Small-Biz Lessons From the Kindle's Success

3. Price It Right

Yes, the iPod was a revolutionary design. But a huge part of the music player's success was Apple's(AAPL Quote) decision to price songs at 99 cents: low enough to encourage impulse purchases, but high enough to convince record companies to participate.

With the Kindle, most titles are priced at $9.99 or less, a savings compared to bookstore prices.

"Most consumers I've spoken with feel e-books should be priced lower than print books," says Wikert. "The intellectual property still has the same value in both models but consumers are savvy enough to realize that a number of costs go away in the e-book world. It can be very tough to justify the price tag for the device, so the lower price of the e-books helps make the initial investment for the device a bit easier to swallow."

Find the sweet spot between what customers are willing to spend and what you need to be profitable, and you'll keep everyone happy. You may have to make some initial sacrifices (as Amazon did when it dropped the initial $400 price of the Kindle to $350).

But if you offer customers convenience at the right price, you may just have a blockbuster on your hands.