Don't Just Roll The Dice - A usefully short guide to software pricing [Paperback]

Neil Davidson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2009

How do you price your software? Is it art, science or magic? How much attention should you pay to your competitors? This short handbook will provide you with the theory, practical advice and case studies you need to stop yourself from reaching for the dice. Table of Contents Chapter 01: Some - but not too much - Economics Chapter 02: Pricing Psychology: What is your product worth? Chapter 03: Pricing Pitfalls Chapter 04: Advanced Pricing Chapter 05: What your price says about you (and how to change it) Why read this book? "At Business of Software 2007 Michael Pryor held an impromptu session on how to price your software. So many people turned up, and so many people kept on arriving, that by the time they’d introduced themselves there was no time left to talk about software pricing. I’ve had similar experiences; in fact, “How do I price my software?” is probably the most common question I’m asked by software entrepreneurs and product managers. This handbook is an attempt to answer that question." Neil Davidson, Author. About the Author Neil Davidson is co-founder and joint CEO of Red Gate Software. Red Gate was founded in 1999 and now employs some 150 people. It was Cambridge News business of the year in 2006 and has been in the Sunday Times top 100 companies to work for three years running. It was founded with no VC money and little debt. Neil is also founder of the annual Business of Software conference and runs the Business of Software social network.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Neil Davidson is co-founder and joint CEO of Red Gate Software. Red Gate was founded in 1999 and now employs some 150 people. It was Cambridge News business of the year in 2006 and has been in the Sunday Times top 100 companies to work for three years running. It was founded with no VC money and little debt. Neil is also founder of the annual Business of Software conference and runs the Business of Software social network.

Product Details

• Paperback: 84 pages
• Publisher: Red gate books (October 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1906434387
• ISBN-13: 978-1906434380
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 8 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #987,182 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great primer on product pricing, October 21, 2009

By 

Dan Nunan (Cambridge, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Don't Just Roll The Dice - A usefully short guide to software pricing (Paperback)

This short, but not overly short, book is a great primer on any sort of product pricing. Whilst the content is aimed at software products, it has wider appeal to any sort of product business. The content is varied and original, and is worth putting in front of anyone who doesn't understand the role of customer perceptions in pricing decisions. It's essential reading for anyone who's ever said "no-one will ever pay more than $50 for my product" without actually trying different pricing strategies.

Given that there isn't really anything else that covers this topic well, I only have two very minor points to make.

Firstly, it doesn't really cover the services side of software. This isn't authors goal for the book, but the content is most helpful if you are selling products.

Secondly, I would have liked to see more action photos of the author wielding his calculator whilst in the process of pricing. Leaving this to the readers imagination was, in my opinion, an editorial oversight.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great information with an instant payback for the reader..., November 15, 2009

By 

Thomas Duff "Duffbert" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Don't Just Roll The Dice - A usefully short guide to software pricing (Paperback)

If you've created software for sale, you have dealt with the all-important question... what do I charge for it? Neil Davidson does an excellent job in helping you figure out the answer in his book Don't Just Roll The Dice - A usefully short guide to software pricing. He doesn't tell you *what* to charge. Instead, he give you a short lesson on how to come up with the best pricing strategy given your situation. And best of all, he does it in a concise 73 pages. I was impressed!

Contents: Some - but not too much - Economics; Pricing Psychology - What is your product worth?; Pricing Pitfalls; Advanced Pricing; What your price says about you (and how to change it); Product Pricing Checklist

It's tempting to think that the cheaper you price your software, the more you'll make. But Davidson puts that misconception to rest right at the start. Depending on your target audience, cheap pricing may either leave money on the table or cause people to perceive your software as low-value. Davidson helps you understand your market and develop a pricing strategy that can maximize the profit you receive from your hard work. He also outlines a number of mistakes that are common and lead to people turning to alternatives without considering your product. For instance, some companies try to throw a variety of different feature combinations at a purchaser, all with different price points. But unless it's easy to assign value to the different features, too many combinations can cause the purchaser to either buy the cheapest or most expensive combination just to save the mental anguish. That means that potential purchasers may again bolt for other alternatives, or you could end up leaving money on the table.

This is an inexpensive book and a quick read, but don't be fooled into thinking that it's of limited value. Don't Just Roll The Dice may well pay for itself with the first copy of software that you sell. And it will *definitely* give you a much better chance at avoiding pricing errors that could be hard to overcome in the market.

Disclosure:
Obtained From: Author
Payment: Free

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best "Software Pricing" summary you can get, October 23, 2009

By 

Leonardo Vernazza - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Don't Just Roll The Dice - A usefully short guide to software pricing (Paperback)

After reading Free: The Future of a Radical Price and this book in two weeks, I have a clearer idea of the full Pricing thories and trends in software. I highly recommend to read both books together as they show complementary data.

Free might be the answer for extremely huge companies, but the rest 95% will still need to take this guide into account ;)

I found this book with a better content-size rate and very well written. Highly recomendable.