Quote:
Originally Posted by ProfCrash
I pay for the quality of the writing as well as the story. There are a ton of Indie authors out there that I do not read because I don't trust the quality of the writing.
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I, too, pay for the quality of the writing plus the storytelling ability of the author and the story's ability to interest me. But when it comes to ebooks, I prefer to spend $2.99 or less on an indie author than to pay $15 for an established author.
My experience with indie authors is that 1 out of 10 can weave a good story but only 1 out of 15-20 can both weave a good story and write well. Yet, because nearly all of the indie titles I have "bought" I "bought" for free, I am willing to wade through a dozen or so pages of a book before deciding whether to continue to read or to delete.
When I do find an indie author who can both weave a good story and write well, I am as well-rewarded as if I had bought the newest novel by a well-known, established trade author. It makes the search worthwhile.
I have found that I am unwilling to spend $15 on an established author for an ebook for several reasons. First, is the fact that the ebook is licensed. Second, is the problem of DRM. Third, and perhaps most important, there are too many James Patterson-type bookmills. Is the book I am paying $15 for really written by Patterson or has he just lent his name to the narrative for a bigger cut of the pie?
I think it is a mistake not to keep searching for high-aulity indie authors. It was through such searching that I found indie authors like Shayne Parkingson, LJ Seller, Michael Hicks, Richard Tuttle, Vicki Tyley, and Tracey Falbe, among others. And once I found them, I found the reading experience to equal that of the well-known trade authors but at a significantly more reasonable price. Consequently, I have been willing to pay for their new books (e.g., in Tuttle's case I bought 28 of his books).