07-14-2010, 11:59 AM | #1 |
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New Mystery From Rodolfo Peña: AN INCONSEQUENTIAL MURDER
In a world dominated by mystery stories revolving around dogs, cats, caterers and crossword puzzle enthusiasts, we were very excited when we received Rodolfo Peña's manuscript for An Inconsequential Murder. This is NOT your fluffy, cozy mystery. Folks who like their mysteries a little darker and based somewhere other than a sleepy US town or a tiny hamlet in the UK will find a lot to appreciate here. The Blurb: When the decapitated body of a student is found on the train tracks in Monterrey, Mexico, Captain Guillermo Lombardo finds his investigation taking him into the world of the Mexican drug cartels. As everyone from the university Dean to the Governor himself fails to cooperate with the investigation, Lombardo soon discovers that the body is just the tip of the iceberg of a much larger situation. This title is actually the first in a planned series featuring Captain Lombardo. If you're a fan of police procedurals, then this is the work for you to read. An Inconsequential Murder is available in the Untreed Reads store at http://www.untreedreads.com (Untreed Reads GreenPass members save 15%), plus it's also available at Smashwords (25% off through the month of July with coupon code SWS25), Amazon for the Kindle and most of the great retailers you see listed on the right side of our website. To read an excerpt, visit http://www.scribd.com/doc/34194982/A...uential-Murder. |
07-14-2010, 05:03 PM | #2 |
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An Inconsequential Murder sounds interesting, but $9.99 is quite a lot for an indie ebook. Maybe I'm spoiled.
But you probably want to change this line on your website: All of our short stories are only $1.50 each, and we have no titles above $7.99. We believe in keeping electronic reading affordable for everyone. -Marcy |
07-16-2010, 01:16 PM | #3 |
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Hi Marcy,
Thanks for alerting me to that line, and I've made the change. We are trying several different pricing structures for our works right now to see what works best for us and our authors after retailers take some of their insane percentages (yes, I'm looking at you Amazon). If the $9.99 price point was too high, what would you have paid for a similar work of 85,000 words? Is Clea's Moon at $7.99 more attractive for a full-length? Also, knowing that although it was $9.99 the title was 25% off at Smashwords and 20% off at CoffeeTimeRomance, did that sway your mind at all? The only thing that has me a little puzzled is why it should make a difference whether we charge $9.99 being an independent publisher or Random House charges $12.99 for an ebook of the same length. The writer's work is the writer's work. I don't believe it should be necessary for an author to expect to earn $2.99 to $5.99 on a full-length work just because they are with an "independent" publisher. This would also seem to indicate that there is less value in being with us than a NY publisher, and I'm afraid I don't see that either. Perhaps you could clarify? Thanks, Jay |
07-16-2010, 06:07 PM | #4 |
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A suggestion for your pricing structure: Charge 1 cent more for your books.
I'm serious. It's one of the things I like about Baen. They don't charge $5.99 for a book; they charge an honest $6.00. I don't feel like I'm buying from a weasel. Incidentally, Baen charges $6.00 for books of 85,000 words and longer, and they are a "New York publisher" -- just not members of the ebook price-fixing cartel. |
07-16-2010, 06:45 PM | #5 |
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Your book is actually $11.99 from Amazon as a Kindle outside of the US (eg. Canada).
That's a bit much to pay when Rex Stout's Prisoner's Base is $7.93; Ian Rankin's Exit Music is $7.61; Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express is $6.79; Joseph Wambaugh's The Choirboys is $6.29; Robert B Parker's Mortal Stakes is $6.29; Ed McBain's Big Bad City is $5.99 ... I could go on, but I hope you take the point. |
07-16-2010, 06:49 PM | #6 |
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I understand your point, and agree that publisher does not a better book make. HOWEVER, for an author I don't know, even a discounted 9.99 is a lot for a shot in the dark at an author name I don't know. Just my take.
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07-16-2010, 09:04 PM | #7 | |
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Quote:
Incidentally, all of the titles you indicate are backlist (older) titles. What would you have to pay for a new release by an author? For what it's worth, we do offer Kindle format through Smashwords if that helps. Good to know about the foreign prices though. Last edited by UntreedReads; 07-16-2010 at 09:10 PM. |
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07-16-2010, 09:05 PM | #8 | |
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Clea's Moon, by comparison, is by a multiple award-winning author. At $7.99, do you feel that's a more fair price because the author is more well-known? |
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07-16-2010, 09:08 PM | #9 | |
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07-16-2010, 09:15 PM | #10 |
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Thank you all for your input. We've taken all of your comments into consideration and have lowered the price to $7.99.
Best, Jay |
07-16-2010, 09:21 PM | #11 | |
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Me? I like to live dangerously every so often. |
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07-16-2010, 09:22 PM | #12 |
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Maybe you can do something like offer the first chapter or the prologue free to get us hooked. I checked out the excerpt and it's mostly the table of contents.
If it's a long book, doesn't have DRM, and is written excellently it'll probably get on like a house on fire, at least here at Mobileread, even if it is $8-ish. |
07-17-2010, 12:40 AM | #13 | |
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07-17-2010, 12:46 AM | #14 | |
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I didn't check Smashwords but their book previews are usually fine. |
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07-17-2010, 07:33 AM | #15 | |
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Same here. The preview is so 'chopped up' that I couldn't get a feel for the author's capabilities or of the storyline.
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