The Word Cloud

This is the eight part of my continuing series INDIE PUBLISHING FOR INTERNATIONAL WRITERS, a step-by-step guide to getting your stories into (digital) print. I’ll be doing each step with you, learning as you do, because I’ve never done this before either. I will be compiling all these steps into a free e-book for my blog-readers when I am done.

Step 8: Pricing Strategies

There is a lot of debate about pricing. Today, I want to avoid a discussion of the ethics of various strategies. Instead, I would like to talk about their respective pros and cons for the writer employing them.

This means we won’t talk about whether it is right for authors do give away work or price it low (or high). We won’t get into emotional arguments about how your novel took you three years so it’s worth a lot more than $2.99. In a strict business sense, it’s worth what people are willing to pay for it.

Instead, we will discuss what works and what doesn’t depending on your respective goals.

The only firm belief I have with regard to pricing is that you should be flexible, and find the right price for your own book free of ideology or any other such nonsense, depending on what you hope to achieve.

I will round off this post by outlining my pricing strategy and the reasons I have chosen it. Not everyone will agree with my choice. That’s fine, you should choose a strategy that suits you.

To read my assessment of the four pricing strategies (free, discount, regular, and higher), and to see what I have chosen, go here:

http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2011/05/27/indie-publishing-for-international-writers-step-8-pricing-strategies/