Next up is Amber Allure. I’ve had a long-standing grudge against Amber Allure due to the huge margins and small text with seemingly high prices. So really when I started this pricing guide, Amber Allure was always in my sights. Not to mention the discounts on the site but not on e-tailers. So I know they’re playing a little shifty with their pricing but are my frustrations justified or just perception? To start with, if you google “amber allure” nothing comes up. Ok, yet another frustration but let’s attempt to move on to the site itself.
Now one thing I have to say for AA is that they are extremely clear on their word counts. They explain that they don’t list page count but word count, which works perfectly for me.
- Amber Brief: 2,500 – 4,999 Words $1.50 / Discounted $1.00
- Amber Kiss: 5,000 – 10,000 Words $3.00 / Discounted $2.25
- Extended Amber Kiss: 11,000 – 17,000 Words $4.00 / Discounted $3.00
- Novella: 18,000 – 29,000 Words $5.00 / Discounted $3.75
- Extended Novella: 30,000 – 40,000 Words $6.00 / Discounted $4.50
- Novel: 41,000 – 70,000 Words $7.00 / Discounted $5.25
- Extended Novel: 71,000+ Words $8.00 / Discounted $6.00
Thank you AA! There are 364 titles under the Amber Allure imprint which includes at least a dozen or more paperback collections and ménage books. AA doesn’t exist at FW or ARe, but instead is uploaded under the parent umbrella of Amber Quill.
Doing an exhaustive check of their listed word counts and prices with both FW and ARe, I feel confident that AA is listing accurate counts. AA tends to round down, which is fine, as FW and ARe both come very close to the stated word counts. So for once, there is no a big discrepancy between the publisher and other outlets! This actually makes life SO much easier when everything is not only consistent but clear. This made me so happy, my grudge almost lifted.
So what does this mean?
No links for you!
I use the links to show the discrepancies which always exist but somehow AA has shown such close consistency there’s no need. The word counts are extremely consistent and the price listed for FW/ARe matches the AA site exactly for every single book. Shocking!
Pricing for AA is more difficult though. For starters, everything offered on the AA publisher site is discounted by 25%. However the price at e-tailers such as ARe or FW is the full price. For example:
11k Extended Amber Kiss for $4.00, discounted to $3.00 on AA is $4 on ARe and FW.
http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Fugue.html
http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-fugue-11278-147.html
http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b84065/Fugue/Rick-R-Reed/?si=0
So clearly you’re not getting the best price to shop at e-tailers as this trend follows with ALL the categories listed. So let’s break down what that means for the price per word.
The lowest book I found was 3400 words and the highest was 80,000 words.
Of the 364 titles listed, the overwhelming majority are Extended Amber Kiss or Novella. There are only a handful of Novels and Extended Novels.
If you’re buying from the AA site which includes a base 25% discount, this is the price per word. There is a huge spike in cost in their Amber Kiss category ($2.25 for 5k words).

What if you buy from ARe/FW? As you’d expect, the trend is the same, just more expensive.

Now how does it stack up with other publishers? Well this is a little messy.

Well this is a little messy.
So looking at short stories with other publishers, Amber Allure is some of the most expensive. However, if you buy from their site (thick red line), it’s considerably more affordable.

As for longer length, novella and up, Amber still tends to be one of the most expensive publishers. Without the discount from Amber, the publisher is now the leading MOST expensive. Only Noble eclipses AA – even DSP and Loose Id are cheaper!
However with the discount, AA comes middle of the road to cheapest at the high end.

So what does all of this mean?
Well it means that AA is incredibly consistent, which is very good to know. They keep a consistent pricing and word count strategy that transfers over to retailers as well. Unfortunately it also means that depending where you shop, AA can be the most expensive or one of the cheapest publishers.
To get your money’s worth from AA you HAVE to shop at their website. If you don’t, you’re likely to pay up to $2 MORE for the same book which means you’re definitely not getting your money’s worth.
If you shop at the AA website, Amber Allure is pretty competitive price wise among publishers, though they tend to specialize in 10k to 30k word stories. They have considerably fewer 40k+ stories than other publishers.
Bottom Line
Don’t shop at retailers. Shop at the publisher. I can’t stress this enough.
The rest of the series can be found HERE!