

Ask HN: Price-point for niche eBook - thangalin

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.<p>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).<p>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).<p>What are your thoughts and experiences on deciding the price-point for a niche technical manual? How do you price electronic versus printed?<p>Thank you!
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ankeshk
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.

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thangalin
Thank you, ankeshk.

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jackkinsella
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.

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thangalin
Thank you, Jack.

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ScottWhigham
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.

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thangalin
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.

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revorad
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.

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wmboy
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...

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thangalin
Thank you for this.

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

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thangalin
Thank you, Peter.

