Things have changed so much from the days when I self-published Taxed to Death and Fatal Encryption. One of the best aspects about this is the bounty of
useful resources to help writers produce a quality product in this hi-tech age.
On December 21 I blogged about the huge carrot Amazon was dangling in front of authors--the opportunity to share in a $500,000 pool via the new KDP Select program. I mentioned that I wasn't happy with some of the conditions of this program or with Amazon's obvious ploy to monopolize the industry. Regardless of the smile on my face in the pic to the left, I don't like being backed into a corner. However, I recognize from a business perspective they're doing what most successful businesses attempt to do--destroy the competition.First, thanks to everyone for posting your thoughtful comments on last week's topic about spamming. I really appreciate it! Now, onto new issues:
Since my first two mysteries, Taxed to Death and Fatal Encryption were published three years ago, I’ve been reading lots of internet discussion and articles about ebook pricing. Since that time, I’ve learned two things: the range in book prices is wider than ever and opinions about how much e-books should cost are stronger than ever. Here’s a sample of what I’ve been hearing:
Self-publishers were saying (generally speaking—there are always exceptions) that an unknown author with a new book should charge .99 cents (and sometimes even free) to entice new readers. Well, that worked well for a while and many of my colleagues were selling quite a few copies per month, but the game has changed, partly because of Amazon. Unfortunately, too many indie authors were using amazon’s forums to promote their books on the wrong threads which offended enough readers to launch complaints. So, amazon tightened the rules significantly about where and how much authors can promote.
The other factor is that the enormous number of .99 books has created what some readers/writers now refer to at the “.99 cent ghetto”. What this means is that a .99 cent book is automatically assumed to be self-published and of poor quality. To combat this growing attitude, some authors are raising their prices to $2.99 or even higher. As I write this, these folks are still generating sales, but the experiments I’m following are fairly new, so we’ll see how it goes.
Here’s the other side of the coin. A lower priced book, indie published or not, isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as there are plenty of readers looking for new authors and a bargain. In fact, there are many readers who refuse to pay more than $3.00 no matter whose name is on the cover. You can see where the dilemma rises when trying to find the right price point for your own book.
There are also readers who assume, rightly or wrongly, that a book priced at $6.99 or more is a traditionally published book and therefore less prone to the grammar, spelling, and formatting glitches of self-published books and, believe me, this is a common complaint! It’s true that traditional publishers are pricing their books higher partly because they have overhead: hiring professionals to format in different platforms, as well as experienced book jacket designers, and so on. The other reason is that publishers tend to believe that books have value (again, there are probably exceptions). In other words, why should their products be the same price as a pack of gum? Publishing isn’t just about mass market thrillers, but about art, creativity, and thought-provoking, helpful information, for starters. Let’s think about it: how much do we pay to invest two hours of our time at a movie theatre? My last 3D movie (Harry Potter) was $13.50! The price of popcorn cost more expensive than most ebooks! Needless to say, this is a topic that’s ripe for debate.
And then there’s the backlash syndrome. One famous author who’s received his share of great reviews over the years commented that his ebooks were receiving 1-star ratings as a backlash for the book’s high price, which was $16.99, a price set by his publisher. Book piracy is now flourishing partly because people simply refuse to pay that kind of money for a virtual book. Even readers who don’t want anything to do with the .99 cent ghetto might still refuse to pay more than $10 for an ebook. And so, the dilemma rages on. I’ve love to hear your thoughts on this. How much do you charge for your books? How much are you willing to pay for someone else’s? Have you thought about changing your price, up or down, and if so, why?
THE OPPOSITE OF DARK, http://bit.ly/i983XE, Chapters/Indigo http://bit.ly/gtFSFw
FATAL ENCRYPTION, http://tinyurl.com/ddzsxl
TAXED TO DEATH, http://tinyurl.com/czsy5n
This week, I had an interesting discussion and read a couple of articles about the explosion in e-publishing that is throwing traditional print publishers into a bit of a tailspin. There’s no doubt that the e-book market is growing rapidly. When I first wrote about e-publishing sales, they captured only about 1% of the market. Several months later, I read statistics indicating that the market was up to 3%. A recent article by Christine Kearney published in The Vancouver Sun suggested that e-books now account for 5% to 6% of all U.S. book sales, although this is still a fledgling market not yet making money for most publishers. Also, traditional print publishers are losing money on books and have been for several years. For this reason, Kearney believes that publishers will accept the work of proven authors with great sales records, a trend they’ve been leaning toward for some time, in fact. This doesn’t bode well for up and coming midlist authors who’ve already taken their share of hits over the past twenty years.
There is a growing battle for readers from traditional publishers, Amazon, e-publishers, and independent authors. While independent authors have been marking down their newly published e-books to a dollar or less to attract readers, it seems that some of the big publishers are following suit. According to a piece in the Southern Review of Books, Harlequin is actually giving away a 15,000 e-book novella to readers, hoping to entice them to purchase the author’s full length work.
So, I’ve been wondering, where is all of this going to lead? As author and publisher, Julie H. Ferguson suggests in her insightful blog, the e-book explosion will definitely impact a writer’s contract. As Julie points out, it’s up to writers to keep up with the times and trends whether their publishers are on board with the e-book world or not.
The thing is, with over one million books being published (not including reprints) every year and with so many more people choosing to publish electronically, is there a real market for even a fraction of all those books? Statistics indicate that people aren’t reading more than they used to; in fact, they’re reading and buying fewer books. As I’ve mentioned in the past, the average book sells maybe 250 copies. With so many more books being published, could that figure drop to say, fifty copies in another five years? A writer’s world has always been challenging and competitive. While producing and promoting a book is certainly easier than it was fifteen years ago, the battle to rise from obscurity and sell lots of books might be harder than ever. It wouldn’t be wise to count on royalty income as one’s sole retirement plan. Given the way things are going, the odds aren’t great. On the other hand, I know a few fairly unknown independent authors who sell far more than 250 print copies of their work, so who knows?
To read the entire Kearney article go to http://tinyurl.com/36al3wh
You’ll find the Southern Review of Books’ piece on e-books under No. 26 at http://anvilpub.net/southern_review_of_books.htm
To read more of Julie’s insightful blogs on this and other topics go to http://beaconlit.blogspot.com/2010/02/explosion-in-e-books-will-affect-our.html
