New book prices and sales…
Most of my indie ebooks are $2.99. Considering that the Sunday Times is $6 now, and I spend far more time producing a book than the Times does in writing that newspaper (I’m discounting ad copy, which I ignore), I hereby announce that all new ebooks in the future will either be $3.99 and up, depending on word count. That means they’ll still be a bargain, of course. (There’s almost zero entertaining and meaningful fiction in the Times, so maybe I’m comparing apples to oranges?)
I don’t have control of pricing for my traditionally published ebooks (the ebook version of Rembrandt’s Angel, $5.50, still beats the cost of the Times, though). Same goes for all my print books. The indie ones have the lowest prices that Amazon’s Create Space allows; the traditional ones, like the traditionally published ebooks, have prices set by the publishers.
For readers who want free ebooks or ebooks on sale, forget about it! I long ago decided not to give away my hard work, no matter how much Amazon, book promo sites, and readers want me to do so. Marketing gurus advise authors to make the first book in a series free. I find at least two problems with that marketing strategy: (1) I spend at least as much time and effort writing that first book as any other book in the series, or any other book, for that matter (some books, like Rembrandt’s Angel, require a lot of research, for example); and (2) that marketing tactic is unfair to readers and authors alike because it assumes that readers have to read a series sequentially, when a true series should have the property that each book can be read independently—if the latter’s not true, the series is just a soap opera! (That was Howey’s installments of Wool until he combined them together, that soap-opera flavor affecting the total—still a good read, though.)
If you want free, and insist on it, I provide that option in abundance with short stories in these blog posts from my colleague A. B. Carolan and me, and I also offer free short fiction as downloads (short story collections and novellas—see the “Free Stuff & Contests” webpage for the list and the easy directions for downloading). Of course, reviewers can receive a free copy of a book in exchange for an honest review (habitual reviewers often receive bonus ebooks of their choice too). That’s it for free! Nada mas!
I haven’t been exclusive to Amazon for a while (and consequently no longer sell many ebooks there because they’re penalizing me for figuring out their abusive system that works against authors?—Mark Coker from Smashwords has some informative words about that!). As a result, I can’t offer sales there anymore (Amazon is nasty that way). I’ve offered sales on Smashwords, but that ends with the Great Spring Thaw Sale, which finishes at the end of June (time’s wastin’ if you haven’t taken advantage of this—there are at least two ebooks on sale every week). FYI: that sale has been a flop. (To be fair, Smashwords sometimes passes the offers on to its affiliates, iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc, and I’ve noticed a slight uptick in iBook sales—their affiliates do better for me than either Amazon, which does noting, and Smashwords, but sales aren’t great anywhere right now because of readership demographics AKA millennials don’t read, old people do).
My ebook prices have always been bargains compared to most traditionally published ebooks, which are often $10 or more. By the way, I’m not changing my present ebook prices, just the new ebook prices. Remember, they’re as low or lower than most newspapers now…and still will be. Yeah, I get it: newspapers are struggling to survive. Well, I’m struggling to survive as an author! (Even the NY Times Book Review makes that difficult.)
One perception I’ve fought all my publishing life is that low prices for indie books implies inferior quality. That’s malarkey, of course. While my books are different and hardly formulaic—I’d been collecting story ideas for years before I started publishing—every book I write represents the kind of book I love to read, whether indie or traditional. I look for entertainment and meaningful themes in my reading; I provide the same in my books. A. B. Carolan does the same.
If you don’t like the comparison with the Times (after all, it’s not fiction and is only the news that’s fit to print, right?-but especially discounting the ad copy), compare my prices to a McDonald’s meal. All my ebooks cost less or about the same one, and guess which indulgence is better for you. Of course, if you’re reading this post, you already know that!
Finally, I will make an appeal to authors: If you’re giving your books away for free or at absurdly low prices, you’re doing great damage to reading and literacy. Good storytelling should be rewarded, and you’re training readers to think they deserve it for free. Even if you’re basically writing for fun, you still need to recover production and promotion costs (the latter because readers must know the book exists to even consider it). In the current publishing environment, few authors can make a living with their storytelling. Do NOT allow readers to undervalue it.
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Great Spring Thaw Sale? Still on at Smashwords! My author page there lists all my ebooks there, and you’ll find at least two on sale to the end of June. My oeuvre contains both oldies (more current today than ever before) and new releases. Great late spring and summer reading.
In libris libertas!
