How "Variable Pricing" Helps Authors Sell Self-Published Ebooks

Even the best self-publishing platforms stick to an old script when it comes to selling ebooks:

You set one price for everyone.

For more global platforms, you might get to set different prices for different countries or regions, but it's still the same idea:

One price for everyone in that country or region. That's it.

This "single pricing" model works pretty well for conventional book sales, but for selling self-published books around the world, we think authors and their readers should have a lot more flexibility around pricing.

This is especially true for self-published books that are being published chapter-by-chapter, like many Leanpub books are: different people may have different price points and expectations for buying in-progress ebooks.

That's why at Leanpub we have a "variable pricing" model with three parts to it:

1. The author chooses a minimum price.

This is the lowest amount someone can pay to get the ebook.

2. The author chooses a suggested price.

This is the price people will see when they go to your book's web page in the Leanpub bookstore.

3. Customers choose the purchase price.

Customers can slide left on your book's pricing slider to pay less than the suggested price, leave the slider where it is to pay the suggested price, or slide right to pay more, and show extra support to the author.

With variable pricing, you not only give readers more flexibility, you also empower them with the trust to pay what they think is fair.