Unlocking the Gates of Alexandria: DRM, Competition and Access to E-Books - Page 13

conan50 · 08-04-2015, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fbone

I'm assuming "10" is an exaggeration.

Nope. .99 to $1.99 self-published fiction ebook compared to $10.99 to $11.99 publishing house fiction ebook.

conan50 · 08-04-2015, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Same here.
I just don't think there's enough "I'll read anything as long as it's cheap" readers out there for indies to put all that much pressure on traditional publishers to drastically lower their prices.

I think indies are definitely going to change the publishing game in the long run, but I believe most of those changes will come in the way of contract terms/lengths and royalty rates between authors and publishers—rather than average retail ebook prices for consumers.

"cheap" doesn't appeal to me so much as "fresh" and discovering something new. Take this guy for instance:

Having been rebuffed by literary agents when trying to get prior books published, Weir decided to put the book online in serial format one chapter at a time for free at his website.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martian_(Weir_novel)

DiapDealer · 08-04-2015, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by conan50

"cheap" doesn't appeal to me so much as "fresh" and discovering something new. Take this guy for instance:

Having been rebuffed by literary agents when trying to get prior books published, Weir decided to put the book online in serial format one chapter at a time for free at his website.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martian_(Weir_novel)

Yeah... I know all about the success stories like Weir and Howey. Read them and enjoyed them both in fact. But be honest: did you buy/read The Martian before it got picked up by a traditional publisher? Did you gamble on it sight-unseen? Or did you read it because you picked up on the buzz it was generating?

Traditionally published "sleepers" gather steam in much the same way. Again ... it's not the price or the publishing avenue that make them attractive. It's the story and the buzz. Same as it always was.

I'm not arguing with you that authors having other viable avenues to get their stories to readers isn't fantastic for them (and for readers). It is! I'm happy about it. I just don't see it forcing traditional publishers to lower their ebook prices for their top-tier authors, is all. Other than Hugh Howey retaining his self-publishing rights to his ebooks (which is huge; don't get me wrong), the reward I'm seeing for the self-pub success stories is a traditional contract with a traditional publisher and all the trappings that come with that. At which point you're probably not going to buy it for $0.99 - $1.99 any more.

Good/Great for authors/readers? Yes.
Force publishers to sell their ebooks cheaper? I'm just not seeing it.

AnemicOak · 08-04-2015, 05:00 PM

If anything I've noticed a lot of indie prices are rising. What might have been $0.99-$2.99 a few years ago is now often $3.99-$6.99 which depending on genre is getting into trad pub mass market pricing.

Fbone · 08-04-2015, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by conan50

Nope. .99 to $1.99 self-published fiction ebook compared to $10.99 to $11.99 publishing house fiction ebook.

Most of the .99 and $1.99 I see are promotional prices. If you are going to count those indie prices, then you need to count the sale prices from the BPH.

The dozens of indies I sampled today are priced between $2.99 - $7.99. The average is over $3.99.

Cinisajoy · 08-04-2015, 05:11 PM

Hi all.
On ebooks, sometimes the BPH are nice and put backlist books on sale for $1.99.
As far as indies go, I rarely spend over 99cents on a new author. I prefer first one free.

I did a test a few years back on Indie authors of the fiction variety. Taking all the books I looked at into consideration less than 20% were actually even readable. Most of the 20% authors are now making a pretty decent living.
Unfortunately, the last time I tried that test the results were even worse.

Now on the topic of DRM, even books bought through a bookstore are sometimes locked and cannot be accessed. I have had that happen with 2 of the 3 big ebook sellers.

Fbone · 08-04-2015, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

If anything I've noticed a lot of indie prices are rising. What might have been $0.99-$2.99 a few years ago is now often $3.99-$6.99 which depending on genre is getting into trad pub mass market pricing.

I've noticed this also. I just grabbed a freebie indie where the sequels are priced at $5.99 with the latest $6.99.

conan50 · 08-04-2015, 06:43 PM

Konrath
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/
pushes all authors to self-publish, and has written numerous articles about how you can make more money self-publishing even as a well known author.
Cory Doctorow
http://boingboing.net/author/cory_doctorow_1
makes a strong case for DRM-free ebooks. I've seen his books at Project Gutenberg and have enjoyed reading his books.
My view is that Amazon succeeded too well. There is a flood of self-published ebooks, many are free, most are low priced. It can be very hard separating the readable from the dreck, but that is where we are now. Only it gets worse, ebooks never go out of print, all these hordes of ebooks remain forever, and more are added every day. This is good or bad depending upon your point of view. I think overall it is good. Even if a self-pubbed author only has 1,000 people interested in their story about a cat who morphs into a time-traveling vampire who then dies and comes back as a cat zombie that builds a space station on Mars--more power to them. At least it is not the cookie-cutter story, the pablum often fed to us by traditional publishers.

conan50 · 08-04-2015, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fbone

I've noticed this also. I just grabbed a freebie indie where the sequels are priced at $5.99 with the latest $6.99.

It varies quite a bit. Just checked one author whose ebook I saw on Bookbub and I grabbed their ebook for free, looks like they have all their ebooks free or maybe they are just free right now. Another one had their trilogy up for free at Bookbub, I grabbed it, and saw another book in the series is $2.99
Here is another one:
https://play.google.com/store/search...chael+R.+hicks
looks like he has several first books in series for free, with others in the $3.99 price range.
Kindle Store bestsellers don't help us much as some of those are independents. But here is the Simon & Schuster listing, many in the $9.99 - $14.99 range.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_kk_3?...qid=1438729171

Cinisajoy · 08-04-2015, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by conan50

It varies quite a bit. Just checked one author whose ebook I saw on Bookbub and I grabbed their ebook for free, looks like they have all their ebooks free or maybe they are just free right now. Another one had their trilogy up for free at Bookbub, I grabbed it, and saw another book in the series is $2.99
Here is another one:
https://play.google.com/store/search...chael+R.+hicks
looks like he has several first books in series for free, with others in the $3.99 price range.
Kindle Store bestsellers don't help us much as some of those are independents. But here is the Simon & Schuster listing, many in the $9.99 - $14.99 range.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_kk_3?...qid=1438729171

Hi. I saw S & S ranged from 0.00 to $80.93 just on the first page. Most were in the price range you mentioned.

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08-04-2015, 05:00 PM	#184
AnemicOak Bookaholic Posts: 14,391 Karma: 54969924 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Minnesota Device: iPad Mini 4, AuraHD, iPhone XR +	If anything I've noticed a lot of indie prices are rising. What might have been $0.99-$2.99 a few years ago is now often $3.99-$6.99 which depending on genre is getting into trad pub mass market pricing.

08-04-2015, 05:11 PM	#186
Cinisajoy Just a Yellow Smiley. Posts: 19,161 Karma: 83862859 Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Texas Device: K4, K5, fire, kobo, galaxy	Hi all. On ebooks, sometimes the BPH are nice and put backlist books on sale for $1.99. As far as indies go, I rarely spend over 99cents on a new author. I prefer first one free. I did a test a few years back on Indie authors of the fiction variety. Taking all the books I looked at into consideration less than 20% were actually even readable. Most of the 20% authors are now making a pretty decent living. Unfortunately, the last time I tried that test the results were even worse. Now on the topic of DRM, even books bought through a bookstore are sometimes locked and cannot be accessed. I have had that happen with 2 of the 3 big ebook sellers.

08-04-2015, 06:43 PM	#188
conan50 Fanatic Posts: 597 Karma: 14054112 Join Date: Jun 2014 Device: kindle	Konrath http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/ pushes all authors to self-publish, and has written numerous articles about how you can make more money self-publishing even as a well known author. Cory Doctorow http://boingboing.net/author/cory_doctorow_1 makes a strong case for DRM-free ebooks. I've seen his books at Project Gutenberg and have enjoyed reading his books. My view is that Amazon succeeded too well. There is a flood of self-published ebooks, many are free, most are low priced. It can be very hard separating the readable from the dreck, but that is where we are now. Only it gets worse, ebooks never go out of print, all these hordes of ebooks remain forever, and more are added every day. This is good or bad depending upon your point of view. I think overall it is good. Even if a self-pubbed author only has 1,000 people interested in their story about a cat who morphs into a time-traveling vampire who then dies and comes back as a cat zombie that builds a space station on Mars--more power to them. At least it is not the cookie-cutter story, the pablum often fed to us by traditional publishers.