4 ms·

Ask HN: Price-point for niche eBook

10 points by thangalin 16y ago

I spent five months writing a technical manual that fills a particular niche. I plan to sell the manual and give away the source code. The book is 280 pages, has many high-quality illustrations (contracted graphics artist), was proof-read by a technical writer (also hired on contract), and describes solutions to business intelligence software problems (namely, prediction). An electronic instruction manual for the software that my manual references retails for $49.95 USD. A similar manual retails for $44.99 (print) and $31.49 (eBook). What are your thoughts and experiences on deciding the price-point for a niche technical manual? How do you price electronic versus printed? Thank you!

ankeshk 16y ago
I've sold 35 page ebooks for $30 before. Make your salesletter / website about the solution. And not about the mode of delivery. And you can charge its correct value. There are companies that sell special reports on trending to other companies for $10,000. Of course, they don't sell more than 40-50 copies. But thats still a decent revenue. The point is: charge according to what you think the solution is worth. Unless ofcourse your strategy is not to make money off the ebook. But to build your credibility. So total revenue is not the goal, but total number of copies sold is. In which case, price it at under $10. And yes - if you're unsure about the pricing - then start low. And continuously increase prices by 10% every other week. Until you see a drop in conversion rates.
- thangalin 16y ago
  Thank you, ankeshk.
jackkinsella 16y ago
Last year I managed to sell quite a few legal ebooks for students at $160 a piece. It could be worth your while experimenting with a high price point initially since you can always lower it at a later date, or even simultaneously sell at multiple prices. It's possible to have multiple price points for essentially the same item. In another project (learn Spanish, photography and journalism in Bolivia -www.bolivianexpress.org) I differentiated between a "basic" package and a more expensive "complete" package. This allowed us to charge a higher price to customers with cash yet still remain affordable to those without much money. A commonly cited example of this technique is coffee shops. Coffee is a commodity yet many people will buy their daily fix for $6 (a triple chai vanilla latte cappuccino on wheels) whilst others will buy for only $2 (americano). Both are getting essentially the same product. On the printed vs ebook pricing I choose to sell ebook only for business efficiency reasons. On my website I emphasized the advantages of the electronic format to my customers: instantly available, easily backed up, available to be read anywhere. I'm sure you already plan on doing this, but make sure you take out a Google Adwords campaign targeting your niche.
- thangalin 16y ago
  Thank you, Jack.
revorad 16y ago
How are you planning to advertise and sell this book? If you're happy to discuss some details, I might be able to help you. My email's in my profile.
ScottWhigham 16y ago
I don't understand why you would limit yourself to just doing an ebook. If it's such a great book, why cut out a huge chunk of your market (those who do not want/like ebooks)? It seems like it would be trivial to convert an ebook to a printed book. By choosing the ebook route, I think you also cut your profits massively. This is just my own opinion/feelings so I may not be aligned with how others view it, but I don't value an ebook the same way I do a paper book. I won't pay the same, for example. I expect to pay 25% less at a minimum. If your book does what you say it does ("describes solutions to business intelligence software problems (namely, prediction)"), then I'd think the lowest I'd consider for a printed copy would be $60 and the highest I'd think for a printed copy would be $400. Settling on somewhere in the middle is tough but I'd probably choose $75 and start with that. But this is an ebook. I'm not paying $75 for an ebook. I'd pay $40 though.
- thangalin 16y ago
  Thank you, Scott. I did not intend to imply an eBook was the only medium. That said, another HN user wrote the following to me by email: "After thinking about my experience more, I feel a print book is actually not such a great idea for a programming book because things change so fast that the matter gets dated very quickly." And use a print-on-demand service such as Lulu for those who really desire a hard copy.
petervandijck 16y ago
$49.99 sounds about right. I would also try something higher, like $79.99, see how that goes.
- thangalin 16y ago
  Thank you, Peter.
wmboy 16y ago
What will the new knowledge they gain allow them to do? Will it make them more money? Will they get more clients? Will it save them a whole lot of time? $47 is a lot for a document in digital format. However if that $47 will land you a new paying customer worth $3000 then it's more than worth the price...
- thangalin 16y ago
  Thank you for this.

10 points by thangalin 16y ago

ankeshk 16y ago

I've sold 35 page ebooks for $30 before. Make your salesletter / website about the solution. And not about the mode of delivery. And you can charge its correct value. There are companies that sell special reports on trending to other companies for $10,000. Of course, they don't sell more than 40-50 copies. But thats still a decent revenue. The point is: charge according to what you think the solution is worth. Unless ofcourse your strategy is not to make money off the ebook. But to build your credibility. So total revenue is not the goal, but total number of copies sold is. In which case, price it at under $10. And yes - if you're unsure about the pricing - then start low. And continuously increase prices by 10% every other week. Until you see a drop in conversion rates.

thangalin 16y ago
Thank you, ankeshk.

jackkinsella 16y ago

Last year I managed to sell quite a few legal ebooks for students at $160 a piece. It could be worth your while experimenting with a high price point initially since you can always lower it at a later date, or even simultaneously sell at multiple prices. It's possible to have multiple price points for essentially the same item. In another project (learn Spanish, photography and journalism in Bolivia -www.bolivianexpress.org) I differentiated between a "basic" package and a more expensive "complete" package. This allowed us to charge a higher price to customers with cash yet still remain affordable to those without much money. A commonly cited example of this technique is coffee shops. Coffee is a commodity yet many people will buy their daily fix for $6 (a triple chai vanilla latte cappuccino on wheels) whilst others will buy for only $2 (americano). Both are getting essentially the same product. On the printed vs ebook pricing I choose to sell ebook only for business efficiency reasons. On my website I emphasized the advantages of the electronic format to my customers: instantly available, easily backed up, available to be read anywhere. I'm sure you already plan on doing this, but make sure you take out a Google Adwords campaign targeting your niche.

thangalin 16y ago
Thank you, Jack.

revorad 16y ago

How are you planning to advertise and sell this book? If you're happy to discuss some details, I might be able to help you. My email's in my profile.

ScottWhigham 16y ago

I don't understand why you would limit yourself to just doing an ebook. If it's such a great book, why cut out a huge chunk of your market (those who do not want/like ebooks)? It seems like it would be trivial to convert an ebook to a printed book. By choosing the ebook route, I think you also cut your profits massively. This is just my own opinion/feelings so I may not be aligned with how others view it, but I don't value an ebook the same way I do a paper book. I won't pay the same, for example. I expect to pay 25% less at a minimum. If your book does what you say it does ("describes solutions to business intelligence software problems (namely, prediction)"), then I'd think the lowest I'd consider for a printed copy would be $60 and the highest I'd think for a printed copy would be $400. Settling on somewhere in the middle is tough but I'd probably choose $75 and start with that. But this is an ebook. I'm not paying $75 for an ebook. I'd pay $40 though.

thangalin 16y ago
Thank you, Scott. I did not intend to imply an eBook was the only medium. That said, another HN user wrote the following to me by email: "After thinking about my experience more, I feel a print book is actually not such a great idea for a programming book because things change so fast that the matter gets dated very quickly." And use a print-on-demand service such as Lulu for those who really desire a hard copy.

petervandijck 16y ago

$49.99 sounds about right. I would also try something higher, like $79.99, see how that goes.

thangalin 16y ago
Thank you, Peter.

wmboy 16y ago

What will the new knowledge they gain allow them to do? Will it make them more money? Will they get more clients? Will it save them a whole lot of time? $47 is a lot for a document in digital format. However if that $47 will land you a new paying customer worth $3000 then it's more than worth the price...

thangalin 16y ago
Thank you for this.