Average Price of Ebook Best-Seller Slides Below $9.00 to Lowest Point Yet
As retailers have gained control over pricing for ebooks from major publishers, they’ve wasted no time in discounting those titles. That discounting, combined with the success of lower-priced ebooks has pushed the average price of an ebook best-seller down to its lowest point since we started measuring it.
It’s the second week in a row the list hit a low. The average price of a best-selling ebook for the week ending on Saturday, Dec. 15 was $8.84, down from $9.06 the week prior.
The drop is attributable mostly to one ebook, To Have and to Kill: A Wedding Cake Mystery by Mary Jane Clark (HarperCollins).
The book came out in Dec. 2010. Until Oct. 2011, it was priced at $11.99. As the book ceased to be a front-list seller, HarperCollins lowered the price to $9.99. The publisher lowered the price again to $7.99 in April 2012. Retailers gained control of HarperCollins pricing in Sept. 2012 but didn’t lower its price until Nov. On Nov. 29, the price of the book was lowered to $0.99 and it immediately shot up best-seller lists.
Meanwhile, Stephanie Bond’s self-published hit Stop the Wedding! held strong at No. 2, a repeat of its rank last week.
See the rest of the the best-seller lists for the week ending Dec. 15:
– Digital Book World Best-Selling Ebooks Priced $10.00 and Above
– Digital Book World Best-Selling Ebooks Priced $8.00 – $9.99
– Digital Book World Best-Selling Ebooks Priced $3.00 – $7.99
– Digital Book World Best-Selling Ebooks Priced $0.00 – $2.99
Read and comment on our methodology.
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| Rank* | Title | Author | Publisher | Price** | Change |
| 1 (3) | The Forgotten | David Baldacci | Hachette | $ 11.04 | +2 |
| 2 (2) | Stop the Wedding! (a romantic comedy) | Stephanie Bond | NeedtoRead | $ 0.99 | – |
| 3 (6) | Gone Girl: A Novel | Gillian Flynn | Random House | $ 12.99 | +3 |
| 4 (1) | The Black Box (A Harry Bosch Novel) | Michael Connelly | Hachette | $ 12.74 | -3 |
| 5 (7) | Merry Christmas, Alex Cross | James Patterson | Hachette | $ 11.04 | +2 |
| 6 (5) | The Racketeer | John Grisham | Random House | $ 12.99 | -1 |
| 7 (4) | Notorious Nineteen: A Stephanie Plum Novel | Janet Evanovich | Random House | $ 12.99 | -3 |
| 8 (15) | The Hobbit | J.R.R. Tolkien | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | $ 6.40 | +7 |
| 9 (n/a) | Private London | James Patterson; Mark Pearson | Hachette | $ 8.89 | New |
| 10 (10) | Threat Vector | Tom Clancy; Mark Greaney | Penguin | $ 14.99 | – |
| 11 (8) | The Last Man: A Novel | Vince Flynn | Simon & Schuster | $ 11.99 | -3 |
| 12 (13) | Fifty Shades of Grey: Book One of the Fifty Shades Trilogy | E. L. James | Random House | $ 9.99 | +1 |
| 13 (12) | Fifty Shades Freed: Book Three of the Fifty Shades Trilogy | E. L. James | Random House | $ 9.99 | -1 |
| 14 (9) | Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife | Eben Alexander III M.D. | Simon & Schuster | $ 7.99 | -5 |
| 15 (11) | Life of Pi | Yann Martel | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | $ 4.99 | -4 |
| 16 (14) | Fifty Shades Darker: Book Two of the Fifty Shades Trilogy | E. L. James | Random House | $ 9.99 | -2 |
| 17 (16) | A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows: An Outlander Novella | Diana Gabaldon | Random House | $ 1.99 | -1 |
| 18 (19) | Mockingjay (The Final Book of The Hunger Games) | Suzanne Collins | Scholastic | $ 5.99 | +1 |
| 19 (23) | The Pact | Jodi Picoult | HarperCollins | $ 2.99 | +4 |
| 20 (20) | Reflected in You: A Crossfire Novel | Sylvia Day | Penguin | $ 9.99 | – |
| 21 (n/a) | The Twelve Tribes of Hattie | Ayana Mathis | Random House | $ 12.99 | New |
| 22 (17) | The Perfect Hope: Book Three of the Inn BoonsBoro Trilogy (The Inn Trilogy) | Nora Roberts | Penguin | $ 9.99 | -5 |
| 23 (n/a) | Safe Haven | Nicholas Sparks | Hachette | $ 5.99 | New |
| 24 (n/a) | To Have and to Kill: A Wedding Cake Mystery | Mary Jane Clark | HarperCollins | $ 0.99 | New |
| 25 (24) | Bared to You: A Crossfire Novel | Sylvia Day | Penguin | $ 9.99 | -1 |
* Previous week’s list rank in parentheses.
** Price reflects minimum price across all retailers throughout the week. Price may vary between retailers and may change throughout the week. Contact Iobyte Solutions for more information on e-book pricing.
Methodology available here.
