Quote:
Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks
In general, without the self-pub folks to get these thing started (by agreeing to do it and providing the initial books) there isn't much pressure on the BHPs to participate. I think it's the self-pub'd and backlist authors that provide the incentive for the BHPs to branch out. To keep readers happy, I think you really do need both.
All in all, I think self-pub's are the reason we see the 1.99 and 2.99 sales out of the BHPs (at least in genre books). And of course, a lot of that came about because Amazon tried various marketing techniques.
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After the fiasco that was the Kindle TTS intro, pretty much every major ebook innovation from Amazon has been spearheaded by indies in general and self-pubbers in particular. Part of it is that they are more willing to experiment, more involved in day to day promotion of their titles, and more agile in thought and deed. And less constrained by contractual obligations.
Whether it be discount pricing, serials, Matchbook, or subscriptions... Self-pubbers' kneejerk reaction tends to echo Gregor Vorbarra: "Let's see what happens..."
They don't mind taking a few arrows in the back to see how things play out on the frontlines.