Do some publishers have any idea?

[issybird]

Originally Posted by leebase

And if you are one of the "ride alongs" (people who read for free or pay the cheapest prices)....at least show some respect and gratitude for those who's buying habits are paying for the art you enjoy to exist.

This is silly. Those who buy at every price point are part of a complicated pricing algorithm which maximizes profit. Money is made on the bottom-feeders [/irony] also. Prices for the grand would be higher still if a publisher didn't expect to make more money down the line from the humble.

Here's another example of that: in the golden age of transatlantic crossing, more money was made by the liner companies from steerage than from first class. So who subsidized whom?

Really, that bit about "gratitude" and "respect" made me metaphorically barf.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by leebase

And if you are one of the "ride alongs" (people who read for free or pay the cheapest prices)....at least show some respect and gratitude for those who's buying habits are paying for the art you enjoy to exist.

I'm one of those who very rarely, if ever buy a book at full price. However, I probably spend more on books than 95% of people. (Nearly £200 so far this year, on track for my usual £300 or so).

Your suggestion that those who don't pay full retail, day-of-publication prices are somehow gaming the system is inaccurate.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I'm one of those who very rarely, if ever buy a book at full price. However, I probably spend more on books than 95% of people. (Nearly £200 so far this year, on track for my usual £300 or so).

Me too. I don't buy a book for a higher price than 10 € (and very rarely that). That said, I spend more than a thousand € per year on books. Probably because I don't use libraries (btw, are library readers "ride-alongs" too?).

[lumpynose]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

(btw, are library readers "ride-alongs" too?).

Yeah, we're scummy low lifes who want everything for free.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

Thanks. Looking through the best free books, in my opinion, is not going to be the best way to find a good book. Perhaps you were hoping to find the start of a series for free, kind of a bigger sample than a sample? They are no good, and I avoid those like the pest. From the ones I seen it is usually a short novella with no real ending. Similar I avoid all series that have the first book in KU and rest need to be purchased. Why waste my time with a bait to make me purchase the rest, it is not any different to me than first book permafree.

If you are only willing to pay nothing for Indies, you are severely limiting your selection. I also believe there to be a lot more bad books in the free category.

I agree it is limiting but with less available reading time I have to be. This is where playing the odds comes in.

Back then I had some extra time and didn't mind looking through the hundreds of free books each day. I posted many hoping others may enjoy them even if they didn't interest me. Some were previously published and the author's rights reverted to them. This was common in the Romance category.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Can I ask why you quote the word indie every single time?

Because I don't know what the term indie really means.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Back then I had some extra time and didn't mind looking through the hundreds of free books each day.

As has been said already, most of the free books from indies aren't that good. The better ones are not free (unless they're in KU). There are a few exceptions, but that's the general trend.

I just look through any new books in my favorite genres every few months. It doesn't matter to me whether they're tradpubs or indie, or how high/low the price is (I can always wait for the price to drop). I've found indies that are every bit as good as traditionally published authors, and I've been disappointed with many a tradpub. If an indie book is an absolute trash, that can be easily ascertained from the Look Inside.

Of course, my personal method is by no means mainstream. Most people don't have either time or patience to sift through hundreds or even thousands of books several times a year, and so they rely on other methods (reviews, articles, blogs, recommendations etc). I've found those methods don't work for me. Whether a given person liked the book or not has no bearing whatsoever on whether I will like it.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

If an indie book is an absolute trash, that can be easily ascertained from the Look Inside.

Hell, it can sometimes be ascertained by the synopsis. (I've seen many an indie with a very poorly written synopsis. If you can't get that right, you likely aren't any better in the narrative.)

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Hell, it can sometimes be ascertained by the synopsis. (I've seen many an indie with a very poorly written synopsis. If you can't get that right, you likely aren't any better in the narrative.)

Yep. Sometimes there are spelling or grammatical errors right in the synopsis. Well, it would still be in the realm of possibility that the author had the book edited whereas the synopsis is not, but chances of that are small. And sometimes there might not be any errors, but the writing is just bad.

[leebase]

People who wait for lower prices support the art less. It’s those folks who pay the new book price during the new book window that bring in the most money that any book is ever going to earn

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by leebase

People who wait for lower prices support the art less. It’s those folks who pay the new book price during the new book window that bring in the most money that any book is ever going to earn

I'm a customer buying a product, not a "supporter of the art". Let the wealthy support the art, if they're so inclined. If they're not, tough, but that's life. There are far more books written every day than there are readers for them all.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by leebase

People who wait for lower prices support the art less. It’s those folks who pay the new book price during the new book window that bring in the most money that any book is ever going to earn

This is based on what, exactly? It's entirely plausible that very many more buyers at a lower price contribute more to the bottom line (and I suspect this is the case.) Did you see my example about steerage?

I also think we're getting a little above ourselves here. Mostly we're not talking about the next Shakespeare, but about the commodity end of the market.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by issybird

This is based on what, exactly? It's entirely plausible that very many more buyers at a lower price contribute more to the bottom line (and I suspect this is the case.) Did you see my example about steerage?

I also think we're getting a little above ourselves here. Mostly we're not talking about the next Shakespeare, but about the commodity end of the market.

That is based on more profit per unit. Unrealistic expectation to confuse that with overall profit. If you want to maximize total net profit, then neither lowest nor highest price are the winner. Even a set and forget price is not the answer.

The publishers are not a charity. The only reason they follow a hardcover release up with paperback is, because there is significant demand for the lower price. They are not doing it out of the goodness of their heart so that the poor people can read.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by leebase

People who wait for lower prices support the art less. It’s those folks who pay the new book price during the new book window that bring in the most money that any book is ever going to earn

This isn't true in paper formats. (Hardbacks are only around 20% of the printed fiction market, according to this Guardian article.)

I suspect it's even less true in the ebook world.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

This isn't true in paper formats. (Hardbacks are only around 20% of the printed fiction market, according to this Guardian article.)

I suspect it's even less true in the ebook world.

it isn't: Amazon pays based on list price if they are doing the discounting.

There's also the matter of who pays full price at all.
All print books are discounted, whether it be 5% at non-chain stores, 30% at the chains, or 45% at Amazon, or varying rates in between.

Given how money is distributed in the pbook business, the difference in money going to an author between a high price sale or a discounted sale is spare change. (The difference to the commerce side--retailer, distributor, publisher--is more noticeable but that isn't art.)

There is no special virtue in paying list price.

These days, smart authors maintain patreon pages so those that care about supporting art can support them directly. Now that is virtuous.

Everybody else makes due with whatever filters down to them--8-12%--or keeps their day job. The real world of publishing is nothing like the idealized dream of days gone by. If it ever existed.

There are exceptions: Patterson, King, Roberts, other big names. But they get their money upfront. For tge rest, well, as the publishers themselves say over 70 percent of books don't earn out. And those that do barely do so. Which isn't to say they're not profitable, just that sale prices have no significant effect on author income. All they ever see is the "advance".

Like an author?
Want to give them money?
Go to their author website.