A thought experiment

Let’s assume I write software for a living.

Let’s assume I built something and the total cost of development is a nice round number like $10.000.

Let’s assume I expect to sell a certain number of copies, say 1.000.

Let’s assume I like to turn a profit (I do) and not give away my work (I don’t). How much should I charge?

$1? Don’t be ridiculous.

$10? Assuming every copy is sold that’d put me at break even. But at $0 net I might as well not have built anything. And if I don’t sell 1.000 copies, I’d have lost money.

$20? Now we’re talking. I’d be looking at recouping my costs and making a decent profit - I might even be able to pay for food and housing for a few months.

$100? If 200 customers find my something worth that much, why not?

Now, let’s assume the number of copies with certainty cannot exceed 1.000 for whatever reason.

How much would you charge?