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Originally Posted by pwalker8
I use the books that I buy, which is a mix of traditional publishing and indie. For example, some of the recently released fiction books that I've bought
Blood Heir (comes out in Jan.) $7
Manna From Heaven - $7
War God's Own - $7
Ready Player Two (November) $15
My Name is Legion - $8
Creatures of Light and Darkness - $8
Wild Sign (March) $15
Queen of Attolia - $10
Age of Empyre - $10
In general new Hardback have one price point, new paperbackYou have a different one. Backlist are all over the place.
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I'm not sure which of those are indie and which are traditional and am not inclined to look. I know of very few indie authors that regularly price new releases at $15. For new Stephen King, that's the norm.
Honestly, I'd think most indies that reach a stage where they can price new releases at $15 would likely be snapped up by a traditional publisher.
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You have to sell a lot of books at $1 a book to make a living at it. How many authors do you think actually sell 50K books a year? There are some, but not many.
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I'm not making an argument that books should be $1. I couldn't say what prices for books *should* be. I'm just saying that indie books are overall less expensive than traditional publisher books and I do think traditional publishers would be better off charging less for ebooks. At least backlist ones. I do think they would sell more if they did so. I think backlist books aren't priced per any special secret recipe. They are priced so as not to undercut their own paperback prices.
In western fiction, one of the biggest living authors is a guy named Peter Brandvold. The state of westerns being what it is, his books aren't released as hardcovers. But he releases new books both via traditional publishers and indies. The traditional books are priced at mass market paperback prices ($8 or $9) indies are always cheaper.
He has released much of his backlist for $1. In fact, I've picked up several omnibuses of his for $1 each. I think that is too cheap. But hopefully he knows what he is doing.