Quote:
Originally Posted by pwalker8
Ah yes, the assertion that if only publishers knew how to price books, they could be selling X times what they are selling...
The fact that the indies price point for authors who write on the same basic writing schedule have drifted up to the publishers price point indicates that the publishers are probably pretty close to the right price point.
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You keep saying that, but it doesn't match my experience. Granted, I haven't done a deep dive and won't claim to know all.
But Joe Konrath (indie) sells his books for about $5 (not counting collections).
Peter Straub (traditional) has his books priced at about $9.
Clive Barker has a mix, indie and traditional. The Hellbound Heart and Weaveworld were published at about the same time. But The Hellbound Heart (a novella of 176 pages, published by Harper) is $6. Weaveworld (a novel of 652 pages, now an indie) is $4.
Lyle Brandt, a not hugely popular western author has a mix of traditional and indie. He has a series called The Lawman. All originally published by Penguin. Some of the books are now indie while others are still put out by Penguin. The Penguin titles (books 1, 9-11) are priced between $7/$8. The indie ones (2-8) are priced at $5. As are his other indie books.
For all my examples, I looked at books new and old. I didn't want you to call me out for using backlist titles. They are as comparable as I could make them in the time I have.