How much would you pay?

[Blue Tyson]

Same as the others - $6.00

[xg4bx]

Originally Posted by DrNefario

The most I have paid is a little over £2 (for A Dance of Cloaks by David Dalglish, and Wool by Hugh Howie). In both cases after reading the free sample, and in the case of Wool, that was for an omnibus. Oddly, I haven't actually read beyond the sample in either, yet.

Getting me to read something is a much greater problem than getting me to pay for something, I think.

I'm not likely to pay for anything I haven't sampled, but how can you persuade me to read a sample? I came to Wool through recommendations in here.

I will happily download freebies at random, but when will I ever look at them?

a dance of cloaks is awesome. its a little confusing at first as all the characters are introduced but its a great series. david dalglish is one of the indies that i'd pay top dollar for. if you like action packed sword&sorcery he's definitely an author to support.

personally i just take peeks at samples if i'm unsure. i'm usually not compelled to sit and read the whole thing, i just give a quick skim to check formatting and writing style. with most purchases i just end up going with my gut feeling.

[pdurrant]

No more than $3.

For authors I know up to $6.
For authors I particularly like, perhaps up to $8.
I doubt I've bought more than a dozen ebooks for more than $8.

My average purchase price for books I've read this year is $2.49. For last year, $2.85, for 2010, $3.71

(The reason for the decline is that I've been trying to read through my backlog, which includes lots of books I bought during particularly good sales at Fictionwise.)

And because I'm trying not to buy ebooks at the moment, my per-book cost of books bought this year (24 so far) is only $2.21!

[DiapDealer]

It depends entirely on my mood. Once I'm intrigued by a book (either by description, recommendation, sample chapter, author interview, cover-art, or whatever)... I'm probably going to buy it. It's that simple. Just for purposes of discussion though, I'd be a little uncomfortable paying more than $6-7 for any work whose author is relatively unknown. Independent or traditionally published.

[spindlegirl]

For me, I do most of my previewing of books via the library or free downloads. Because my recreational budget is the least of my priorities, I need to be certain that I am buying something that will live with me long term.

I nearly always borrow before I decide a permanent relationship. I think passing out some e-books for free is a good promotional move. There is no physical reproduction involved, so it's practically free publicity. One file = unlimited stock.

When I do buy, I think a good average cost for e-books is 4-7 dollars Once in a while I have paid quite a bit more if I felt the author was worth it, but then that gets into printed books territory.

[CommonReader]

Up to € 5,- if it looks professionally done and if there are samples that are sufficient to judge the author's abilities.

[Justin Nemo]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

No more than $3.

For authors I know up to $6.
For authors I particularly like, perhaps up to $8.
I doubt I've bought more than a dozen ebooks for more than $8.

My average purchase price for books I've read this year is $2.49. For last year, $2.85, for 2010, $3.71

(The reason for the decline is that I've been trying to read through my backlog, which includes lots of books I bought during particularly good sales at Fictionwise.)

And because I'm trying not to buy ebooks at the moment, my per-book cost of books bought this year (24 so far) is only $2.21!

I think that is a fair price to pay for an untried author.

[Justin Nemo]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

Nothing, unless I had already read something by them in the past or it was a new hooligan writer with a good sample (then probably up to about £2). Since Amazon conned everyone into having free promotion days there's not a lot of point paying for anything else.

I thought the free promo day was a success for everyone. I know someone who sold 700 copies of her book at around £3.50 each after that.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by Justin Nemo

I thought the free promo day was a success for everyone. I know someone who sold 700 copies of her book at around £3.50 each after that.

Maybe it is, but it also means I don't need to buy many ebooks because there is always something free.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

Maybe it is, but it also means I don't need to buy many ebooks because there is always something free.

But books are not "interchangeable units"; the fact that a book is free doesn't imply that it's good. Probably the opposite - if it was any good, the author wouldn't be giving it away free!

[Ninjalawyer]

Generally, I'll pay up to $30 for a pro-book (the upper end is reserved for paper, non-fiction books), but I've been pretty reluctant to buy indie books (having bought only one so far).

Really, I'd pay in the same range for an indie book if the reviews from sources I trust praised and recommended it sufficiently, so I guess I'm an outlier in that sense. On the other hand though, I'll probably never read a free indie book that has no reviews. I apparently value my time more highly than my money when it comes to ebooks (which is easy when people constantly gift you Kobo giftcards)

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Ninjalawyer

I apparently value my time more highly than my money when it comes to ebooks.

Same here. I'd much rather spend $10 for a book that I know I'll enjoy than get a free book of unknown quality. Time is more valuable than money to me, I have a lifetime's worth of reading of books which I know that I will enjoy.

[Justin Nemo]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Same here. I'd much rather spend $10 for a book that I know I'll enjoy than get a free book of unknown quality. Time is more valuable than money to me, I have a lifetime's worth of reading of books which I know that I will enjoy.

So you wouldn't buy an Indie book then?

[Synamon]

On Thursday I downloaded a promising looking promotional freebie, clicked on and liked the author's Amazon bio, and on the strength of that bought his debut novel for $2.99. That's probably my limit for someone I've never heard of. I've bought second books in series or other books for a couple of bucks by authors who offer promotions, to reward them for the promotional freebie, since the freebie averages down the price of the books.

Like pdurrant my average book cost is low, probably around $2. There are plenty of deals to be had and plenty of authors to choose from, I'm not likely to buy any ebooks priced over $5. I happily snag backlist books priced under $3 by published authors, like Ed McBain or Joseph Wambaugh, plus the daily deals or under $3.99 lists occasionally have a book I'm interested in. For $15+ ebooks by bestseller list authors there's always the library. Or the $4.95 sales at Audible, or even my monthly credit, I'd rather spend the $15 on an audiobook than an ebook.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Justin Nemo

So you wouldn't buy an Indie book then?

Only if it was recommended to me by someone who I know shares my taste in books.