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eBook – Price vs. page count (Does size matter?)

When eBook readers consider buying an eBook do you look at the page count? Does the Amazon estimate of 200 pages make a $4.99 book more attractive or does a 90 page count for $4.99 seem like too much money?

I guess I’m really asking does size matter?

Published inSci Fi BooksScience Fiction

5 Comments

  1. I have read new authors should charge $1 per 100 pages. So at 200 pages of course that would be $2.00. However no matter where you publish, except on your own site, would you be getting that full dollar. I am unsure how I feel about this, but again this is what I’ve read.

  2. Yes, it matters. I’ve bought a couple ebooks online and realized they were more novellas than novels. Not a huge deal as I am paying less than a print book (which are quite expensive these days) but I just prefer longer books. I’m a fast reader and I like deep characterizations, so these 80-page wonders that call themselves novels leave me unsatisfied. I think authors are doing more serialization due to the lower price ebooks are getting (other side of the coin).

    • Thanks, I’m familiar with that ‘rule of thumb’, and it frustrates me because I think some authors add too much fluff so the document size is inflated. Sometimes I’ve gone through 20 pages wondering how it’s relevant to the story. I recognize that the other side to the coin is quality. If the story is well written then its size doesn’t matter. Some of the best Sci-Fi I’ve read were short stories. Their worth did not equate to $1/100 pages.

      In the two series that I’m writing, I’m charging $.99 for the early parts of the book. Each of these are between 17,000 and 30,000 words. Later on in the series I might charge $1.99 or $2.99 per story for the concluding parts. Then after I’ve released all of the parts I’ll release a compilation which will be priced more, but still less then if they had bought all of the parts separately. As a new author I’m aiming for about $7.99 to $8.99 for the full book, which is, I feel a fair price for a book of approximately 100,000+ words and is still less than what a recognized author would get.

      • Interesting approach. A great example of how electronic distribution changes the economics. Reminds me of an old BC cartoon – Wiley sets the pages of is novel across the ground, free to read. The ending, he has in a cave, with a cash register out front 😉

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