Smashwords study: What do readers pay when they set the price? - Page 2

DD1509 · 02-12-2010, 05:24 PM

I guess this is interesting info but I am not certain if it is really relevant. If you asked consumers what they want to spend on anything the answer will always be south of what the going rate is. And no one says that sales would go through the roof if consumer set the price point either.

random50 · 02-12-2010, 06:30 PM

Mildly interesting data, but ultimately pretty useless as presented. No profitability conclusions can be drawn without, at the very least, some data on number of downloads.

For example, my expectation would be that if something's offered for free download, you'll get many people who aren't *that* interested giving it a go anyway.

PKFFW · 02-12-2010, 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben Thornton

I'm not so sure. I think that, until they've read a good chunk of it (or unless they have confidence in the author from previous experience or a recommendation), people don't know what value they would place on a book. That's why I suggested a model where it starts free and then you decide whether to pay to complete it.

Possibly, though if the vast majority can't bring themselves to throw a single buck or even less the authors way without having to first read the entire book to see "what value they place on it", I wouldn't hold my breath that any significant proportion of these people would go back to the website and pay anything at a later date. Some will of course, the vast majority most likely will not regardless of how much they enjoyed it.

Maybe I'm just too cynical though.

Cheers,
PKFFW

GhostHawk · 02-12-2010, 09:20 PM

Put that at the end of the book, yes, it would work. Especially if there were multiple choices.
A: Good read, 3$
B Very good read, 5$
C You are Divine 10$
D Lord I bow at your feet 15$
E You are the total suck give me my time back. 0 $

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

The way to make this model really work is to have links to pay the author money inside the book itself. You shouldn't have to go back to a website to make the payment.

Hopefully, this will become possible in a couple of years.

Krystian Galaj · 02-13-2010, 08:40 AM

All right, so this tells me how much the author gets per reader for such prices book. But is it important measurement for authors or readers?

Perhaps such priced ebooks get 10 times more downloads than ebooks priced at 0.99$, and consequently author gets 5 times more money in the same time frame? And more people will get his book too. I miss comparison of number of downloads of the same books with 2 pricing models in the same time frame - though probably it's not easy to get such data.

GA Russell · 02-13-2010, 12:27 PM

I can imagine that a lot of people will download something free and never get around to reading it.

If the website required the reader to have some skin in the game, and then offered a sliding scale of refunds depending on how much you liked the book, I imagine that fewer people would go to the effort to beat the system.

HarryT · 02-13-2010, 12:47 PM

Hmmm - optional refunds rather than optional payments. I like that idea a lot!

kennyc · 02-13-2010, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GA Russell

I can imagine that a lot of people will download something free and never get around to reading it.

If the website required the reader to have some skin in the game, and then offered a sliding scale of refunds depending on how much you liked the book, I imagine that fewer people would go to the effort to beat the system.

Yep! Kinda like those stupid rebates you have to file for while they use your money...

I like the idea though, much better than free, but pay what you want.

HarryT · 02-13-2010, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PKFFW

Possibly, though if the vast majority can't bring themselves to throw a single buck or even less the authors way without having to first read the entire book to see "what value they place on it", I wouldn't hold my breath that any significant proportion of these people would go back to the website and pay anything at a later date. Some will of course, the vast majority most likely will not regardless of how much they enjoyed it.

Maybe I'm just too cynical though.

Cheers,
PKFFW

A few years ago, a British shareware author called Colin Messitt conducted an experiment to see how many people would voluntarily pay for something, rather than being coerced into doing so.

Colin released a shareware program called "SmartDoc". With a 50/50 probability (depending on whether your hard disk's serial number was odd or even - something like that, so it always behaved the same way on a given PC) the program was either fully functional, but with a "nag screen" which requested payment when it started up, or else it was restricted in its functionality, and required payment to become fully functional. A code number, which the user had to supply when registering, told Colin which of the two "behaviours" of the program any given user had encountered.

The results were quite emphatic. Colin received 5x as many registrations from the version which required payment for full functionality than he did from the version which was fully functional, and merely requested payment.

You can read the whole story here.

Obviously this is talking about shareware software, and not e-Books, but I think the same principle still applies, and that it demonstrates that providing people with a positive incentive to pay works a lot better than merely requesting a payment.

kennyc · 02-13-2010, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

A few years ago, a British shareware author called Colin Messitt conducted an experiment to see how many people would voluntarily pay for something, rather than being coerced into doing so.

Colin released a shareware program called "SmartDoc". With a 50/50 probability (depending on whether your hard disk's serial number was odd or even - something like that, so it always behaved the same way on a given PC) the program was either fully functional, but with a "nag screen" which requested payment when it started up, or else it was restricted in its functionality, and required payment to become fully functional. A code number, which the user had to supply when registering, told Colin which of the two "behaviours" of the program any given user had encountered.

The results were quite emphatic. Colin received 5x as many registrations from the version which required payment for full functionality than he did from the version which was fully functional, and merely requested payment.

You can read the whole story here.

Obviously this is talking about shareware software, and not e-Books, but I think the same principle still applies, and that it demonstrates that providing people with a positive incentive to pay works a lot better than merely requesting a payment.

Maybe they get the first half for free.

HarryT · 02-13-2010, 02:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kennyc

Maybe they get the first half for free.

Yes, I think that could work very well.

PKFFW · 02-13-2010, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GA Russell

I can imagine that a lot of people will download something free and never get around to reading it.

If the website required the reader to have some skin in the game, and then offered a sliding scale of refunds depending on how much you liked the book, I imagine that fewer people would go to the effort to beat the system.

That would probably work very well.

Most people place a value on their own time(even if not on the authors time) and would probably not bother taking the time to request a refund if they did in fact enjoy the book. Especially if the optional refund was coupled with a price the market has shown to be reasonable in the first place.

Cheers,
PKFFW

PKFFW · 02-13-2010, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

A few years ago, a British shareware author called Colin Messitt conducted an experiment to see how many people would voluntarily pay for something, rather than being coerced into doing so.

Colin released a shareware program called "SmartDoc". With a 50/50 probability (depending on whether your hard disk's serial number was odd or even - something like that, so it always behaved the same way on a given PC) the program was either fully functional, but with a "nag screen" which requested payment when it started up, or else it was restricted in its functionality, and required payment to become fully functional. A code number, which the user had to supply when registering, told Colin which of the two "behaviours" of the program any given user had encountered.

The results were quite emphatic. Colin received 5x as many registrations from the version which required payment for full functionality than he did from the version which was fully functional, and merely requested payment.

You can read the whole story here.

Obviously this is talking about shareware software, and not e-Books, but I think the same principle still applies, and that it demonstrates that providing people with a positive incentive to pay works a lot better than merely requesting a payment.

There was a cafe somewhere here in Australia that started a "pay what you think the meal was worth after you've eaten it" system. Everything went along fantastically at first. In fact they were making more money than before.

It only took about 3 months before the novelty wore off and people started paying less and less even though the food and service had not changed.

It took another 6 months before they had to close up shop because they couldn't afford to stay open.

Like in your example, the people were merely asked to pay whatever they thought fair after they had been given the same quality food and service as everyone else. Most chose to pay very little indeed.

Cheers,
PKFFW

Ken Maltby · 02-13-2010, 02:20 PM

My problem with paying for books at Smashwords, Baen, or other such is that I
find few books I want to read. When there are only a couple books offered that
address each area of interest, the odds are working against finding something
that is a match to anyone's exact interest. That may not matter for the free
offerings.

Even when I find a new author, through reading a free book from those sites,
I can seldom find any "pay for" offerings to encourage the author's efforts.

I for one would gladly pay for many cheap ebooks, as opposed to only rarely
getting a "full price" ebook. But as it is I don't see much of either.

Luck;
Ken

roger the rabbit · 02-14-2010, 04:21 AM

Unless I have missed something, there does not seem to be an easy way at Smashwords to go back and make a payment for a book downloaded for $0 which when read was worth paying for.

You can't buy it again without deleting it from your library, which is what I do, but a *donate* link somewhere would surely encourage payment.

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02-12-2010, 05:24 PM	#16
DD1509 Enthusiast Posts: 34 Karma: 181 Join Date: Aug 2009 Device: Kindle DX	I guess this is interesting info but I am not certain if it is really relevant. If you asked consumers what they want to spend on anything the answer will always be south of what the going rate is. And no one says that sales would go through the roof if consumer set the price point either.

02-12-2010, 06:30 PM	#17
random50 Connoisseur Posts: 81 Karma: 110 Join Date: Jul 2008 Device: None yet	Mildly interesting data, but ultimately pretty useless as presented. No profitability conclusions can be drawn without, at the very least, some data on number of downloads. For example, my expectation would be that if something's offered for free download, you'll get many people who aren't that interested giving it a go anyway.

02-13-2010, 08:40 AM	#20
Krystian Galaj Guru Posts: 820 Karma: 11012 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Warsaw, Poland Device: Bookeen Cybook	All right, so this tells me how much the author gets per reader for such prices book. But is it important measurement for authors or readers? Perhaps such priced ebooks get 10 times more downloads than ebooks priced at 0.99$, and consequently author gets 5 times more money in the same time frame? And more people will get his book too. I miss comparison of number of downloads of the same books with 2 pricing models in the same time frame - though probably it's not easy to get such data.

02-13-2010, 12:27 PM	#21
GA Russell Ticats win 4th straight Posts: 7,693 Karma: 31487351 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Raleigh, NC Device: Paperwhite, Kindles 10 & 4 and jetBook Lite	I can imagine that a lot of people will download something free and never get around to reading it. If the website required the reader to have some skin in the game, and then offered a sliding scale of refunds depending on how much you liked the book, I imagine that fewer people would go to the effort to beat the system.

02-13-2010, 12:47 PM	#22
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Hmmm - optional refunds rather than optional payments. I like that idea a lot!

02-13-2010, 02:20 PM	#29
Ken Maltby Wizard Posts: 4,466 Karma: 6900052 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: The Heart of Texas Device: Boox Note2, AuraHD, PDA,	My problem with paying for books at Smashwords, Baen, or other such is that I find few books I want to read. When there are only a couple books offered that address each area of interest, the odds are working against finding something that is a match to anyone's exact interest. That may not matter for the free offerings. Even when I find a new author, through reading a free book from those sites, I can seldom find any "pay for" offerings to encourage the author's efforts. I for one would gladly pay for many cheap ebooks, as opposed to only rarely getting a "full price" ebook. But as it is I don't see much of either. Luck; Ken

02-14-2010, 04:21 AM	#30
roger the rabbit Addict Posts: 316 Karma: 10215 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Wherever I lay my hat! Device: Sony PRS-T3, 650 Black, 505, Kobo Glo HD Aura ONE	Unless I have missed something, there does not seem to be an easy way at Smashwords to go back and make a payment for a book downloaded for $0 which when read was worth paying for. You can't buy it again without deleting it from your library, which is what I do, but a donate link somewhere would surely encourage payment.