The cost of a hard copy book depends on the print run, the materials and the book’s physical size. A paperback best seller with a print run of a hundred thousand costs a lot less to produce than an eighteen inch square ’coffee table’ art book packed with full colour images. 

All the same, you rarely find a ‘real’ book costing more than a hundred quid unless it’s something really special, limited edition or antiquarian.

Ebook prices, however, vary wildly. A quick surf reveals: 

• a 100 page ebook for $47
• a 1000 page ebook for £99
• various ebooks of different lengths costing anything between £9.99 and $699

A standard paperback book has 200 – 300 pages and costs about £6.99. So how can someone justify selling a 100 page ebook for £9.99, let alone sell any ebook for $699?

Some ebooks contain extra materials, links to buyer-only resources, training aids etcetera. But many are simple collections of blog posts and articles. Or ’how to’ guides.

Would you spend $47, £99 or $699 on a paperback or hardback book? Probably not. Unless it was bound in gold leaf!

There’s a lot of chat online about the issue so it’s obviously a hot topic. My take on it is: 

• A crazy handful of people might buy an ebook for £99. But thousands more might buy it for a fiver, which is around two quid cheaper than the cost of a paperback. Selling more ebooks for a lower unit cost will probably deliver a much better return on investment
• When you consider ebooks in a real world context, choosing a price becomes easy. Compare your ebook with a real book, like for like, and pitch your price slightly lower
• Only charge more than a regular book if you’re offering more. For example a professional course, access to unique online content, business collateral etc (although if this is the case, you’re probably devaluing your product by calling it an ebook!)

E-books are hot. But is there any commercial value in uploading an e-book to your website?

Provided the content is relevant, informative and well written, an e-book should ding the right bells. A great e-book can pack enough power to infuence buying behaviour and increase conversion. 

Upload your e-book as a .pdf and you tap into more good stuff. Search engine algorithms like words. They’ll ‘read’ the .pdf, checking its relevance against the site’s content. If they like what they ‘see’ they’ll make your site more visible to people who are searching for your type of business using your key words and phrases. 

If visitors enjoy your e-book, there’s a chance they’ll tell other people. Some might link back to your site or blog about your e-book, which’ll help raise your visibility and give your business added credibility.

Update the e-book itself whenever you have something new to say and you’ll benefit again. Search engine bots tend to revisit sites for re-evaluation more often when the content’s refreshed regularly.

Once your e-book has been created and formatted, adding to it should be fast and inexpensive. Uploading new editions takes seconds.

And you can track response and check for traffic increases easily and fast using your regular webstats package – great for informed planning.

The verdict? From a marketer’s perspective, a quality e-book is a valuable element of the marketing mix. Go write!