give up.*
Thanks for your post. I whole heartedly agree. Indie publishing is a challenge. I triple the KDP cost of a book. All my books are in paperback and digital format. And I have the available on many platforms. I also have my own square store where you can get them directly from me. Go to New Life Publications Online to order your signed copy.
For ebooks, I charge between $1 and $5, depending on size of the book and how long it's been out (with each new release in my series, for example, I may lower the price of an earlier volume). For paperbacks, I try to keep the price between $12 and $15, depending on what KDP tells me I can charge based on printing fees and the like to still earn a royalty per sale.
And because I have plenty of hard copies on-hand (unsold inventory from my convention days), I also offer the chance to buy paperbacks directly from me, for a flat $10 rate (or a bundle price if someone's buying more than one book), that way they get a discount as opposed to buying from Amazon or BN.com.
I gave up on being on physical bookshelves (aside from small, local shops who support local authors) a long time ago, because the manager of my local B&N told me it's corporate policy not to stock POD books on store shelves because there's nowhere to send back unsold inventory.
I am an indie author currently writing book 4 in a 6-book cross-genre series.
(My books have won a handful of awards, including a Publishers Weekly Starred Review and an Indie Book Award, so at least one or two people think the books are worth reading. 😜)
Here are my sales numbers:
I give away book 1 (ebook & audiobook) for free (wide). I sell books 2 and 3 for $3.99 (ebooks & audiobooks, wide). At Amazon, my cost to print the book 1 paperback is $9.44. I sell it for $9.99. (I also sell hardcover editions of all my books via IngramSpark, but I have sold less than 25 hardcover editions in the 7 years since I started publishing. My net on a $29.99 hardback is less than two dollars).
If someone buys all three of my ebooks, I make $5.12. If someone buys all three paperbacks, I make $2.12. If someone buys all three of my audiobooks, I make between $0.12 and $12.36 (average is $0.45 per audiobook, so $1.35).
If I don't advertise, I give away around 10 ebooks per month and sell one or two (at Amazon). If I advertise ($300/month), I give away ~500 ebooks (Amazon) and ~400 audiobooks (via Findaway Voices and ACX), and sell about 10 ebooks and 50 audiobooks. (I also give away and sell books at other websites (B&N, Kobo, Google, iBooks, etc.) but Amazon and Chirp Audiobooks are my best sales channels.) If I had six books (plus audiobooks) published (instead of three), I might break even.
It takes me more than a year to write, edit, and publish a book (and then three to six more months to get the audiobook out). Ignoring my time to write and edit, I spend around $20,000 per book to publish: Professional Editor ($6,000), Copyediting ($2,000), Proofreaders ($2,000), professional audiobook production ($6,000), plus cover art, series cover art, typesetting tools (I use Vellum), book jacket art and layout, and advertising etc. I work hard to make my books to be of the highest possible quality, and I'm lucky enough to have the time and money to aim for that. I regularly read traditionally published books of lower quality (typos, grammar issues, layout, TOC errors, etc.)
My average monthly income is less than $100 right now (yes, sad), so my net is -$200+ per month when I advertise. (I haven't published a book in a couple of years due to life getting in the way of writing. My income jumps up right after I publish a new book to around $500+ per month but tails off quickly). I hope to break even once I have all six books in the series published (and then start working on getting a black swan to kick-start the series sales to find a wider audience.)
In seven years, I have given away more than 100,000 ebooks and sold around 3,000. For Audiobooks the numbers are around 30,000 free and 5,000 paid.
TLDR: Despite writing full time, I lose money almost every month, so it's an expensive hobby (not a way to support myself). But then, I don't write to make money (although it would be nice), I write because I enjoy doing it, and the occasional email from a reader who loves my books makes it all worthwhile.
Favorite quote about writing:
The one thing that all "successful" writers have in common: They refused to give up.*
*This may be harder than you think.
The Between Two Evils book series at Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FK7WGZ4
Thanks for your post. I whole heartedly agree. Indie publishing is a challenge. I triple the KDP cost of a book. All my books are in paperback and digital format. And I have the available on many platforms. I also have my own square store where you can get them directly from me. Go to New Life Publications Online to order your signed copy.