Average Ebook Best-Seller Price Stabilizing Around $8.00
After a two-month plummet that publishers likely found stomach-churning, prices for best-selling ebooks may have stabilized at around $8.00.
The average of the prices on our top-25 best-selling ebook list is $8.16 this week, a slight decrease from last week when it was $8.30. Last week was the first time since Oct. that the average price of an ebook best-seller increased — from an all-time low of $7.66 two weeks ago.
After a descent that saw the average price of a best-selling ebook decrease nearly $4.00, prices may finally be stabilizing. When asked three weeks ago at the Digital Book World Conference + Expo whether prices would continue to fall — as they had been doing for months — ebook pricing expert Dan Lubart (the data guru behind the DBW Ebook Best-Seller list and senior vice president of sales analytics at HarperCollins) said he believed prices would stabilize at around $8.00.
What does this mean for publishers? Perhaps that ebook retailers have reached some level of satisfaction with their current levels of discounting.
Meanwhile, Amazon is the only publisher outside of the six largest in the U.S. to have two books in the top-25: The Misremembered Man by Christina McKenna, which debuted this week at No. 12; and Crazy Little Thing by Tracy Brogan, which came in at No. 16 this week after dropping a spot from last week.
Please note that our methodology has changed slightly, an improvement we hope will allow us to continue to bring you the most accurate ebook best-seller lists possible.
See the rest of the the best-seller lists for the week ending Feb. 3:
– 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 (1) | Safe Haven | Nicholas Sparks | Hachette | $ 6.64 | – |
| 2 (4) | Wait For Me | Elisabeth Naughton | Self-published | $ 0.99 | +2 |
| 3 (2) | Gone Girl: A Novel | Gillian Flynn | Random House | $ 12.99 | -1 |
| 4 (7) | Beautiful Creatures (Beautiful Creatures Series #1) | Kami Garcia; Margaret Stohl | Hachette | $ 5.80 | +3 |
| 5 (6) | Private Berlin | James Patterson; Mark Sullivan | Hachette | $ 10.90 | +1 |
| 6 (n/a) | Heartsong: A Novel | Debbie Macomber | Random House | $ 2.99 | New |
| 7 (5) | The Forgotten | David Baldacci | Hachette | $ 9.99 | -2 |
| 8 (8) | Fifty Shades Freed: Book Three Of The Fifty Shades Trilogy | E. L. James | Random House | $ 9.99 | – |
| 9 (9) | Fifty Shades Darker: Book Two Of The Fifty Shades Trilogy | E. L. James | Random House | $ 9.99 | – |
| 10 (10) | Fifty Shades Of Grey: Book One Of The Fifty Shades Trilogy | E. L. James | Random House | $ 9.99 | – |
| 11 (n/a) | Suspect | Robert Crais | Penguin | $ 12.99 | New |
| 12 (n/a) | The Misremembered Man | Christina McKenna | Amazon | $ 3.99 | New |
| 13 (12) | Mockingjay (The Hunger Games Trilogy – Book 3) | Suzanne Collins | Scholastic | $ 5.99 | -1 |
| 14 (3) | Someone to Love | Addison Moore | Self-published | $ 0.99 | -11 |
| 15 (19) | Beautiful Darkness (Beautiful Creatures) | Kami Garcia; Margaret Stohl | Hachette | $ 6.99 | +4 |
| 16 (15) | Crazy Little Thing | Tracy Brogan | Amazon | $ 3.99 | -1 |
| 17 (13) | The Racketeer | John Grisham | Random House | $ 12.99 | -4 |
| 18 (14) | The Black Box (A Harry Bosch Novel) | Michael Connelly | Hachette | $ 7.50 | -4 |
| 19 (n/a) | The Silver Linings Playbook: A Novel | Matthew Quick | Macmillan | $ 9.99 | New |
| 20 (17) | Witch’s Daughter | Paula Brackston | Macmillan | $ 2.99 | -3 |
| 21 (16) | The Fifth Assassin | Brad Meltzer | Hachette | $ 12.74 | -5 |
| 22 (n/a) | Until the End of Time: A Novel | Danielle Steel | Random House | $ 13.99 | New |
| 23 (22) | Bared to You: A Crossfire Novel | Sylvia Day | Penguin | $ 9.99 | -1 |
| 24 (20) | Reflected in You: A Crossfire Novel | Sylvia Day | Penguin | $ 9.99 | -4 |
| 25 (18) | Private London | James Patterson; Mark Pearson | Hachette | $ 8.69 | -7 |
* 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.
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How many of the Top 25 titles over the past 4-8 weeks had “sell prices” driven by retailers vs. “list prices” being determined by publishers? Based on what I’ve seen, the price drop of the Top 25 was largely driven by publishers tactically reducing prices around the Christmas period or demand from customers concentrated on titles with lower list prices. There was some discounting, but selling a high volume of low “list” price titles to drive unit volume is a significant contributor.
Stabilized? If that means prices haven’t changed much for a couple of weeks, then it probably has stabilized. Seems very doubtful to me this $8 mark will be the average price in six months or a year or more. How low can prices go? I’m not sure but I believe one thing: a lot lower than $8.