Quote:
Originally Posted by crossi
Romance readers are voracious buyers of backlist titles. Some used bookstores carry almost nothing else. A romance reader who likes an author will buy ALL their backlist and spend hours combing used books stores to find them My favorite authors I have been rebuying as they became available ($6.99 or less only). I've rebought hundreds of titles. So there is a market for backlist romances at least (science fiction and fantasy also). As for the cost of conversion that is a one time expense for many years of continued income. They don't need to make it all back in a couple months like the celebrity books that come and go so rapidly. Long term they could be a reliable source of yearly income.
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The cost of conversion to several formats and uploading to several platforms is not that cheap. I do it myself, but just for one format, an author would be very lucky to find someone to do it for 60 dollars--oh you found an error? Well, to re-upload it is another 30. Yes, these are real prices from real people I know. And 60 dollars is on the low end with the author doing the format approval.
Yes, an author can continue to make some money for years--but again, conversion isn't the only cost. See my post above. Cover art is actually one of the higher costs and IMO it's a necessity in order to make your money back.