How Much Would You Pay for A Book?

I worked with a number of people while I published my book.  It is not long, and it is a history book.  To be clear it is a non-fiction book.  The biggest question we asked was how much would you pay for a book?

I had to think about that question.  At around 200 pages, it is not a long book, but it is also not short.  It took me three years to research, write and edit. It is available on Amazon.com as a paperback and will soon to be available for the Kindle reader. 

Still, before it was published we had to make a decision about it. (Incidentally, the Kindle edition will be priced at around $4.99- but most likely this price will go down over time)

If I price my book too low, it would looks like I am desperate sell the book, and if I price it too high, people will not buy it.  After a while, and much looking on Amazon at prices and book lengths, some people suggested the price of $20.00 US.  To me, this is pricing your self-published book too high.

This seemed to work for many, but I had some doubts about that price.  After all, it is a first book, and it is aimed a niche market.  The book is about Transylvania and the Second World War.  I have followers on my writing blog, and followers on my blog on Transylvania.  Publishing a book means some money, but it takes effort to do this.

I think that the doubts were not about the price specifically but rather the impression that reader could have about the book.  For those who have gone to look at the price, you will see that I decided on $15.00 for a 200 page book.  Why this price?

Here are my three main reasons:

1) It is a niche market and books of that length were priced at about $17.00.  I felt confident most people who bought this book would be happier with this price.

2) It is a history book, and most larger history hardcover books are about $40.00 for about double to triple the number of pages.  The same history book in paperback are usually around $30.00  I felt conformable with $15 and not padding my book.

3) I want to sell my book — not have people complain about the price.  I felt that $15 is a reasonable price to ask.  It is a published book which took a lot of time and effort to write.  Not to mention I had to pay for an editor so I’d like to make my costs back at some point!

With this information how much would you pay for a book?