TAG - A Techno Thriller set in the near future

[dreams]

Originally Posted by simonroyle

Great reply - thanks this was exactly what I was looking for. Many thanks Dreams. Would you mind if I used that in a blog post? I can credit or strip out personal information as required...

Feel free to use it Simon. The only personal information is my user name and that is public anyway. It just happens to be my personal method of purchasing new-to-me authors.

I rarely sample, but do want the option to be there. I'm behind in my TBR list, so I am catching up by first reading the ones that have been liked and commented upon by MR members (that have liked the same books I have). I check the Shameless Thread, the What Are You Reading Thread, and the Self-Promotion thread for member comments.

Sometimes, I use the MR search function to find comments about a book I am interested in reading, as I may be a few months behind a group of people that have already commented about it.

You could probably put all our comments together in an aggregate blog post about comments at the various price points.

[GraceKrispy]

Originally Posted by simonroyle

Would like to seek the forum's advice on pricing.

The two prices I am considering are USD2.99 and USD4.99. My question is: how many of you would NOT buy at the higher price simply as a matter of principle?

Look forward to the answers.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by dreams

If the author is an unknown (and a non-DRM ebook), I will pay up to USD3.99 as below.

USD 0.99 I just buy it.
USD 1.99 I just buy it - I'll take a chance
USD 2.99 I'll take a chance only if it really grabs my attention.
USD 3.99 Usually, only if I have noted comments from others who have the same reading tastes that I have.
USD 4.99 I hold off as I have enough to read on my TBR list.

I will pay more for works by authors I have read and liked.

My comments are a little different, but keep in mind that I seem to be different than most of my MR friends in that I've never been a book purchaser, really. I grew up getting probably 95% of my total books and 99% of my fiction books from the library (no charge!), so my list goes like this:

Free- if it looks interesting, I'll download it. I don't consider it to be any "less" than any book I pay for, but if I like it, I'm much more willing to buy a sequel or another book by that author (I have done this for several authors already, many of them MR members)
USD 0.99- If I like the author already no problem! if it's a new author to me, I'll take the chance if the book looks really interesting and it grabs me
USD 1.99- if I like the author already, I'll *probably* get it, if it's a new author, it has to look *really* good to me and/or have many positive comments from people whose reviews I trust
USD 2.99- if I *loved* the author previously, I will buy it, otherwise I'm unlikely to buy it unless it looks super incredibly good to me and I have heard lots of positive comments. I still use the public library for ebooks and pbooks both, so I'm more likely to visit the library or find cheaper books to purchase.
USD 3.99 and above, I'm unlikely to buy in most cases, and almost certainly won't buy a new author.

Strangely enough, I will flip through a pbook to determine interest, but I do not read samples. Maybe I should, and if the sample is available to look at online without a download, I probably would, but if I'm going to actually download a book, or any part of it, then I'd rather just get the whole thing. And I probably won't pay a lot for it, without it being a "proven" author to me.

Welcome to my head

[simonroyle]

Originally Posted by dreams

Feel free to use it Simon.

You could probably put all our comments together in an aggregate blog post about comments at the various price points.

Many thanks. I intend to do exactly that. This is a subject of major interest (obviously) at the moment. On a more personal level I want my books to sell to as many readers as possible for the highest amount. For instance it seems that there *may* not be much difference between 1.99 and .99, but there is a BIG difference between 1.99 and 2.99.

So I'd really like to know. If anyone else wants to chime in please do - I'm bad at math (my school principal asked me not to take the final exam because I'd bring the school's average down too much), so an even 100 would make the math simple :-)

Thanks to all of you for this information - you guys (and gal) are great.

Grace - I promise I am not going to get inside your head or any other woman's for that matter. I'm screwed up enough as it is :-)

[taming]

When I am buying an unknown author the sample pages are hugely important to me, somewhat less so if I have read good reviews from other people who seem to have tastes similar to mine.

0.99: I'll buy it without much thought
1.99: Similar, but the sample pages make a bigger difference
2.99: I have to be pretty convinced I will like it
3.99: For someone I have never read, the sample pages, reviews from other really matter
4.99 and up: I am more likely to spend this (and up) if I have read something else by the same author. Unlikely if not, unless the sample really hooks me.

note: We have a book budget at our house: $50/month, with two of us buying out of that pot. Towards the end of the month, I am more likely to take chances if we have some money left over. We tend to use the library to get us through some months

[simonroyle]

Thanks Taming - more good information. I hadn't thought of sample pages in this context.

S.G. Royle
Author of TAG - A thriller set in the near future
www.simon-royle.com

[simonroyle]

ANNOUNCING THE FIRST EVER Find A Typo (FAT) COMPETITION

Here's the deal.

My goal is to produce a quality product which means NO TYPO's in TAG. The problem is that I've read my manuscript hundreds of times. Too many times to see the mistakes that I know remain.

TAG - is slated to be released on Amazon, and at Smashwords, on 31st October 2010. The cover is being shot by a professional photographer and the cover design is being done by a professional graphic designer; they're on track, but for the copy editing I need your eyeballs. So that brings us to THE CHALLENGE. Find more typo's than anyone else and win a dollar for every typo you find, plus a credit in the book.

The Prize

A dollar a typo - YES! One whole greenback for EVERY typo you find. 50 typo's = US$50-00

A listing in the book as a Contributing Copy Editor (Immortality is yours for the taking)

How to Win

Find the most typo's before 15 September Competition will close on that day at Midnight Bangkok time.

Rules

I am the judge and jury - my word is final.

You MUST be a MobileReads Member doesn't matter how long but if there's a tie I'll award the prize to the one who has been at MobileReads the longest.

Apart from rule #1 there are no rules: You can make teams, or fly solo. Up to you.

How to Play

Find the TAG thread and download TAG

Read the book (it's free for now)

Place your typo count as a reply in this thread or as a comment on my blog here (strategy is key here).

Email me, sgroyle(at)gmail(DOT)com, your list of typo's before midnight Bangkok time (PST +7) on 15th September 2010.

The Winner will be announced on 18th September and I will post the list of typo's back in the thread.

[Gaurnim]

You should really consider adding the link to the thread (and even better, the exact post if it's not the first) containing the book to download to this post.
And I would advise against giving an email address in clear text on a public forum, unless you want to receive lost of spam. You should at least obfuscate the address a bit, so that it's not easily readable by an automated script (such as name[AT]domain[DOT]com or any other solution understandable by a human reader).

[simonroyle]

Originally Posted by Gaurnim

You should really consider adding the link to the thread to your post, you know.
And I would advise against giving an email address in clear text on a public forum, unless you want to receive lost of spam. You should at least obfuscate the address a bit, so that it's not easily readable by an automated script (such as name[AT]domain[DOT]com or any other solution understandable by a human reader).

Good advice - I'll go do that now...

[simonroyle]

Only fourteen days left to make cash from my mistakes :-) - Read the details in the FAT contest post above.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by simonroyle

Only fourteen days left to make cash from my mistakes :-) - Read the details in the FAT contest post above.

Working on it ...
The problem is, it is difficult to concentrate on looking for errors with a real pageturner in my hands. Also there are lots of invented words.
Is hetro bar a bar intended for heterosexuals?
I have also discovered that in many places you use "curly", typographical quotes - ‘ ’ “ ”, in other places you use plain quotes and aphostrophes - ' ' " "
Does that count as typo? ;-)

[simonroyle]

Originally Posted by kacir

Working on it ...

Is hetro bar a bar intended for heterosexuals?

I have also discovered that in many places you use "curly", typographical quotes - ‘ ’ “ ”, in other places you use plain quotes and aphostrophes - ' ' " "
Does that count as typo? ;-)

Yes Hetro bar is deliberate and there are a lot of made up words. I am imagining how we will talk in 2109. Also what kind of tech we'll have, hence devstick and travways.

On the quotes - I know about that issue - happened between writing in pagefour and transferring to word. - so no (I do have to feed my kids too) they don't count as typos - Unless they are in the wrong place. Fair?

I have an idea who can help (paid) me with the formatting when the editing is done - some guy who told me to RTFM on a forum :-)

Keep hunting and don't forget others may be doing the same.

Actually that's a point - is anyone apart from Kacir doing this comp? Chime in if you're playing...

Thanks again and I'm glad you're finding the story entertaining. Good luck with the typo hunt.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by simonroyle

On the quotes - I know about that issue - happened between writing in pagefour and transferring to word. - so no (I do have to feed my kids too) they don't count as typos - Unless they are in the wrong place. Fair?

I did not mean every single occurrence as an extra $1 typo. More like it would be all considered as one discovered error.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by simonroyle

I have an idea who can help (paid) me with the formatting when the editing is done - some guy who told me to RTFM on a forum :-)

You see, I grew up on Unix and Linux (and Vim) related forums, documents and manuals ;-)
Send me a Private Message. We will definitely arrange something.

Just do not count on me as an English Language, Grammar, Writing Style or Spelling specialist. English is my third language (used to be fourth). You don't want see my writing with a spell checker switched off ;-)

[CaraM]

Hello and welcome to MR. Your book sounds great.

www.caramarsi.com
Logan's Redemption
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0040JI3PG

[simonroyle]

Originally Posted by kacir

I did not mean every single occurrence as an extra $1 typo. More like it would be all considered as one discovered error.

Fair enough. The smart quotes, normal quotes issue is considered as a single typo.