Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
(snip)
We do discuss other methods around here, though. I am presently using a different model entirely (low price, multiple formats, no DRM), to see how well it works... sort of an ongoing experiment in e-book workability. Others are using other models, and you could say we're all experimenting to see what works best. The field is so new, that no one method has proven itself yet, and other methods remain to be discovered or tried.
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I (mostly) like where this conversation is leading, so in the interest of avoiding other conflicts, I'll stick to pricing and availability.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
Few here would disagree with that assessment. Though volume is easily enough dealt with in electronic files, exposure and usability are tough nuts to crack.
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Steve, I've read 2 books from your package, and I'll get to the others sometime. I think you've got a fair price, but the limited output you have makes it difficult to use some of the pricing models popular elsewhere. (Is this the place to say "sit down and write?")
Currency is valuable. All other things being equal, a newer book should be worth more than an older one, if you follow something similar to the music or video media. As the movies get older (as in, longer in popular release, not necessarily older in date if an older movie has not yet been released on dvd), the price tends to drop. (On the other hand, Disney has gotten around this for years by putting a show on for a limited period, then pulling it from the market to be released again later.) Within the limits of copyright, I would think that an author's (or maybe more appropriately, a publisher's) backlist would be priced for less than the newest releases. My favorite example of Baen Books DOESN'T do it this way, but most of "us partisans" think the webscription price is low enough not to worry about further price reductions due to age.
But, for example, I've seen Fictionwise putting all of an author's available backlist on sale to generate a few more transactions while they're popular.
The key factor of availability is actually notice, or maybe publicity. Without being a MobileRead user, I wouldn't know about Steve Jordan books. Your listing on Amazon might help, but if the Amazon Kindle version could be purchased by a non-kindle owner, it would help more. If I were searching for a book to read using the right keywords to target one of Steve Jordan's books, it would help if there were more available targets (than just the original website). In that pursuit, I know that Fictionwise will accept works that have a non-exclusive ebook right, but I don't know what other limitations they might have on what works they will accept. If an acceptable means of generating audiobook formats is available, there are a number of ways of distributing audio format that will generate publicity. ( I recently talked to an author (M.H. Bonham) at an SF con who had gotten a publisher for the first time based on a fairly large number of downloads from Podiobooks.com)
Another way to increase links down the long tail is to make use of recommendation features. If you (or any reader) can make a comparison between your works and another author, then you can draw shoppers down the link trail. For example, my mother listens to lots of mystery audiobooks (she's mostly blind). I don't read a lot of mystery, and I fairly regularly go looking for new authors she hasn't read yet. I pick a current author on Amazon, and check all the links on the page for other suggested authors - the "people who bought this also bought that", and particularly the "listmania". (A listmania list will be displayed on the pages of every book listed, so your books could be seen by people looking at the related books.) So, I recommend generating a couple of lists of authors and books you think are similar to yours in style or subject matter, then posting such to Amazon.
And my last suggestion for the night: Think about making the couple of works you have up for free available on other well known sites. Your individual books have links back to your website, so that could also draw new readers. Maybe the Baen Free Library? Maybe Fictionwise? (hmm, maybe try a reverse logic trick, and put the free books up for 49 cents or such on Fictionwise?)
Dunno exactly how much any of these thoughts would actually drive sales of a lone author's work, but none of them should be affected by the presence or absence of drm.