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Why I can’t sell the e-book version of “Write A+ Papers” lower than $2.99


by Robert Herrick - Sept 22, 2019

(FYI: I’m not complaining about how E-book pricing works. It is a great way for authors to get their books out there. I’m writing this to give you an in-site into the world of E-book self-publishing.)


Most parents don’t remember the difference between the four types of sentences or how to punctuate them.  “Write A+ Papers” is a simple way for kids to learn how to punctuate sentences.  


With millions of parents home schooling their kids, and with millions out of work, I wanted to see if I could lower the price.  Here’s why I can’t.


“Write A+ Papers” cost me thousands of dollars to create.  Computer software, art costs, website, etc.  So, giving it away for free isn’t an option.  It’s a bargain for $2.99.


Because of all the graphics and cartoons, “Write A+ Papers” is about 64MB. That’s not a huge file. It it were just text, it would be less than 1MB.   Apple and Amazon have to store those files and they have to download them to the users. Running a service like this costs money.  For a book this size, the lowest price I can sell it for on Kindle is $2.99.   I’m okay with that.  Apple will let me run a special and sell it for less, but if you publish on Kindle, you can’t sell it for less on any other site.


Kindle also has another option that can reduce that price.  I can put the E-book into their Kindle select program.  That allows anyone access to the Kindle Unlimited program to read the book for free.  But books in the Kindle select program need to be exclusive to Kindle. I don’t want to pull the book from IBooks. (I want to offer it to the widest possible audience, and I’ve already created the IBook version.)


Since Kindle has the biggest market share and I like the Kindle Select program, I am putting most of my new books into that program.  


So that’s the reason.  I’m not against Kindle’s pricing model. That’s just how it is.


Thanks for taking the time to read this. I hope you will sign up for my mailing list.


Best,


Robert

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