Zealot
Posts: 100
Karma: 1018
Join Date: Feb 2010
Device: enTourage eDGe
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Actually, I think people will generally pay a fair price for their entertainment, if and only if, it is easy to do, and they are treated fairly.
As soon as it is easier not to, you have lost a lot of people. Encumber the works so people think the author/publisher/whatnot is out to cheat them, they will start to take more, and won't care.
Once you loose that battle (as a industry, not individually), you have lost the respect of consumers, and they will start to think you deserve to be ripped off. I think the Music and Movie groups have crossed this point. Most consumers think they are evil, and going overboard, and they don't look down on those that take the work. They still have the benefit that most people frown on other corps doing the same, but I think that is bound to change too.
As an Author/publisher, once you start treating your fans as criminals, they will stop being fans, and start being adversaries, once that happens, you have lost completely.
To the OP, you have stated many times why you aren't more successful in this thread. And it has nothing to do with pirating or your books being on a torrent. You don't advertise, you have stated your presence is here alone (small community, small readership), you don't know how to market.
As an example, I have read Sci-Fi/Fantasy my whole life. Enjoy it, but I didn't know you, and I have been on here for a while, and on the internet for much longer than there was a www (remember watching the birth of the www). Further, and this is me and my opinion, when I went to your site, nothing struck me to even want to put in my TBR pile. Some of the books might be good, but for me the cover art and descriptions are not nearly enough to draw me to spend money on the books.
To continue the example, look at the Kestral series, the Covers would have me pass in a bookstore, never to even pick it up to read the blurbs. Online, I am there, so I might read the blurb (by being electronic, you have already made it further than you would have in a traditional setting). So you have less than 85 words on your site, trying to convince me to spend money. Although slightly intrigued, there is no way I would spend money on this little bit of info. In a past world, I would get the first of a series that might intrigue me from the library, and see if it is worth my time & money (time being more valuable than the cost, but cost playing in).
Now, let's run another example of an author I found recently, Randolph Lalonde. I also first heard about him from a post here, and went and looked at the books he had to offer. I picked up his Omnibus for free from smashwords, and put it on my TBR pile, and started it while riding the exercise bike in the mornings. He hooked me, and before the end of that omnibus, I had purchased the next 5 books in the series, and I am eagerly waiting for the rest of them to be published. His price was right, and I could see if I liked the series and author before spending much money. His cover artwork is also very good and attractive, which helps draw consumers. I didn't even think of searching for a torrent.
--Carl
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