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Price is the only marketing lever that costs nothing to change and moves income immediately — yet most authors set it by gut feel or by copying whatever the top of their genre happens to charge. The mechanics matter: ebooks priced from $2.99 to $9.99 earn the 70% royalty tier, while anything cheaper drops to 35%, so a $1.99 ebook can genuinely earn less per sale than a $2.99 one. Genre expectations, the paperback anchor price and your promotion plans all feed the same decision. This guide walks the pricing logic for both formats, including the band maths, the anchor effect and when a low price is a strategy rather than a mistake.
$0.99, $2.99, $4.99, $9.99 — price sends a signal as much as it sets income. A practical guide to choosing an ebook and paperback price that fits your genre, your goals and the 70% royalty band.
$2.99 is the lowest price that still qualifies for Amazon's 70% royalty tier. Below it you earn 35%, so the extra dollar of list price more than pays for itself — $2.99 at 70% nets about $2.09, while $1.99 at 35% nets only about $0.70.
Deliberately, as a promotion — for example a countdown deal or a permanent low price on a series opener designed to pull readers into higher-priced sequels. As a permanent price for your only book it usually leaves money on the table.
Most authors price the paperback at roughly two to four times the ebook, so the ebook reads as the sensible digital buy while the paperback still earns a healthy per-copy net after printing. A $4.99 ebook beside a $14.99 paperback is a classic, effective pairing.
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