As I’ve said on here before (shouted from the rooftops, whatever) I am finally publishing. I’m putting a few of my shorts out on the market in the next month or so. I’m putting together the covers, then I’ll figure out how to format the books to work in kindle, set up the publishing house business (there will be a post on how to do this, at least in Tennessee, once I figure this part out), and ask others what else I’ll need to do.
I really have no clue at this point so you can see why I’m starting with short stories. They are me testing the waters 🙂 I’ve always been a dip my toe in to test the temp kind of girl. Which is probably why I love writing more reckless characters. Reckless is far more fun, but not recommended in business 🙂
So, I’m surveying what I should be charging for the shorts. You have to price at least $0.99 on Amazon (or so I’ve been told). I was thinking:
5,000 – 10,000 words $0.99
10,000 – 20,000 words $1.99
20,000 – 30,000 words 2.99
Do these seem reasonable? Published authors, what are your pricing ranges for shorts? Readers, what do you expect things to be priced at? Do you see $0.99 and think cheap, or just short? Would you expect something of publishable quality to be a dollar more on the scale?
Author Amie Gibbons 
I buy a lot of e-books and Amazon and don’t usually correlate the length too much with the price, but I do get annoyed if I think I’m buying a whole book and it’s actually a short story or novella. That’s not super helpful on pricing, but I’d make it clear in your description what you are offering. People tend to write angry reviews otherwise. Generally length is explained in pages and not words (in the descriptions that shoppers see). Hope that helps a little. Good luck!
LikeLike
Thanks! Yeah, that’s another thing I was going to ask was how to make it clear they are shorts so people don’t get upset.
LikeLike
Perhaps it depends more on the content and not the word count? I think you should have freedom to price what you think it is worth. I have written a 12’000 word ebook and I am soon to publish, I was thinking 2 or 3.99 it is a hard one to decide! And which company to publish with? Go with the giant? Amazon?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh yeah, they’re definitely going on Amazon. That’s pretty much *the* e-book publishing platform. I just don’t want people to think my stuff is cheap because it’s cheaply priced, but also don’t want people to not get it because they think shorts should be cheaper. It’s a tightrope. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have an ebook ready to go… just need to get it on amazon! Im not sure how to do it?
LikeLike