Since every other windbag author has blown a few thousand words on this topic, I reckon I oughta chime in about ebooks, pricing and value.
To be clear: Right now, I don’t have much skin in the ebook game. My thriller, 7th Son: Descent, was released in e-formats by St. Martin’s Griffin back in 2009. I’m a couple thousand bucks away from earning out my low five-figure advance. Ebook sales have made a positive and meaningful impact on 7th Son’s bottom line.
Thanks mostly to the Kindle’s debut back in 2007, the ebook marketplace has exploded in popularity, and swelled with content. Particularly empowering is the unfolding revolution in which creators can now become entrepreneurs by self-publishing their works in e-formats. They can even set the price for these ebooks.
I absolutely support this empowerment. My five-year history as an independent / freelance creator, and my consistent vociferous and monetary support of my indie colleagues should eliminate any doubt of this.
That said, I’ve become increasingly concerned about authors selling their ebooks at rock-bottom prices. I’m not concerned about the widely-discussed (and, according to critics, destructive and unsustainable) “race to the bottom” pricing trend; ebooks for a buck set bad precedents, pundits say. I’m also unconcerned about indies moving aggressively into marketplaces once traditionally dominated by mega-corps. Stick it to the The Man, I say. Hell, stick it in and break it off. The Man has it comin’.
No, my concern is philosophical. Authors who sell their novels at ultra-low prices (such as 99 cents) use this pricing as a differentiator to attract new customers with a nigh-zero-risk proposition. 99 cents is practically free, after all. I spent years offering similar nigh-zero-risk propositions to consumers by releasing my content as Free online audiobooks.
I admire the at-a-glance savvy of the 99-cent strategy, but fear these creators wildly undervalue the worth of their work — and the ultra-low price undervalues the work’s worth in the eyes of the consumer.
Put another way: The only 99 cent ebooks I buy are from creator friends, because I know them personally and want to see them succeed. Beyond that caveat, I don’t buy 99 cent books because I reckon they’re probably shit. I don’t buy $3 books for the same reason. Their (very often) inarguably shitty covers, and (very often) inarguably shittily-written product descriptions and synopses provide further reasons not to buy. Very few novelists are accomplished graphic designers and marketeers, yet most playing in the self-publishing ebook space seem to think they are. Regrettably.
But I digress.
The point: I associate price with quality. I unashamedly judge books by their covers. You’d be a fool to think I’m the only one, or that this mindset is abnormal. It isn’t.
I have no doubt these bargain basement authors — let’s call them the 99 Centsers — sell plenty of ebooks. But I wonder how many sales they’ve lost from customers like me: normal folk who rationally associate price with quality, and who would’ve happily spent $10 for the same product. (Provided it was packaged with the panache worthy of a monetary transaction.)
99 Centsers also often insist it’s the consumer hive-mind that should define pricing, not the entrepreneur: The marketplace decides pricing. I get the fleeting wisdom of that, despite the inconvertible fact that consumers presently support thousands of authors/publishers who sell books for $10 or more. Shoppers can’t pass up deals, the 99 Centsers probably say. Ten dollars is simply too much to pay for an ebook.
What self-defeating, prideless bullshit. Shame on creators who believe this insulting myth. And if there are ebook shoppers who actually believe $10 is too rich for their Kindle-and-PC-owning, very likely broadband-Internet-and-premium-cable-subscribing blood, shame on them too.
For your consideration: The federal minimum wage is presently $7.25 an hour. Yet with this anemic pay, it requires less than two hours of effort, at today’s minimum wage, to earn enough cash to buy a $10 ebook … a product that will provide many more hours of engagement to read and complete. That is, in fact, a great value. If the book makes an emotional impact, hell, ten clams is a frickin’ steal.
Since it’s fair to assume the average ebook consumer earns at least the federal hourly minimum wage (and likely more), $10 is a more-than-fair ebook price for both consumer and creator.
Your work is worth far more than a buck, 99 Centsers. You may never believe it — and I truthfully don’t care if I convince you; it’s not my career — but I believe in my bones that it’s true. Indeed, 99 Centsers don’t, in fact, make a solid buck off their sales. The online retailer through which they distribute takes a cut before authors get their cash.
Finally, I want to briefly return to the topic of consumer and author expectations, and the exchange of currency for goods. At its simplest, if you’re selling your ebook, you must be doing so because you have the nerve — the wonderful, absolutely awesome, flipping-the-bird-at-the-odds nerve — that your work is worthy of a stranger’s time and money.
By god, it had better be. Because the very act of offering your work for purchase proclaims that you believe your work is worthy to compete against the likes of Dan Brown, Anne Rice, Brad Meltzer and anyone else’s book coming out of New York City. And that means you’ve busted a heroic amount of ass to write, edit, polish (and repeatedly rewrite, re-edit and re-polish) that novel until it shines bold and bright. Hell, you’ve worked harder than those mainstream novelists because you wrote the thing, edited it, packaged it and promoted it, all out of pocket … for no advance pay. You’ve assumed a shit-ton of risk.
And you’re going to sell that book — a book you soulfully believe stands up against the work of fellow pros, and worthy of a stranger’s money (for why else would you sell it?) — for a pitiful 99 cents a pop? Or an equally woeful three bucks a pop? My heart aches that so many creative people willfully sell themselves so short.
Folks who disagree with my perspective will delight in learning that I have no statistical data to support my claims about ebooks, pricing and value. I happily admit that I didn’t birddog those numbers at all. For me, this isn’t a debate or a discussion — it’s a declaration. I am genuinely unconcerned about crunching numbers and being numerically “right” about this. I am, however, deeply concerned about being philosophically and ethically right for me, and for my own creative and entrepreneurial path.
I am especially concerned because I’ll publish ebooks of my own fiction later this year. I’ll ship two novels — 7th Son: Deceit and 7th Son: Destruction — and at least one short story anthology — 7th Son: 7 Days — and at least one novella. I’ll price novels at $9.99, anthologies and novellas between $4.99 and $2.99, and short stories at 99 cents. Why? Because I’m confident in my abilities, and believe any content I have the nerve to sell will deliver entertainment value that transcends these low prices.
And just as the 99 Centsers have a true believer’s zeal for their pricing strategies, I’ll very likely be equally unwavering in my own. I’ll sleep soundly knowing I’m charging a fair price for my work. I won’t bat an eye at whining shoppers who claim they can’t afford a $10 ebook, for I’ll know they are very likely lying, and probably don’t value creative effort. If I can dictate my price, I can also dictate the quality of my customer. There is immeasurable value in that; ask any entrepreneur.
Call me creaky and slow-witted, but I simply wouldn’t be proud to sell my stories for less than they’re worth. From where I sit, that’s an unnecessary compromise that would degrade the perceived quality of my work, and my reputation as an author.
I’ve worked too hard building both to sell them for a buck.
–J.C.
Well said as usual JC. I think there’s a lot of middle ground between “This is what my work is worth and thus what I shall charge.” and “This is the least I can price it at to get the most customers.”
I need to throw my own multi-thousand word blog post at this at some point, but here’s a thought. I’m a big fan of micro-breweries. You buy quality, handcrafted beer. It may cost a little more (in some cases it costs about the same as beer from major “craft” brewers like Sam Adams, but you can’t get it everywhere), but it’s worth it. Will everyone buy it and appreciate it? No. And the creators my never get rich, but they’ll get repeat customers if their beer is good.
I respect people on both ends of this issue and I think that they’re chasing after different ends. I’m a bit like you though, consumer-wise. I’ll buy a friends 99 cent book, but if I don’t know them I wouldn’t buy their book any more than I’d buy a 99 cent pint. I’d expect a watered down lager, unless word of mouth told me different. And I guess that’s what the 99 centers are chasing after, building that word of mouth.
So before this becomes it’s own multi-thousand word post I’ll say cheers and be on my merry way.
Nicely put … but as one of the semi-complete unknown I seek readers and selling at Happy Meal prices seems to be the only way. If it doesn’t work I’m going to offer my next child as a contest prize.
I agree with the points you’ve made here. The primary reason I price my ebooks at 99 cents is to increase the chances of hooking into the Amazon algorithms.
Believe me, I understand that there are several counter-arguments to this strategy – you’ve mentioned some of them here. Those counter-arguments are valid, and may even be “right.” I’ve looked at the available inconclusive data and made the decision I think is going to work best for me.
And I’ll be paying for 7th Son. Happily.
“The only 99 cent ebooks I buy are from creator friends, because I know them personally and want to see them succeed.”
This. This right here. Exactly.
As I see it, there are three competing ideals at work here. An author publishes for one or more of the following reasons:
1. To have largest possible number of readers
2. To earn the most money possible
3. To earn the respect of discerning readers, colleagues, and experts
Many authors are finding that a ninety-nine cent (or 2.99) price serves aims 1 and 2 very well.
“But I wonder how many sales they’ve lost from customers like me: normal folk who rationally associate price with quality, and who would’ve happily spent $10 for the same product.”
You’d think that there would be lots of people like that, but many authors are finding that there aren’t enough to make up the difference. Raise the price by a factor of ten and the sales drop by more than that. The people who are making a living selling ebooks are selling them below five dollars each.
But then that’s not every author’s aim, is it?
Let me ask you this:
Look at the “Penny Dreadful,” the “Dime Novel” and the one-dollar “Airport Paperback.” Plot their prices on an inflation curve. You’ll find (as I did, when I did the math) that the curve extrapolates to today at around $3.
Now consider the similarities between these items from the past, and the self-published ebook of the present. They’re all printed on the cheapest available materials, with lurid (but cheaply drawn) covers, reusable plots, “good enough” editing, and generic layout. They’re not masterpieces of the literary craft. They’re what I call “commodity fiction” — any one is as good as another. Their “quality” is not expected to be particularly good, but that’s not the point.
And then, as now, people bought them by the armload. Not only that, some people actually prefer them to highly polished literature!
That’s where some of our favorite authors got their start. Hell, some of the works now considered classics (especially in genre fiction) started there.
So given the trend that leads from the penny dreadful to the dime novel to the airport paperback to the ebook, I’m convinced that for a brand-new author at an indie publisher (or for a self-publisher) the right price is $2.99, with $0.99 available as a promotional discount, such as for the first book in a series.
Now, if you aspire to greater literary heights, then absolutely. If those kinds of readers, the ones who consume a novel in an afternoon, then pick up another one right behind it, aren’t the kind you want, that’s fine. Don’t write that kind of book, and don’t price it that way.
But for folks who are early in their careers, and for folks who just want to get their stories in the hands of readers, and for folks who aspire to maybe someday making a living on their art, it’s a choice that makes sense.
So what convinced you that $2.99 is the right price? Is it coincidental that that’s the 70% profit mark for Amazon?
The modern equivalent to penny dreadfuls or dime novels in my opinion are the mass market paperbacks and they run $8-$10. Now granted, that’s with a flashy cover and from one of the “Big 6″. If you said that an ebook was “worth” 50%-75% of the price of a MMP then you run into $4 at a minimum. Much of that depends, as one person here said, on length as much as anything else.
So you may not be far off at $2.99, but that would be for something on the short end of the novel spectrum imo. Personally I’d be comfortable paying the same as a MMP for an author I know is going to deliver a solid story and I’d buy a trade paperback at full price from that same author.
Damn, somebody is making sense on this topic. I appreciated that you “have no statistical data” but sometimes numbers are just numbers and you have to go with your gut.
While I think it’s silly to expect people to pay hardcover or even trade paperback equivalent prices for eBooks, competing with mass market paperbacks makes a lot of sense.
It makes even more sense when you’re coming from a background that shows an eBook can me more than “just a book.” Heaven knows, innovation costs money and time.
Nobody knows exactly what’s around the corner, but when you’re in the middle of an earthquake, sometimes it’s best to just stand your ground.
This is probably going to get me in trouble, but…
Your arguments against low-priced ebooks would be a lot more convincing if they weren’t the exact same arguments Harlan Ellison (most notably) used against free ebooks/audiobooks five or so years ago.
Free is radically different from 99 cents. Lots of authors have experimented with this, with Tobias Buckell producing some of the best documentation:
http://www.tobiasbuckell.com/2011/04/01/a-year-of-selling-tides-from-the-new-worlds/
Bottom line, giving something away is a fundamentally different transaction than selling something, even if only for 1 cent. (There’s a reason micropayments have never caught on AT ALL.) If you want mass discovery and publicity, free is your only choice. I’ve got a decade’s worth of online content experience that verifies this. If the New York Times can’t hemorrhage less than 90% of their potential audience with a paywall, you can’t expect to lose less than that by charging for your considerably more obscure content. If all you care about is getting the word out, free is the only choice.
If you have any sort of profit motive, make your peace with abandoning that 99% free-or-forget-it audience. Now it comes down to price-per-volume maximization, and that’s a game as old as the hills. It works thusly: Start high, wait until transactions plateau, drop price, repeat until you reach bare margin profit.
Despite everyone’s “gut feelings,” evidence seems to suggest that $9.99 ebook buyers are indistinguishable — and as plentiful — as $1.99 ebook buyers. They’ve crossed the “I’m willing to pay” threshold, so price becomes elastic with perceived quality. There is an order of magnitude more 99-cent buyers out there — there seems ot be some sort of buying cult at the 99-cent price point — but profit margins are so razor-thin on those sales that even a drastic increase in volume is often barely breakeven against a $2.99 price.
The idea that there is one price that is always correct for all ebooks is idiotic. In fact, the idea that one price will always be correct for the same ebook is pretty dumb, too. Variable pricing is the only rational strategy. It’s more work, but if it was easy, everyone would be doing it — instead of just wishing they did.
Your take is great, except that most authors can’t get free books on the Amazon Kindle store (at least for now). That is the place where the vast majority of Kindle readers discover new books. Some publishers can get books in for free, but it takes direct connection with the Amazon staff.
In this case, you can’t get “free” into the primary marketplace where all the customers. You can get 99 cents in, however.
So if you want mass publicity and discovery, free doesn’t work in the Kindle store.
If we could put free books in the Kindle store? We’d be there.
I’ll add a PS here that $2.99 is for a SHORT novel, the way penny dreadfuls and dime novels were… in the range of 50,000 words. Longer works could be priced as high as $4.99 and still fall on that projection.
I live in the UK and I worked out that a £3 ebook costs just under £2, while a $5 ebook costs just over £3. The former is cheaper than a drink at Starbucks, while the latter is cheaper than a sandwich at Subway. So for me, any e-book priced less than $8 is an absolute bargain.
My first two e-books were both priced at 99c (although I had reasons for doing so at the time) but now I’m looking at bringing another one out, I’ll definitely be looking at the $4 mark based on length. After all, if someone sees the price and isn’t sure, all they have to do is download the free sample to make sure. Hopefully then they’ll see how I’ll justify the price.
I’m not an author, I’m an ebook reader. So I thought I’d chip in that I mostly agree.
My only caveat is that I find it very frustrating if the ebook is not slightly cheaper than the lowest print price currently available (new, full price). I really don’t like seeing that the paperback is there for 8$ if the ebook is 10$. Other than that I agree. I only buy cheaper than say 7-8$ if it’s obviously a promotion (first book in series is 5$ rest are 9-10$ makes some sense) or if I know the author does good work.
Patrick, thank you very much for chiming in. I’m particularly grateful that an ebook consumer (and not fellow windbag author) is sharing his perspective.
As an ebook consumer myself, I’m equally frustrated when ebook prices are higher than their printed book equivalents. That’s presently the case with 7th Son: Descent, and I truly wish I could do something about it. (My solution would be to up the printed book’s price, which is currently at $6, up to the $10 mark to match the ebook’s price.
)
Thanks again for sharing your point of view with me and others.
I wouldn’t have a problem with that at all, were you able to do so. 10$ is a very reasonable price for a novel length ebook.
I guess it’s a delicate balancing act, wanting to attract a broad customer base and make some decent scratch for all your hard work.
I consider myself fortunate that, despite several setbacks on my own projects, that many fans have already promised to buy my book once it’s gone through that endless cycle of editing, re-writing, and polishing.
Based on Scott Roche’s reply, I think there’s also a huge benefit to podcasting one’s work prior to it being published…it helps build that ‘word of mouth’ market he describes so many 99-Centers shooting for. I realize that doing so isn’t something everyone can do to help market themselves, but hey, if the opportunity’s there, I’d say go for it.
As for whether or not releasing the book for free will hurt the sale of it when it comes out in print/eBook, I’ll have you know the entire top shelf of my bookcase is lined, end to end, with books that I originally heard as a podcast, including 7th Son: Descent.
Ok, enough of my ramblings…
I sort of agree and disagree, but I think mostly I agree. I still think $9.99 is too high for an eBook because frankly – a lot of the cost behind paperback books out there and hardcover books as well is the production, and while there is still the copy-edit, decent cover, art, etc…there is no cost for warehousing, shipping, etc. an eBook. All the costs are front-loaded…
Also, as an avid reader of just about everything, I bought a LOT more books in the days when a paperback was available at “impulse” price. I don’t consider .99 an impulse price, by the way, I consider it pretty insulting…
But for a new book, from our company, we charge between $4.99 and $6.99 and for a reprinted one that’s already had it’s day, generally $2.99 – $3.99.
Let’s be honest here…every bit of the dynamic is different. If company A: sold your hardcover book for $25 and you get ten percent of that, you’d get your $2.50 OR your percentage of whatever discounted price the actual vendor paid.
With an eBook from a legit company not trying to run by the old rules and offer you a tiny pittance of your money – or if you do it yourself – you make a pretty good chunk of change per book, certainly better than you ever did on a paperback or mass market printing – at a much lower price.
There are a lot of rooms in the new house…and as has always been true…if a person wants the book, they will pay the price to own it – whether it’s .99 or $9.99 … it will likely be a good while before the entire mess shakes out.
David
David, thanks for the reply. I nearly shouted an “Amen!” when I read this line:
“(I)f a person wants the book, they will pay the price to own it – whether it’s .99 or $9.99 … it will likely be a good while before the entire mess shakes out.”
Both points are so very true. I’ll never claim my perspective and methods are right for an entire industry of creators. They’re only right for me. I’m thrilled to see folks like you validate my instinct that motivated consumers will spend $10 on quality content.
As an eBook consumer there really nothing more frustrating than the eBook being MORE expensive than the paperback version. Maybe that’s just one of those things that happens on Amazon (UK). If I’ve invested time and money in an author I have no problems in paying $10 for a book. I have yet to discover a new author via the 99c eBook model, way too much dross!
I tend to avoid buying eBooks listed at $0.99, because from past experience I know, that for whatever reason, I’m less likely to actually read them. They end up in the stack at a lower priority, possibly because they were cheap. Not in all cases, but almost always when it’s something I’m just taking a chance on. It’s not like my “to read” pile ever gets any shorter.
Cripes, another windbag author? Ah, why not?
For some reason I’m hearing Billy Joel in my head as I write – “You may be right – I may be crazy!”
I’ve been experimenting with eBook pricing on my books for the last couple years. My first approach: release novels at $9.99, back them down to $7.99 after six months and $4.99 after a year.
Then I let someone convince me that I should try 99 cent books. So I did for a little while. Funny thing is I sold fewer books, which I think bears out some of what JC says.
I’m currently trying the $2.99 price point. And yes, after raising the price of my books $2 they are actually selling BETTER. Again. I’ve got some shorts and comic books still at the 99 cent point, which seems to work for that length material.
A lot of this is in the go with your gut, see what happens territory. Thanks for adding to the conversation as always JC, and for once again shouting at creators “Act like What You Do Is WORTH SOMETHING!” I find it helps to hear it
I gotta disagree with ya here, JC.
The idea that a $3 ebook is crap is unfair, and in a lot of cases, makes the author more money than one signed to a big 6. You argument that by selling books at low prices authors sell themselves short is flawed. Authors do that everyday when they sign to a publisher, as it is them that gets the majority of that $10 sale, not the author.
Amanda Hocking did very well for herself selling at those measly price points, and it even landed her a book deal (which I think was the point that she sold herself short).
If people want the latest Stephen King book, they have two choices – pay the $10, or pirate it. I believe these lower price points are enabling people to buy books they otherwise couldn’t afford and may have otherwise pirated. Just because the $10 books are selling, doesn’t mean it’s a strong model. It just means that people are honest and/or don’t want the hassle of pirating it.
Amazon’s top 100 is full if self-pubbed writers, and if you look at their price points, they are what the marketplace wants. You’ll also notice that the ratings are also in the 3-5 star range.
The music industry is in the hurt box because they still insist on overcharging for music. The marketplace has spoken, and who is winning? The bands selling at lower price points. It’s pretty sad when big name acts are only selling a few thousand copies in their opening week.
I don’t look at it as selling yourself short, I look at it as running a business and making your customers (AKA fans) happy.
With all of that said, I commend you for having the courage to break the trend, and price your stuff differently, and maybe you’ll prove me, and guys like Konrath wrong.
This cannot be said enough – people that pirate have no intention of paying for it anyway. People need to stop using piracy as an excuse to lower the price of something music, movies, books, etc.
Actually, Stephen King sells very well, considering his HC books retail for $35.00. I’m a member of the Stephen King Library, and I get every Hardcover for $14.95. Then, because I don’t want to mess up the jacket, I get the digital version to read either on my phone or my Sony reader – there’s another $14.00 (still cheaper than the original HC, you see). I’m also a member of Audible, and I’ll grab the audio version with my subscription so I can listen at work – there’s another $14.95. The same book, three formats, officially more than the original HC price. Why – because that’s what fans do.
Would I love it if I could pay one price and get all three – absolutely! But you’re not going to see me pirate just because I think I’m entitled and I don’t want to pay for someone’s hard work. Who does that? What kind of “fan” does that?
I’ll join the chorus of those that don’t buy $0.99 ebooks and it’s the same reason I don’t buy $0.99 lunchmeat. Quality is a big reason, but that price point tells me the author doesn’t have the confidence to sell at least at a $2.99 price point. What’s wrong with your book? Why is it so cheap? Will I physically regret it?
I’ve yet to read a cheapie $0.99 novel that was worth recommending, and I don’t give those authors a second chance. I’m not lowering my standards as a reader so some hack can make a quick buck.
I agree that the piracy argument is flawed. Illegal digital copies don’t steal from the creator, likely don’t divert potential income away from the creator, and historically drive sales of the creator’s body of work as a whole.
Similarly, I think it’s a convenient but misguided strategy to equate the price / quality relationship of lunch meat, or shoes or the tangible item of you choice to the price / quality relationship of ebooks. This isn’t an attack on you — I’ve seen it made in discussions about electronic media for years. Think it through; the comparison is flawed.
“…but that price point tells me the author doesn’t have the confidence to sell at least at a $2.99 price point.”
Respectfully, MontiLee, you’re generalizing. The price point doesn’t tell you anything — you tell yourself something when you see an ebook priced below $0.99, and you choose to act based on your assumption.
We’ve seen plenty of reasons in this comments thread alone why an author might choose to sell an ebook at $0.99, and lack of confidence doesn’t necessarily enter into it.
Didn’t Stephen King start off selling his short stories for .99 way back in 2000, I think? How does this fit in with your point that
“I’ll join the chorus of those that don’t buy $0.99 ebooks and it’s the same reason I don’t buy $0.99 lunchmeat. Quality is a big reason, but that price point tells me the author doesn’t have the confidence to sell at least at a $2.99 price point. What’s wrong with your book? Why is it so cheap? Will I physically regret it?”
Just asking…
RSB
While you make some very valid points I can’t agree with you 100%. I am not a writer alas but a pure consumer. I do buy ebooks at all different prices. I will by a $10 book to support the author despite strong feelings that it’s way too high. I buy lots of 99 cent and 1.99 books and despite the low price point have discovered several authors I did not know about and enjoyed. If I like them I go and buy more, that’s the cycle. If I become a fan of two or three new authors a month, them to me it’s worth it and I won’t blink if their next book is more expensive.
As both an e-pubbed author and a voracious ebook reader with a HUGE ebook library at this point, I can safely say that I am ready, willing, and able to put down full prices for electronic versions of books I want to read. I am not willing to pay more for an ebook than I am for the least expensive equivalent print edition, but I am ABSOLUTELY willing to put down the same price!
7.99 books? Bring it. If you’ve got a story I want to read, I want to pay you properly for it.
The author community with the small press I’m pubbed through has had this discussion a few times now, and I’m pretty much with you, J.C., worried about us undervaluing our work. I like 2.99 as a price point for a novella-length work, but NOT for a full novel. And I’ll put down .99 for a novel if and only if it’s a promotion that I expect will probably get me into buying plenty more by that same novelist at full price.
All of which brings me around to finishing that OH HEY, ebook editions of the rest of the 7th Son trilogy? DUDE! I am all over that. I’ve been stalling listening to the rest of those in podcast form, and if they come out in ebook, I will happily buy them and whip right through them.
I have to admit that I’m loving ebooks the more I read on my iPad, but I do wonder about pricing on some of the books that I’ve bought. I’ve bought both the .99 books and regular price, and Heaven knows I’ve snapped up all the free copies of things I could get, but there’s a qualifier of what I grab there.
The free and .99 books I’ll get tend to be books long out of copyright or things that I’m really not sure I’ll read, so I don’t want them cluttering my bookshelf. For instance, I have Heosid’s Theogany and Sun Tzu’s Art of War as these cheap ebooks.
On the flip side, I bought two of Brad Warner’s Zen books for my Kindle app at nearly the same price as the paperback because I like his writing style, needed the ebook for travel, and couldn’t get the hardcopy at my local bookstore.
For me, as a graphic designer, there’s really one major complaint I have about ebooks that I think should bring the price down: design. Kindle books don’t maintain the same page count, type layout, font, spacing or anything that a well-designed hardcopy book does. It bugs me, a lot. On top of that, there is no printing cost, no storage, and no limit to the number of copies sold because it’s all digital. So the price would, logically, come down.
In this argument, I think there are probably plenty of authors out there who are asking the same questions I, as a not-yet-selling designer, am about pricing their work. How do you put a fair price on time and creativity that will still sell your work?
Personally, J.C., I still want the rest of the trilogy in hardcopy. So I will gladly pay and give them spots on my bookshelf.
Here’s the way I look at it: I love books. I have an aversion to hardcovers, but other than that I’m not really hung up on form factor or delivery method. To me, there’s no difference in what I’m willing to pay for a hard copy vs. an ebook; I’m paying for the story.
I’ve paid anywhere from $0.99 to $11.99 for ebooks. With very few exceptions (Roleplaying Game rulebooks, my massive MARVEL ENCYCLOPEDIA), that range covers the majority of the physical books in my library as well.
Can I pass up a $0.99 deal? Absolutely. If I couldn’t, my wallet would die by the dollar every time I started browsing the Kindle store. On the other hand, I’m willing to wait a few days or a couple of weeks to buy a book I want if I know it’ll be on sale for $0.99 or $2.99. I’m also more likely to drop a buck on a book if it’s something from an author I recognize; I snagged CONSIDER PHLEBAS by Iain M. Banks for a dollar a week or so ago, and it will sit in my digital to-read pile until I’m in the mood for it.
But the dollar books are more the exception than the rule for me. My purchase of an ebook isn’t any more predicated on it being in the sub-five-dollar range than the purchase of a physical copy of that same book. I don’t care whether the publisher’s cost to produce an ebook is X% less than the physical book, I care about whether the words—which are the same in both cases—will entertain me for a time.
As an e-book consumer, I have always enjoyed free content. Once I fall in love with an author I am then more than happy to pay market price. I don’t think I’ve ever purchased an e-book for under $5. I worked for one of the ‘big 6′ until recently and my opinion is that when all the dust settles, it is reasonable that e-books should not retail as high as $10, but under $5 seems awfully low for a quality product
“My heart aches that so many creative people willfully sell themselves so short.”
Thine heart aches for me. We’re selling THE ROOKIE and THE STARTER at $2.99 each. We are not selling ourselves short, we are finding new customers and giving them high value for their money. When we do that right, we earn long-term customers if not customers for life.
Value is relative to price. A $2.99 novel that someone enjoys is a great value. To the average customer, the exact same product at $299.99 is less of a value. When people see what they get for $2.99, I am confident they will be blown away, they will be very happy.
Selling for a low price isn’t selling ourselves short, it’s investing in developing our market share. We would rather give up higher profit now in order to create more long-term customers, knowing that a life-long customer will bring us far more revenue in the long run.
Will we move eBooks at $9.99? Absolutely. Will we sell MORE books at $2.99. Absolutely. In the game of customer acquisition and building a fan base for long-term business viability, I want more customers now. A certain percentage of all customers will fall in love with what you do and keep coming back for more. The larger my sample, the higher number of happy customers I get from that fixed percentage.
Competition is a bitch. People are out in the marketplace setting the price-points for the impulse reader. If you want to be priced high above that, then you probably reduce your discovery factor — people who find you by chance, not by word-of-mouth, and not because they already love your work. There is an opportunity cost to prioritizing the relative value of a book.
And the 99 Centers? Many of them are selling a series, with the following books priced at $2.99 or higher. The 99-cent book is a “loss leader,” a way to get people to try a new author on for size. That’s not devaluing the author, it’s smart marketing, and it’s having a pair of big ones that screams to the world “yo, Chief, my shit is so good if I can just get you to taste it, you’re mine.”
Your goal as an “entrepreneur” should be to create the highest-possible number of happy customers. If you’re talking about the philosophical, abstract value of a price-point and how that reflects the perceived quality of your work, you’re being an “artist,” not an entrepreneur. Both are equally awesome, but there is a difference. And yeah, you can be both, but there is usually some level of trade-off between the two.
Your position on price point puts the focus on you, the author. I prefer to put the price point where it focuses on my customers. I am here to serve the reader, the reader is not here to serve me. I will price the product where it makes sense for the reader.
Three of my eBooks are from Crown Publishing (a division of Random House, one of the Big 6). INFECTED, CONTAGIOUS and ANCESTOR sell for $11.99 and $12.99. On Amazon, those prices are HIGHER than the paperback. I don’t control those prices. We sell THE ROOKIE and THE STARTER from Dark Øverlord Media (our author-controlled imprint) for $2.99. We sell five to six times as many $2.99 books per month as my publisher sells at $11.99. Same author, different results.
When you sell eBooks, you are selling ones and zeroes. Once you have covered your production cost, all the profit goes to you. You have no overhead – you only pay the distributor when a book sells. You have no warehousing, no distribution, no returns. If you sell a $9.99 Hutchins-pubbed eBook of 7th SON at Amazon.com, you make $6.99. When the St. Martin’s Press paperback at Amazon.com sells for $6.00. you make roughly 60 cents. So while taking a position that your work has a relative value, someone else could ask why the reader should carry the burden of you making more than ten times as much per book.
You have earned your stripes by giving away gobs of free content to land your deal. I look forward to seeing your future take on this when you have a year of personal eBook sales data to consider.
Thanks for chiming in with your perspective and experiences, Scott. As I made quite clear in my post, I aim to set prices that are appropriate for my personal creative and entrepreneurial path, no one else’s.
A year from now, I suspect I’ll continue to contend that $10 is a very fair price for a novel-length work, both both consumers and creators.
The only thing that irks me with ebook pricing is when, as was said earlier, the electronic version is more expensive than a print version. Outside of that I’m willing to pay just about whatever price the author sets, especially if that author is one I enjoy. I don’t think I have paid 99 cents for a novel yet unless it was from someone I consider a friend, other than that have some self-respect and price your work at what you feel the value is, and if that value is 99 cents (as a novel) then please don’t put it out there. A quality, self-published ebook is going to take work. It’s going to take money.
And most importantly, it’s going to take time!
Thinking on something I said to JC on Twitter sone weeks ago: in hesitating to buy an ebook for the same price I’d pay for paperback, “it’s like I expect a discount for not being able to sniff the pages.” I’m sure I hate ebooks priced higher than print as much as the next reader, but I’m not sure the reasoning for that (ebooks cost less to produce) works in reverse. If an ebook model doesn’t have to pay for physical resources like paper and storage, why shouldn’t the money saved on production go to the author? I as a reader don’t lose money by paying the same price as paperback, and the author gets more money than they would for the paperback copy.
I don’t know whether a lower price helps sell more copies. Apparently it does for Brand Gamblin and some others (and I remember being shocked I could get Tumbler in print for $11 last year, when I was used to paying $20 for podcasters’ books from Dragon Moon Press). But philosophically, aside from questions of “worth,” why shouldn’t more money go to the author, especially if I’m not paying more for it?
As a reader, I avoid buying any copy if the ebook costs more than print. If ebook is equal to print I tend to order from a local independent bookstore, if I can resist the instant gratification ebooks offer, because I want to support them as well as the author. If the work is only an ebook and not available in print, why should I be unwilling to pay at the same rate as I would if it were in print? If it’s self-published, it’s just more money to the author with no additional cost from me.
I’m not an economist. Should lower production costs naturally mean savings to the consumer, even if the difference would be going directly to creators?
JC, I took our mini-conversation on FB to heart and am trying an experiment. I told then that you my book wouldn’t sell at $3.99 so I dropped it to $2.99. A number of other authors have been saying what you’re saying, and I try not to latch on to only one train of thought.
Luckily, ebooks are for experimenting. I decided to raise the price of the $2.99 book on my virtual shelf to *$4.99*. I have some shorts out at 99 cents, they’re not selling any better than the $2.99 was, let’s see what happens.
So far my sales are down a little, but not as much as I feared. And I’m making a lot more per book; my total revenue may actually be better. Interesting, no? We’ll see what happens in the long run.
I know when book two comes out I’ll run a “sale” on book one. How low I’ll go with that sale I don’t know but again, it’s worth an experiment.
Thanks for the discussion.
Oy. I do know how to write an English sentence:
“I told you then that my book…”
When I first read this I was thinking that 99¢ books were a great way to get people started reading a series, but I then I started thinking about my ebook buying habits. You are right about 99¢ books. I really don’t ever buy 99¢ books, unless it’s an author I already know, and in those cases they are actually losing money because if I already like them, I will pay more than 99¢.
The majority of new authors that I’ve discovered and then purchased more of their books were when the first in the series was free. I’ve also found a lot of crap that was free. I’ll check out most anything if it’s free, and if it’s actually good I’ll finish it, and if it’s really good I’ll go buy more books from the same author.
The one thing I never do is buy an ebook that costs more than the versions available in print! If it’s a new hardcover I want I don’t consider 14.99 or 9.99 too much for the ebook version. If it’s out in paperback for 7.99 or 6.99 I won’t pay 9.99 for it!
I have yet to see any valid argument for why an ebook would sell for more. Both physical & ebooks go through the same editing/formatting/design process, but there is no cost of physical merchandise for the ebook. Regardless of how small a part of each book’s cost the printing actually is, it is still a factor that’s not there for ebooks. You also don’t have to predict how many ebooks you’ll need and get stuck with boxes of them in a warehouse. And you don’t have to pay to ship them to stores. And you don’t have to deal with unsold returns from retailers. Physical books should always be the ones priced higher because when you buy them you are paying for an actual physical tangible thing.
In the specific case of your books, I’m not going to buy the ebook version of 7th Son: Descent, because I’ve got the print copy. 7th Son: Deceit and 7th Son: Destruction, however, I will definitely buy the ebook at whatever you’ve got it priced at, because the ebook will be the only option. If they were available in both ebook and paperback, I would compare prices and get the version that cost less, or if they were comparable I’d get the physical copy.
~Sharon
I’m a reader, and I love ebooks. They’re convenient for me since, despite the fact that I live in a Los Angeles suburb, we have only one bookstore close to us and it is inadequately stocked. Consequently, if I want a print copy of a book, I have to order it online and wait for it to be delivered. Quite often this is just fine as I do have Amazon Prime thanks to it being (temporarily) free for students. So for me, the primary motivation for purchasing ebooks is one of convenience.
This means I ultimately become more flexible with my book purchases as an ebook reader, with regard to price. I don’t like seeing the price of ebooks exceed the paperback price, unless both are under $10, or unless they’re still very close in price. At that price point, I really couldn’t care less.
I do take into consideration the time and cost associated with obtaining print copies of books as well. In a world where I don’t get Prime Shipping for free, I have to consider the cost of shipping or the cost of driving to the bookstore. Both options have time constraints attached to them, and both have “hidden fees” in the form of shipping costs or gas costs. Therefore, if an ebook costs slightly more than its printed counterpart, I’m not going to squabble about it. You just saved me time by providing me with an ebook, and I’d rather my money go to the author than to gasoline companies.
As far as the valuation of books are concerned, I think I’m pretty much in line with what other readers have said here, except perhaps for the upper limit on ebook prices. It really depends on which genre we’re talking about. I read SFF quite a bit, but I also enjoy books in other genres, some of which have different price-point policies. I’ve paid as much as $14.99 for an ebook, and I wasn’t disappointed by it. I would have paid the same or more for it in print, since at the time, it was a new release.
I’ve also paid $0.99 for ebooks before, and enjoyed them as well. I recall in particular enjoying several J.R. Rain stories, which all sold in that lower range of prices. The production quality is poor, at best, but the stories themselves were enjoyable. I would not have paid more than $2.99 for any of these books. That’s spare change to me, and to pay more I expect a minimum production quality that includes solid proofreading and editing.
I’d like better covers for a higher price point, but honestly, I can barely see them in their tiny thumbnail forms on my Kindle anyway, so this gripe applies to nearly all ebook covers I see. I can’t see the details, and I’m not heading back to my computer to check out the cover in a larger format. I just don’t care enough about the cover to do that, unless it was a cover produced by a friend of mine (in which case, I probably already have a larger digital copy). I’ve also learned over the years that the covers of books are there only to get you to buy the book, not to accurately depict the contents of the book. I have an easier time finding books I’ll enjoy when I can’t see the covers.
I also expect robust navigation and font resizing options in my ebooks. I’ll tolerate less thoroughly produced books at lower price points, but I’ll send it back for a refund at a higher price point. I need to be able to resize the fonts, and I want to be able to navigate from the Table of Contents (especially for non-fiction, where I’m prone to jumping around quite a bit). I would even pay more if internal references were linked (Meaning, if the author says “If you go to Appendix 1, you will find more information about this,” the phrase “Appendix 1″ would be linked so that when I click on it, it takes me directly to the Appendix.).
So my bottom line:
If it’s under $6 I assume it’s got a lower-quality production value, but I also believe there’s potential for the story itself to be high-quality. If it costs more than $6 I expect both a high-quality story and a high-quality production value. I also don’t care much about print/ebook price differences as long as they’re pretty close to one another, or the ebook price is under $10.
I sell at 5.99, mostly because I don’t really care to spend too much time thinking about it. I just estimate it at a buck an hour. You are paying a buck-an-hour for entertainment. Gimme six-bucks, I’ll amuse you for six hours. The price of e-books being above the price of a newly-printed book is stupid, wrong, indefensible, and illustrates how out-of-touch the genius MBA/lawyers in the big publishing houses are. I suspect they will pay for their attitude. Just as many large businesses have paid in recent years for their complete lack of foresight and logic. As for selling at 99¢ I wouldn’t do it, but I don’t mind that others are. Though I do believe there is a perception by the consumer that 99¢ does not translate to quality. And those who will only pay 99¢ are not going to buy at any price, opting instead to get it free on a torrent somewhere. When I start thinking about the business end of writing, I get depressed and the only cure is to write another book. Good post, though. Thoughtful and well executed. Depressed me so now I gotta go write another book.
Hi JC,
I’m not an author, just a reader. I think the interesting thing about this is the question of “worth”. Economically, it is easy for people to judge relative “worth” but very hard to judge absolute worth. So everyone pretty much agrees that eBooks should be as cheap or cheaper than paperbacks. That is because relatively we can all see how the costs to produce and distribute eBooks is a LOT lower than paper books.
Absolute worth is a lot harder. We have a gut reaction to selling something at 0.99 or 2.99 that is it “cheap” relative to the price books have traditionally been sold at. But that’s still relative worth. How do you gauge what the absolute worth of that book is?
Obviously, you spend a lot of time as an author writing/rewriting/editing a book. Additionally, you may spend money on cover art and professional editing. Let’s say you spend 200 hours of your own time and, just for the sake of argument, did the artwork and editing yourself. You say it is insulting for someone to buy your book at 0.99 but not at 9.99. This is interesting because if a single reader were paying you for your work, then they’re paying you either 0.005 / hour or 0.0005 / hour. Either one of these is rather insulting.
However, the book business is not a business where a single reader is actually paying you for your work. Thousands or hopefully millions or readers are jointly paying you. Of course you can never tell in advance how many that will be and thus selling your work at an hourly rate is impossible. In fact, trying to sell your work at any sort of rate that takes into account the amount of work you put into it is completely impossible. Thus I would postulate that the really insulting thing would be if the sum total of all sales of the book did not in the end make you a great hourly wage.
So in order to maximize the sum total of the amount you earn from the book you have to look at the market price: what people are willing to pay. Unfortunately (or fortunately perhaps), there’s no stock market for books so you can’t really tell what an exact market price set by your fans would be. Thus a lot of authors experiment. Poo pooing authors for experimenting with 0.99 or 2.99 is silly because they are just trying to find the sweet spot where they will make the most per book in total (the least insulting amount for that book) and the most for all their published books (as Scott pointed out, marketing is definitely in play here).
In a real open market, prices get set by consumers. I think if we had a real free and open market for books, the works of authors like Stephen King would be priced much higher than those of mid-list authors because people would be willing to pay more just like in the stock market some stocks are valued more highly than others because buyers are willing to pay more for those stocks. Of course, consumer perception of value comes into play heavily. People don’t just buy stocks because of the numbers; they are always looking at the “story” of the company and the future and how well the company. In other words, marketing can make a huge difference.
So I think the question for you when it comes down to marketing your brand and setting your price kind of comes down to, do you want to be Apple or Amazon. Apple sells something that is very highly priced with lots of cachet. They don’t sell a lot of them, but they are geniuses at marketing themselves and have built up a very loyal and rabid fan base (I’m talking mostly about Macs here, not iPhones). More importantly, they make a huge amount per computer sold. Amazon sells a heck of a lot more stuff than Apple, but they have cut-throat prices. They only make a little bit per item sold, but they sell a lot more of them.
Neither of these approaches is “right”. Both companies make a lot of money doing what they do. It’s more a difference in how they are marketing their services and what consumer they want to attract. I would postulate that it’s pretty hard in the publishing world to get someone to view you as a premium brand like Apple when you are first starting out. A lot of people may think twice when they see a book for 9.99 by an author they have never heard of, but they MAY take a closer look if it’s sold at a cheaper price.
Of course, in your case, you’ve already built a fan base and so you have a brand already built for yourself and fans ready to buy. So pricing at 9.99 may make sense for you because that’s the way you are marketing yourself and you already have a brand built up, but it may not make sense for a completely new author who doesn’t have those luxuries. Alternately, you may find you make a lot more money at 2.99 despite the fact that you already have a great brand because it just brings in that many more people who didn’t know you before. Even better, it may work as a loss leader to build your fan base to a level that your NEXT book at 9.99 makes a lot more money.
Anyway, this post is getting long so I’ll end it here. Interesting discussion.
I agree and disagree. As a consumer I will buy .99 eBooks because they are cheap or it’s a new author I want to try. I will also buy “full price” books because its an author I enjoy.
Same way Ill try free apps from android to test things but ill pay to support a dev that does a decent job and has paid apps.
I have a lot of trouble buying an ebook that’s priced higher than the paperback. In fact, I’ve only done it once: Scott Sigler’s Contagious, right after I finished Infection and I just HAD to read the sequel.
Maybe I’m the kind of reader authors hate. I usually only buy books by authors I haven’t read before at a used bookstore or a library sale, or for ebooks, at or under the $3 mark. I’ll make an exception for recommendations from people whose opinions I usually agree with. But once I find authors I like, via cheap books or the library, I’ll happily buy their books at full price. (Once I get a new job: I am currently making just over minimum wage, and I can’t justify $10 for an ebook these days. Maybe it is less than two hours of work, as JC says, but every one of those hours these days goes towards living expenses and paying off debt.)
When I know the production and distribution costs of an ebook are less than a paperback, it’s really hard for me to justify paying several dollars more. Digital music downloads are normally priced less than a physical CD. I think ebooks should be the same, and I think they probably will be in several years as the market develops.
I thought I’d present some numbers for others to consider.
For fiction, I sell short stories at $0.99 and longer works at $2.99, including “The Sovereign Era: Year One,” an anthology that includes a story from our very own J.C. Hutchins.
The $2.99 prices are as of the beginning of this month. Previously, “The Sovereign Era: Year One” and “Brave Men Run: A Novel of the Sovereign Era” were both priced at $4.99. It’s too soon to have meaningful data — it takes at least three months to gauge real change — but let’s look at where things stand eighteen days into my experiment.
Approximate profit (Amazon Kindle edition) on $4.99 is $3.49. Approximate profit on $2.99 is $2.09 So I need to sell 1.67 books at $2.99 to match my $4.99 price-point income.
Looking at the Kindle version of “Brave Men Run — A Novel of the Sovereign Era” alone, this month I’m selling 3.05 per day compared to last month’s 2 per day… that’s just 9% less than what’s needed to match the profit rate of the $4.99 price point.
More people are buying “Brave Men Run — A Novel of the Sovereign Era” in April than in March. Again, there won’t be legitimately measurable results until more data is in — check with me in July — but the only thing that’s measurably different in April from March is that the price is lower.
So far, it looks like Scott Sigler’s argument is being demonstrated here: I’m building a larger potential audience with little or possibly no impact on my bottom line.
I’m interested to see how it all shakes out. Given time, I might discover that $2.99 isn’t the sweet spot. Maybe not! Time will tell. I’m pretty happy about April so far, though.
Now, as a reader of ebooks, I have a very hard time dropping more than $5.00 on an untried work of fiction, and I won’t spend more than $10.00 on a non-fiction ebook. That said, I’m not unwilling to purchase (and have!) a hardcopy of a book I love or find valuable even after I’ve paid for the ebook version. So by pricing their ebook at a cost I’m willing to pay, some authors have actually earned more money from me!
That’s my two hundred ninety nine cents, as an author and reader.
Just bought 3 eBook bundles from you for what felt like an overdue steal, since I’d listened to Brave Men Run in podcast form years ago.
For what it’s worth, as a new Kindle owner with a DRM allergy, I really appreciated buying the bundles directly from you.
Thanks, l.m.! Just so you know, my Kindle and Nook editions are DRM free and (on the Kindle) lendable, too!
Thanks MWS – I didn’t know the anthology was available.
I’m utterly uncreative, just a consumer. I have a big hurdle to buy an ebook reader when the ebooks are still so expensive. I read them on my Android phone, and on my computer. But right now it isn’t clear to me, with my lifestyle, that it is worth buying an ebook reader to give a good experience with ebooks over physical books. The convenience is nice, but I don’t travel much, and mostly read short story collections from Smashwords on my phone when I read ebooks. I’ve read longer length novels, but at that point the convenience doesn’t really outweigh the worse reading experience of using a phone instead of an ebook reader if the price isn’t much cheaper.
I’ll buy anything you put out at almost any price – because I feel I owe you after totally loving your various podcast project. I’ve bought multiple (physical) copies of 7th Son and PE:DA and given them away to people to get them hooked. I’ve got a few shelves of physical books from podcast pioneers that I’ve never even opened, just to support their efforts after enjoying their podcasts, and would buy anything they’d put out later.
But, I’ve also started a lot more podiobooks I’ve never finished, and many I have that I haven’t been captivated by. I may or may not have tossed a few dollars their way, but they just didn’t click with me.
I can’t compete with the opinions of actual creative people above weighing the benefits of maximum profit vs maximum exposure vs maximum respect.
You seem to be in a good position, having gotten a lot of exposure and loyal fans, and I’ll keep you on my must buy list, but there is a difference between your position and people trying to test out the models. Me, I liked having the free taste and got hooked on quite a few authors, so much so that I don’t ever have to look for books, I just look what my favorite authors have put out since my last purchase. I think your books are worth what you intend on charging, but I don’t know if I’d have ever discovered that if I hadn’t followed a random link after you appeared on a linux podcast.
This issue is so complex. I’m still am not sure where I stand.
I’ve bought several books so far this year at the 99 cent price point. I got great value for my money. Two top-notch reads so far in my non-random sampling with a few more waiting to be read. I don’t go buying any old book for 99 cents just because it’s at that price, but if I see something that looks interesting I’ll pick it up.
I think it’s an excellent way to get a high volume of readers quicker. If you’re unknown and you’re desperate to get some reviews, it’s hard to argue against the 99 cent price. It is effective. That said, I think it’s a crying shame.
There is an argument I have heard that maybe the 99 cent price generates readers that you don’t really want anyway, but I think that might be a bit of literary snobbery. All I do know for sure is that when I finally do publish something, it will be between $0.99 and $9.99!
I agree with you, Hutch! I’m a knitter and I sell my handknits. I walk a fine line when it comes to pricing. I have items that are very low cost because I want people to try my products. I want them to see that my items are high quality. I also have high end items made of cashmere and other high end fibers.
I think the same can be said for ebooks. Sigler, Selznick, and you can get $9.99 any day of week from me. In fact you all have.
That’s because I feel like I have a history with you. I associate your names with quality. Podiobooks.com did an amazing thing. But the same can not be said for Joe Blow Writer from that corner of the Internet. I think they should have a $0.99 book. It doesn’t have to be a full novel. But I need a way to find out if this person is worth $10 or more. If they are, I’ll pay it. Now many times you can tell from a sample if someone is crap. But the reader is taking a risk with a complete unknown and $0.99 makes that risk much easier to swallow.
Please don’t get me wrong, I do not believe every book should be $0.99 or $2.99. In fact I just finished an indie book that I got free during Ebook Week 2011. I think that book should’ve been $10. It normally sells for $2.99. I’d gladly pay $10 for the next book in the series.
This new ebook revolution for the mainstream is still in upheaval and it’s going to take a while for pricing to settle. Hell, I know Muggles who think the ebook is a new phenomenon. They are shocked when I tell them I’ve been reading ebooks for 10+ years.
Then again I’m not the mainstream by any measurement. I think being an indie gives me a different perspective on things. I want people to be able to make a living doing what they love just like I’m trying to make a go out of my knitting business. People are going to need to be taught that good, high quality art, no matter what form the art takes, costs more than a buck.
This is just my $0.99. LOL!!!
as a reader from Israel, i have a different experience to most here regarding ebooks.
the Kindle has only recently become available here, and has no local content at all (and i’m not sure it supports Hebrew, but that’s just a technicality).
I bought a Sony reader in late 2008, bought a few books in the Sony reader store and downloaded a fair share of their free featured books. i also converted my existing ebook collection to epub and put it on my device.
Now i own an iPad, and can’t find anything on the iBooks store except Project Gutenberg texts, so i have to break the DRM of my other ebooks in order to read them on the iPad.
i suppose i could use the kindle app but i didn’t try it yet.
Now, regarding price: i have hundreds of books and trade paperback comics collections on my shelves. in fact, i’ve pretty much ran out of shelf space. I rarely buy hardbacks, so i’m used to paying about 6-15$ for a book, and up to 25$ for a comics trade.
i HATE seeing ebooks priced higher than their physical counterparts, it just pisses me off that a publisher would do that to a product that has such little production and distribution cost compared to the physical item.
I think that 10$ is a fair price to pay for a ebook novel, and i believe that whoever buys a paper book (or at least a premium edition) should get the ebook for free.
I never considered a low price an indicative of quality – just look and the sheer amount of full-priced trash romance novels featured on the Sony store! if i’m going to try a new author, i would place more value in a good review than a price point. also, a good “book trailer” does wonders – that’s how i started listening to your 7th Son podcast – one of the commercials on Slice of SciFi or Dragon Page podcast turned me on to that and many other podcast novels.
so i guess my bottom line is that as a consumer, i would buy a cheap book or get a free work with no concern of getting poor quality, and would hate to overpay for an ebook. (also, i’d prefer to buy directly from an author’s site, like Michael Stackpole offers, but i realize it’s not necessarily a viable option for most).
gosh, that was long winded…
I’m having trouble following some of the logic here.
1. 99 Cents means bad quality, and you won’t buy because it’s sad and pathetic.
2. But, if Stephen King sold a book at 99 Cents, that would be different, because his quality is proven. Then it’s not sad and pathetic, it’s really cool. In any case of a proven author, the “reasonable” argument that price correlates with quality falls apart.
3. $9.99 means high-quality, and a fair price point. If there are two new authors you’re considering, you would “never” buy the one at 99 Cents, but you’d throw down $9.99 because price is indicative of quality (even though prices are being set not by the marketplace, but by the creator, who might not have the most objective stance on the quality of his or her work).
4. But, you don’t want to buy the eBook if it is more expensive than the paper book. So a $9.99 eBook for the same title at $6.99 in paperback is bad, and you wouldn’t buy it. Which means the perception of the relative quality of the work is subject to the price point of the print product, if any.
5. Greg Crites was probably drinking when he wrote his comment, and he didn’t invite me because he is a sausage-fingered bastard.
6. Profit.
No, I think a buck-an-hour is a good price point. I wish I could get my entertainment at a buck-an-hour. A hooker’d cost me all of… errr… ten cents! My daily booze intake would be twelve bucks instead of fifty. A game of golf would be four-bucks instead of forty. Well, not counting the ten or twenty balls I launch into another zip code. Them bastards are expensive. And yeah, Scott, I was drinking. I’m drinking now. In fact, I’m tipping this one in yer honor.
So, the thought of .99¢ ebooks does not bother me. But, I have empirical proof that low-price has a perception of low-quality. I did my own experimenting over a six-month period on Amazon. In addition I have observed this phenomena in everyday life. There is a segment of the population who will NOT buy a generic or low-cost product. Don’t know why. Don’t care. I do know that this is the same segment of the population, all highly-educated, refined, perceptive individuals, who enjoy my high-brow literature. So, I’m charging a buck-an-hour.
You have a lot of good arguments, and make a lot of valid points in your post. However, I am finding it hard to relate to them.
I think the internet has spoiled me. I’m a student, and on the typical relatively tight student budget. Whether it comes to food, drinks, games or books, a lot of the time I will choose what I buy based on where I can get a bargain.
For me the “something cheap usually isn’t good” argument just doesn’t ring true. I have bought too much stuff, especially digitally, that is dirt cheap and that has given me loads of enjoyment.
I have also paid “Full price” for a lot of “big” games or books that I enjoy a lot less than the cheap stuff.
There is a lot less risk to buying something for 99 cents. If it turns out to be bad you have wasted less money, and in my experience the proportion of bad stuff is the same regardless of price provided one shops smartly.
I will probably buy your e-book for $10. I enjoyed 7th Son when it was first released as a podcast, and I would happily support your work. However, if I were browsing Amazon without having heard of you, it is very unlikely that I would choose your $10 book over one priced at 99 cents. It would be my loss, but there you are.
It all depends on the market, doesn’t it? We can say whatever we like about price. We can *do* whatever we like. But in the end, a book is worth what someone will pay for it.
The market doesn’t care what authors think of themselves.
And BTW, Wal-Mart is laughing all the way to the bank. But so is Apple.
The market certainly doesn’t care what a creator thinks of himself, Paula, but it can certainly imprint a perceived value based on the price of the creator’s work.
Understood!
My point about Wal-Mart and Apple is that there are different equally profitable market niches. You’re advocating being Apple. Nothing wrong with that.
J. C. Hutchins, will you marry me?
Oh, wait. I’m already married. What I mean to say is that I apologize for never having heard of you until this very moment, but you can sure as hell count on the fact that I will be purchasing all of your books from now on until I’ve read them all, and then I’ll breathlessly await your next one(s). You’ve said it all brother! Amen.
Joanna Foreman, writer.
I gotta disagree with what you have said. This is akin to the philosophy that yourself and Sigler was putting out SHIT and cheapening the industry because you didn’t charge anything for your podcasts. Not my words, the head of the Science-Fiction Writing Union/Guild or whatever.
So it seems you are taking the exact same attitude.
Tell John Locke that the .99 pricing doesn’t work. Of course he’s in the minority here. Daniel Arenson has written some of the best Fantasy I’ve read at $2.99. Talk to JA Konrath or Blake Crouch…hell talk to Sigler! Ken Isaacson has written a Legal Thriller that could compete with Grisham. The list goes on.
Just like podcasting you are going to have to sift through the crap to find the gem. There are stinkers out there, absolutely!
As a consumer, I look at those prices BEFORE looking at books priced at $7 and up, and to make things worse Agency Pricing is ruining the whole industry in my opinion. When Stephen Kings’ Full Dark No Stars came out last year, I got the hard cover CHEAPER than the cost of the eBook on release day.
All that being said….when the hell is your next book coming out?
JC Hutchins, you said:
“I won’t bat an eye at whining shoppers who claim they can’t afford a $10 ebook…”
LOL You won’t be able to blink for at least six months then, because ebook consumers are C.H.E.A.P.. And yeah, I do agree that they’re lying about not having $10 for an ebook. I mean, c’mon, the devices they want to read them on cost upwards of $300-$400, give or take. So I always knew that was a lie.
The only people getting fat off of ebooks are…well…Amazon. They use cheap, self-published authors to entice potential Kindle buyers with the promise of 99 cent books. Honestly, my position on the. Big 6 Publishing Agency Model has somewhat changed because the lower the price of ebooks, the better for Amazon, not authors/pubs so much. Amazon made their money with THE DEVICES. They used writers to produce content to help SELL DEVICES. That’s why Amazon took a loss on each trade published ebook it sold.
I’m know I’m talking a lot here, but I finally woke up and saw things for what they were. For example, Apple has musicians producing content with a 99 cent payday as well. But check this out: so does Android Market, who has game developers selling 99 cent games. These developers have injected so many apps, games, and content into the market that Android is now bestselling. What is the first thing Android fanboys tell you? They brag about the number of apps in the store. And 99 percent of these developers provide those games, ect for free or for a pittance.
My point there? They (Amazon, Apple, Google) are using content creators (writers, musicians, game developers) to sell their DEVICES, because “that’s” where the real money is, not in making and peddling little 99 cent crap.
Okay, this comment will be probably be deleted by the moderators, but I know in my heart that I’m right about this. Now I hear Amazon is planning to place ads in their Kindles. They’ll earn a WINDFALL of cash from those. Do you think the little 99 cent authors are going to see a penny of that money? Kindle ONLY displays ebooks, it has had no other function, so a major part of it’s success is because of the content it was created to display. Without the content, Kindle is useless.
Okay, I’m really done talking this time. Sorry for the length of this. Thank you for allowing me to comment.
Windbag:
“Amazon made their money with THE DEVICES. They used writers to produce content to help SELL DEVICES. That’s why Amazon took a loss on each trade published ebook it sold.”
Absolutely not true.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/tablets/231700101
Short version: They took apart a Kindle Fire, shopped around for the components, and found that they cost $204, compared to the $199 list price. Add on labor for assembly and fulfillment and it’s even more. Amazon takes a loss on the devices so that they can make their money on the ebooks.
Amazon has exactly the same model as the video game industry, which is to sell devices at as low a price as possible, even taking a loss sometimes, in order to make money on the content royalties. That’s why the price of the Kindle has fallen from $300 to $80; Amazon is as aggressive as they possibly can be with the price of the device because they make money on the books, NOT the devices. If they wanted to make money on devices, the new Kindle wouldn’t be $80, it would be $150 – $200 where they could make a tidy margin on each device sold.
As far as $0.99 apps, you would not be saying what you’re saying if you knew anything about economics. Why do you think there are thousands of game developers selling all their hard work for $0.99 (or even free and ad supported)? It’s because that’s the sweet spot to make the most money. Google hasn’t somehow hoodwinked all these developers. The developers can pick their own price (trust me, I am a developer). $0.99 is a total impulse purchase for just about anyone, if the game looks even remotely interesting. Selling millions of games at $0.99 will make you a lot more money than selling a few thousand at $10.
Many individual content creators may think that for some reason $0.99 is too cheap for their content and they are welcome to price it as expensively as they like in all these stores. However, in aggregate I think the market will always tend to head towards the price point where content creators are making the most money. In the mobile game department and certainly in the mp3 market that seems to be about $0.99 for most apps or songs. I think the eBook market is still too young to know what that price point will be, but I’m guessing it will be less than $10. In a few years, we’ll know.
Amazon thinks the sweet spot is between $2.99 and $9.99. That’s why they give DOUBLE the royalties to self-published authors in that range that they do elsewhere. For novella to novel-length work, I think they’re probably right.
If you plot an inflation-adjusted curve from the “penny dreadful” through the “dime novel” through the “airport novel” (which originally sold at $0.99) you’ll hit right around $3.99 today. For commodity fiction (that is, anything you just pick up and read in order to have something to read) that’s the right price.
Authors with a significant following can probably make more than that with higher prices, but most of the people who are really cleaning up in Amazon self-publishing are on the lower end of the price scale.
All of this talk about inexpensive ebook is fascinating and it’s been exciting to watch the evolution of ideas, however I have yet another question:
How are is the New Media getting into the hands of readers who cannot afford computers or smart phones, much less a Kindle? How are all of these cutting edge authors finding an audience with readers who get their books from libraries or second hand (like a lot of us did growing up)? These aren’t comic books off a rack, they require tech just to access the store. These aren’t finds in a second hand shop (where I met so many of my favorite authors). These are pixels in unreachable ether (unless you have the means, and when did reading require “stuff”?).
As cheap as these ebook claim to be, the devices are still expensive, it still requires tech and therefore excludes a large slice of a potential readership.
So yay, everyone makes their money off cheap books and everyone is obsessively checking their Amazon listings, but what’s the legacy of ebook authors and the word of mouth that comes from a loaned out paperback. Impress me with your library waitlist.
How are is the New Media getting into the hands of readers who cannot afford computers or smart phones, much less a Kindle?
–They’re not. But the bottom end of the ladder has never been a big market for books; they tend to go to libraries.
How are all of these cutting edge authors finding an audience with readers who get their books from libraries or second hand (like a lot of us did growing up)?
–If you’ve got the right connections and the right contracts, libraries will buy the books. They tend to go with the ones that will get the most circulation, though, so new authors don’t show up there very often. Never have.
These aren’t comic books off a rack, they require tech just to access the store. These aren’t finds in a second hand shop (where I met so many of my favorite authors). These are pixels in unreachable ether (unless you have the means, and when did reading require “stuff”?).
–Libraries have started lending ebooks, and some even lend cheap ereaders now. But honestly, there are still lots of books in the libraries.
>> Impress me with your library waitlist.
My library lends out audio books in digital form via the Overdrive software (Washington County library in Oregon, western part of Portland, OR). If anything, Overdrive is even more complicated and requires more tech to use than an eBook. And yet every single book I’ve gone to check out via Overdrive has had a wait list. So yes, there are lots of tech savvy people out there willing to check out digital books from the library.
I think Nobilis’s points are spot on as well. New authors are rarely ever found at the library anyway, so why should that change with eBooks? Also, I doubt library purchases are a huge source of revenue for most authors. Typically the library has a very small budget for new books. So most authors don’t make their way into the library until they’re already quite popular (by which time the libraries’ purchases are not a big part of their revenue).
Readers who get all their books from the library are also not buying books, so why should the author be focused on catering to this group? I realize there are few people who either get ALL their books from the library or purchase ALL their books, but still, catering to a segment of the market which is unlikely to buy your work doesn’t seem like a smart business decision.
This conversation concluded nearly six months ago, and yet today, it has reemerged as a shouting match between two participants. Gentlemen, take it to the back channel. This is no longer the place to continue your 1:1 conversation. Thank you.
JC,
I actually count 5 different posters in approximately the last month (4 posters this week). There is actual discussion going on, if you care to read it, not shouting.
I’m sorry if you feel that your 6 month old blog post is no longer worthy of discussion. Most bloggers can only dream of making posts that have enough relevance to still spark thoughtful discussion 6 month later.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t understand your attitude here. There are more than 2 people having a discussion and as far as I can tell as one of those people, it’s nothing close to a shouting match. Are you just tired of receiving e-mail notifications for posts on this topic?
The comments for this post are now closed.