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Originally Posted by Catlady
But this is because we expect a mainstream published book to have a certain minimum level of quality--we expect the process to have separated the wheat from the chaff.
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But once they've done that, they don't charge more for the exquisitely well-written, lingers-in-your-mind-for-decades books. The ones that will change the lives of readers and the ones that will be read once, pondered for fifteen minutes, and then forgotten, are side-by-side on the shelf, with the same sticker price if they came off the press at the same time.
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Whereas with a self-published book, it's a leap of faith to choose to read one, and price becomes a much bigger factor in the purchasing decision.
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Why? Because self-publishing authors will only charge more than $5 if the book is very good, and will know that poorly-written unedited drafts are only worth $1? My research hasn't shown that to be true.
I'm certainly more willing to take a chance on a $1-3 book by an unknown author. But that doesn't mean I believe an ebook offered for $7 is more likely to entertain me, nor do I automatically believe that it's more likely to have been carefully edited, proofread, and formatted. Indeed, what I've seen is that a lot of would-be pro authors who believe they are too "edgy" for mainstream publication price their books as high or higher than mass-market paperbacks, on the theory that they are "worth" that much.
And I can't speak for objective value, only my limits: $6 for non-DRM'd fiction ebooks. $3 for authors I don't know. Not because "no ebook is worth more than that," but because I'm certain I can find endless content I will enjoy reading for that price or less, and have no need to pay more.