Quote:
Originally Posted by SensualPoet
Yes, for New York Times Bestsellers. Ian Fleming's somewhat dated Bond novels are not in that class -- and there are 14 of them. The estate should certainly do some price elasticity testing but their goal is to sell as many copies of as many titles as possible. A more realistic price, relative to current blockbusters, is more likely to maximise sales by encouraging volume.
JA Konrath has already plainly demonstrated how much better he is employing an ebook model with a higher royalty and lower price than trying to sell stuff at $10 or more.
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With all due respect to J. A. Konrath, he's not Ian Fleming, and his main current creation, Lt. Jaqueline "Jack" Daniels isn't international icon James Bond. His strategy may be appropriate for him. It won't necessarily be appropriate for other properties.
The estate's goal is maximizing
revenue, which is not the same thing as maximizing unit sales. They may
make more money at a lower price, but neither of us
know that. You simply believe it to be the case, which is a different matter. (You may be right. But if there
were a way of determining the optimum price for this sort of thing that wasn't "trial and error", you can assume the estate would use it, and we wouldn't be having this conversation.)
You're a member of the second class of readers I spoke of: you've already read the books, consider them "somewhat dated", and don't think they're worth $10 each to
you. As mentioned, I think the majority of those buying the ebook editions will be new readers attracted by the films and Bond's iconic status. They'll likely attach a higher value to them than you will.
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Dennis