Cheapest E-Books Upend the Charts

[Richard Herley]

Originally Posted by leebase

That's what competition is. The higher the quality, the higher the price you can command. Put your price TOO high, and folks will put up with lesser quality rather than pay the price premium. Thus, even with the ability to SET the price an ebook costs, the publisher cannot necessarily SELL the ebook at that price.

We do not require different ebook-stores to compete on price for the same ebook in order to have the benefits of pricing competition. There is competition by other books.

Lee

It's a mistake for indie authors to price too highly, especially if they have a catalogue of books. I recently got around to uploading all my titles to Amazon. Going by received wisdom, I priced most of them at $2.99, except one, which I priced at 99¢ as a come-on. Amazon then discounted it to 49¢ (I had previously offered it free via Smashwords, and one of their associates hadn't updated that price to the current 99¢).

The 49¢ title is selling ten times as many as each of the others. Ten sales at 49¢ generate a royalty of $1.715. One sale at $2.99 generates a royalty of about $2 at amazon.com (70% rate, less data transfer fee) or $1 at amazon.co.uk (35%, less data transfer fee): say an average of $1.50.

Thus the 49¢ price is more profitable for the author, and it garners ten times as many readers, who then might go on to buy other books from that author's catalogue.

In light of this, I reduced my prices across the board today to $1.00 per title, while the 49¢ title is still on sale at that price. (BTW I hate all this "99" nonsense -- is anybody fooled by it?)

[Kiteology]

Originally Posted by Richard Herley

...(BTW I hate all this "99" nonsense -- is anybody fooled by it?)

While I wholeheartedly agree with you, study after study after study has determined that .99 (or .9) versus 1.00 does constitute a psychological "boundary" (for want of a better word). It is not so much being "fooled by it" as impulsively perceiving it to be substantially less than it actually is.

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Ms Tyley has increased her prices. She used to be $0.99. Then $2.99. Now she's up to $3.99.

You can get them for 0.99 at Smashwords till the end of april, see:

http://workflowepub.com/7415/vicki-t...smashwords.php

Just bought them all.... Rhadin's recommendations never fail!!!

[mldavis2]

Originally Posted by Assassin

All readers should review and rate at least half of the books they read as a service to other readers and to the author. But how do you get them interested in getting involved? I've even put a request at the end of my books practically begging them to write a review.

I joined Goodreads.com and post my ratings (5-star system) and brief comments there. I would suggest anyone who reads seriously consider that web site which is international and has been around for many years. Most books are already in their database, but if you read an indie book that is not listed, you can add it yourself. This is an excellent resource and way to check what others think.

In addition to being a forum for ratings, it is an excellent way to enter books in your 'to-read' list so you don't forget them in the future. Excellent site.

[jbcohen]

Hmm, I used to think that all book authors were required to charge at least $8 to get published, minimum. Now I am thinking that that tends to be the publishers attempting to push book prices up.

[Giggleton]

Originally Posted by Kiteology

While I wholeheartedly agree with you, study after study after study has determined that .99 (or .9) versus 1.00 does constitute a psychological "boundary" (for want of a better word). It is not so much being "fooled by it" as impulsively perceiving it to be substantially less than it actually is.

The thing is that we are all aware of the study now and so the relevancy of the pricing is less meaningful. I priced my book at 1 dollar too That is, back when I believed pricing books was the way to go, I think otherwise now of course.

[SameOldStory]

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

I really like Ellis Peters and her Inspector George Felse titles -- originally published 1951 through the latter 1960s, I believe -- are only in paperback and at around $20 each.

Can you clarify what you mean by "full paperback prices"?

I have the complete Jack Aubry series starting in at $10.95, and the entire Flashman series starting at $14. That doesn't sound too bad, but these started in 1970 and 1984 respectively. Prices were a little bit cheaper then.

Just checked, (barring books from the '30s, '40s, '50s, and '60s) the oldest book left on my shelves is a 470 page 1984 Louis L'Amour book The Walking Drum at $4.50.

Last year I bought two Simon Scarrow ebooks at $9.99 and two Steven Saylor ebooks, also at $9.99.

I'm trying to justify buying Following the Drum: Women at the Valley Forge Encampment for $22. This book may be of interest to me, but when I die it'll be thrown away.

The rest of my ebooks were between $1 and $6.

In short, "full paperback prices", to me, are around $10, but I am willing to pay more when necessary.

[SameOldStory]

Side note: check out Ellis Peters, prices are coming down to $10 for ebook versions. I hope it's for the right books.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by wodin

Cheapest E-Books Upend the Charts

Excellent!

[Kiteology]

Originally Posted by SameOldStory

Side note: check out Ellis Peters, prices are coming down to $10 for ebook versions. I hope it's for the right books.

Am I missing something? Following your link, all I see are audio books. I would love to have Ellis Peters in e-book format (for her Cadfael series though).

[mysweety]

I do quite a bit of reading like most here on this forum. I read all the classical and semi classical in ebook format and sometimes want to read something a bit modern. For example Ahdaf Soueif. I then always look into inkmesh and bookbutler. Invariably the paperback both used and new is loads cheaper than the ebook and has no DRM. So I buy the paperback!

I think it might be a good idea to start a listing on mobileread of sites and authors who publish with no DRM and are independent. Smashwords and Orr books springs to mind. Maybe there is such a listing.

I definitely would exclude amazon from the list as it locks the reader into one particular format and applies DRM!!!!!!

[leebase]

Originally Posted by Richard Herley

In light of this, I reduced my prices across the board today to $1.00 per title, while the 49¢ title is still on sale at that price. (BTW I hate all this "99" nonsense -- is anybody fooled by it?)

I applaud your success. Good old fashioned competition in action.

Lee

[queentess]

Originally Posted by Assassin

Despite all the complaints here about editing I don't think the average reader gives a good damn about a minimal number of errors in their books. ...
But the average reader, not the people responding to forums and blogs, won't take the time or make the effort to respond out of political correctness or fear of hurting someones feelings.

You state you're not hearing about the Average Reader being concerned with editing, but then go on to state that you're not hearing from Average Reader at all. Seems a logical conclusion that perhaps they are concerned with editing, but they simply aren't giving you feedback.

Originally Posted by Assassin

All readers should review and rate at least half of the books they read as a service to other readers and to the author.

Your job as an author is to entertain me. My job as a reader is to purchase your book and be entertained by it. I will sometimes leave reviews, but I'm under absolutely no obligation to do so. Hire an editor! Don't expect your readers to pay you and then tell you where your mistakes are. I'm paying you, not the other way around.

[Forster]

Originally Posted by Assassin

Despite all the complaints here about editing I don't think the average reader gives a good damn about a minimal number of errors in their books. As I've stated in several other post you can't get readers to post reviews and state their satisfaction or dissatisfaction of a read. Example: I had 618 downloads of a book, Reverse Metamorphosis, at Smashwords when it was free. Out of that I got three reviews, one a full page by a blogger who later told me there must not have been too many editing errors or he would have noted the deficiency. But the average reader, not the people responding to forums and blogs, won't take the time or make the effort to respond out of political correctness or fear of hurting someones feelings.
All readers should review and rate at least half of the books they read as a service to other readers and to the author. But how do you get them interested in getting involved? I've even put a request at the end of my books practically begging them to write a review.

I'm one of those average readers who doesn't give a good damn about a minimal number of errors. They just don't bother me.

I'm also one of those average readers who doesn't give a good damn about reviewing books I've read. Too much effort. I'll probably tell a friend about them though. If I really enjoyed it I might leave a review. If I hated the book I might leave a review. All the middling books that I enjoy (the majority) I'm usually not moved enough to make the effort.

[grumpy3b]

like the smallest water flow, over time even the biggest rock will give way. Unless publishers learn of a way to make their products worth more. In a decade no way they will exist as they do today. And this is the difference between the music industry and literature. There are millions of potential authors out there all of which are worth reading but never make it because the big houses won't give them the time of day because the right eyes never see their work. Now anyone can take a swing at writing and get publish on their own.

I would imagine a publisher might now actually be hunting the indie authors rather than wasting 100% of their time with their slush piles. Why not buy an author who already has a following. I just suspect this could be a tactic publishing house might be more willing to try once an author proves themselves via the indie route. Of course that author might alienate their existing customer base. Maybe some of the indies here can weigh in on the idea and how they might handle it should a larger publisher approach them rather than the author submitting manuscript after manuscript hoping those right eyes will fall on their piece. Of course odds are it will fail for the same reasons the big houses are actually toeing the edge right now...