Quote:
Originally Posted by Elfwreck
Like Konrath?
The arguments for cheap *ebooks* are drastically different from the arguments for cheap paper books.
Paper books cost to print, cost to deliver, cost to track inventory. They take up space while you've got them and take postage to send them away. The price *can't* ever drop to garage-sale levels; no matter how much publishers yell that production costs are really all about advances, editing, and overhead, the fact is, they cost considerably more than three-for-a-dollar to print, especially anything bigger than 150-page mmpbs.
Ebooks, however, *don't* cost to print. Don't cost to deliver. Inventory is simple and also cheap. At three-for-a-dollar, that's at least 25 cents profit. (Not that you can sell ebooks that cheap at any store, because *they* have overhead costs and don't want to deal with five-cent-per-sale incomes.)
The best method for pbooks is: price as high as the market will bear, because the fewer units you have to make, the lower your expenses. If you can make your annual income selling one book for $50,000, go for it. Every book created is an *expense;* it costs materials, accounting time, and physical resources from several people not included in the money-chain. The costs of making the book have to be balanced against the benefits that it brings.
The best method for ebooks is: price as low as you can to balance the maximum number of sales with profit-per-sale. If John Locke's sales would've been cut in half with his books at $2.99 each, he still would've been better off that way. (If, however, he'd've only had 1/5 the sales he got at a dollar, he made the better choice.)
Every ebook created is *not* an expense. There's *no* reason not to have a million of them... if you can find a million customers.
We don't know what the "sweet spot" is for ebooks, not by genre or subcategory, not by individual book. But it's damn well not $12.99, as shown by the incredible surge in sales when the price drops, and the number of $3-a-book authors who are paying their rent from Kindle sales.
Yes, it's a tiny number. Making a living from arts & crafts has *always* been precarious. The real question: Are *more* bestselling $12.99-a-book authors making a living at their craft, than $3-a-book indie authors?
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Nice selective quoting as is usual around here... ignore everything relating to comments concerning a substantial number of authors and actually making a living... ah well... call it "arts & crafts", that makes it all right...
And if you aren't getting money for it then it is an "expense" as you're cannibalising your own possible sales... every book you give away is a definite sale not made...