This is not me. My glasses are thicker and I have less hair.
I ranted Saturday. It happens. Usually I am just getting something off my chest and not too concerned with the ultimate outcome. You know, that “hey, if I reach a few readers and help one or two find their way or feel better that they aren’t alone in how they feel, I’ve succeeded” kind of blog.
But not Saturday. Saturday I really spoke my mind. It was all from the heart and I really cared about the subject matter and most importantly I had been holding this in for a long time. Believe it or not I really don’t like to blog about touchstone issues. Sacred cows are best left to their own grazing is my opinion. You get yourself into hot mustard too quickly on the Internet when you speak your mind. About anything.
But I was AMAZED at the Indie response. It honestly warmed my heart. I’ve been a bit despondent lately and feeling as if we Indies as a collective have lost our way (and each other, in some respects). But I heard from a ton of fellow writers, through myriad social networks. I got emails. I was tweeted. In fact I even heard from writer-pal Edward Owen both here AND on Facebook.
He mentioned a revolution at hand. Many mentioned the good old bandwagon. I say it’s time. We Indies need to start acting (and pricing) our books like we’re serious. Stop watching the Amazon “leader-board” like we’re at the Kentucky Derby hiding beneath some behemoth monstrosity of (what could hardly be called) a hat. We need to be the ones at the front of the mob, pitchforks, muskets, swords, torches, AK-47s, anti-tank artillery, and whatever else it takes to storm the damn castle gates.
John Belushi (as Bluto Blutarsky) my have thought the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor but he still said it best:
WHO’S WITH ME?
Seriously. I heard from a lot of great Indie authors. But I didn’t necessarily hear from YOU. Or YOU. You know who you are. I should have heard from 1,000 of you. 10,000. Where are you? Still at 99 cents and bad-mouthin’ your country, I’ll bet (Officer and a Gentleman for those of you who think I am actually questioning your patriotism). What I AM questioning is any of you who really believe you have a great book, are not on some type of official promotion, and are still charging the price of a large Snickers bar for your novel. Sorry, a large Snickers bar costs more. If you’re at 99 cents, you’re saying your book is worth a two-pack of Skittles.
I heard a lot of people this weekend say “the consumers/readers will set the prices”. That’s true. Eventually, they will. But right now that’s like saying a running back will have as many yards as his talent, dedication, hard work, intelligence, instincts, eyesight, and athleticism will get him—and then sending him out into a muddy cornfield with a blindfold on. The consumers in this market have been misled. They are in NO SHAPE to decide what an eBook is worth because for the past two years, like Pavlovian dogs they’ve been conditioned to believe that in the eBook market they are entitled to be entertained for free.
One commenter put it this way (paraphrasing; I’m too bushed to go find the actual quote): “Imagine walking into a concert or a movie theater and saying ‘No, I’m not paying, you should entertain me for free today.'”
But that is what our industry has come to. Writers (including me) have been schlepping their novels for 99 cents for so long that THEY have set the market price, not the reader. The good news is if we set the price in the first place we can set it back!!! It isn’t going to happen overnight. Even if every author on the planet raised their prices from 99 cents to $2.99 overnight, there might still be a market backlash. Sales would probably slow. But they would pick up again and I think they’d pick up damn quick. Because the book-reader would ask themselves “Wait a minute, since when should I have been expecting an entire NOVEL for less than a buck? An Egg McMuffin costs more than that and I also buy a coffee with that!”
If you price it, they will come.
I want to hear from more of you. I am going to blog and blog and tweet and tweet and, well, I’ll think of some other way to get the word out.
And authors, do your readers a solid. Show them how much you appreciate them. DO run 99 cent promotions once in a while (and freebies) and advertise them well. There really are avid readers (and fans of yours) who have a hard time spending $5 on anything right now when it means not buying something more important to sustaining their lives and putting food on the table.
I’m telling my readers this right now: if you are strapped and can’t afford $3.99 or $4.99 (or even $0.99) right now, give me a shout. Let me know. I will give you a copy of my eBook, and I always will. And if you are a con artist and you bilk me out of my $3.99 then I’m okay with that, too, because you are one hell of a shitty crook if a $4 book is your target and need all the assistance you can get, my friend.
All kidding aside, let me know. You don’t have to do it publicly. Click here and tell me which book you want (I originally set up this email address for Black Beast, but let me know in the email which of my books you don’t have and what format you need).
I’ll leave you with a great quote:
If we behave like those on the other side, then we are the other side. Instead of changing the world, all we’ll achieve is a reflection of the one we want to destroy.
JEAN GENET, The Balcony
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The blank page is dead…long live the blank page.
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I really did enjoy reading Black Beast. I wish I could buy it again just to help the writer. I really enjoy the first (and #1) reviewer of the book. Well written, insightful… you can tell that Unique1 is one bright cookie!!
Hi Rob, it has been a while. I wanted to let you know that I loved reading your blog tonight and I am with you brother!
Van
#1 – I want the Indie button #2 – I’m changing my prices in the morning #3 Maybe you can garner the support of Amazon. After all, their profit margin per book goes up another 30+ cents.
I was actually wondering if the rant would transform into a call to arms. Artists united can change many things. After we fix the book sales market, can we work on world peace?
PS – don’t forget my button. 🙂
After reading your blog yesterday, Rob, I raised my prices by another buck each. Least expensive (ie shortest) items are now $1.95. Which means my introductory/free/loss-leader novel A SHADOW PASSED OVER THE SON is the ONLY item priced at $0.99. With the price increase on my other titles, suddenly SHADOW truly appears to be on sale; at $0.99, it now stands out.
Here’s my current pricing system:
Short stories: $1.95
Novellas: $3.95
Serials: $4.95
Novels: $5.95
Collections: $5.95
Ominbus Editions: TBD (Perhaps $7.95)
We may be fighting an uphill battle; my Kindle Fire is loaded with a lot of apps, nearly all of which were FREE. This perpetuates the something-for-nothing mindset.
If we all raise our prices, it may be a mere drop in the bucket. But we’ve got to start somewhere.
You want a revolution? Give me the front end of the log and I’ll help you batter down the castle door.
I agree, I worked too hard on my books to sell them for 99 cents.
Rob,
Thank you for not ranting that free or eve $.99 is wrong, just wrong. Most people who get on the band wagon are completely against the idea of a loss leader for any amount of time, feeling that it gives readers the idea that if they wait long enough … it will go free. I don’t agree.
I have a romantic suspense series. No one could find it. No. One. So I gave the first book away for free for a significant amount of time. Guess what? The other two short novels (priced at $2.99) are now selling across all venues. (And many readers have emailed to say they bought my whole backlist as well.) It’s great. I’m now working on a stand alone romantic suspense and will release it at $3.99 or $4.99. (And of course put it on sale now and again.)
I didn’t feel pushed into lowering the price, I used it as a marketing tool. I think lower pricing is a great way for people to find a new-to-them-author. It’s hard in this day and age to plunk down $4.99 only to find out the book didn’t quite meet your expectations. But $.99? That doesn’t hurt so much.
I’ve raised all my prices to $1.99 and above except for .99 novellas and a .99 promo on the first of a 6 book series. But I still feel this is a tricky area. Yes, I believe my books are worth $3 a pop, but some authors like me are just so darn grateful to have anyone reading their books in the indie realm after decades struggling in the trad world. There’s always that hint of worry and desperation especially as so many new authors are getting in to the indie world (the more the merrier!) and it gets a bit harder to be found. Add that to an ailing economy. I want to be accessible to readers with tight budgets.
So I keep my prices a little lower. Maybe after I feel I’m more established with a faithful following of readers, I’ll finally edge up to $2.99 for most of my books. Until then, I’m kinda cheap. And easy. At least my books are. LOL
Here’s my only concern (and theory): a large percentage of those who download books at 99 cents are the same who download the freebies. I’ve read that most free downloads never see the light of the Kindle, so piled beneath the hoarders’ free booty. Fact is, 99 cents really IS viewed as free, and I don’t think a lot of 99 cent downloaders ever read the majority of books they download. They are hoarders just the same. What about those who really love your premise or have come to your book after being told how wonderful it is? They will buy it at $2.99. I look at it his way: I want my books read, too, NOT just downloaded. When someone pays $3.99 for my book, I’m pretty darn sure they’re at least going to give it a go. Once they start turning the pages, of course, the onus of talent and good story are on me.
In my opinion, most who download your book BECAUSE it’s priced at 99 cents will never read it. But it is just my theory! 😉
Thanks, Bella, for the wonderful comment. You know whatever you decide I wish you all the success in the world!!
That’s a great point. I have at least a hundred free and 99 centers on my Kindle I’ve never peeked at.
I know on one book I have at $2.99 I never lost my listing in the top 100 for the genre, so I’m proving my own point, I guess. And I had 7K free downloads of a first book in a series and have sold only a handfull of the follow up books after 6 months.
Thanks for getting me thinking even if I’m obviously a little slow. LOL
Rob,
I read your rant and loved it. As fate would have it, I had supper with my brother-in-law Saturday evening. He is an avid reader and also an indie musician who has worked hard for a long time to build a presence about his music. He told me that he wasn’t going to buy anymore “four dollar” books online because he had tried some and had been disappointed with the quality of them. He went on to say, unprompted by me, that he buys ebooks in the high end price range because he believes there is a definite correlation between price and value. This is coming from a person who reads a lot of books and is not an indie writer, although he has a degree in journalism.
So, I am saying all this as a way of agreeing with your earlier rant. There is certainly a group of readers who believe indies have dug themselves a hole by offering their work at bargain basement prices and sending a subtle message that their work is second rate when compared to the work of “real authors.” I suspect that pricing on indie and TP books will move toward each other this year, but there will still be a gap.
I have all four of my books, novels in a 60,000-75,000 word range, on KDP for $3.99 now. I will still use the “free” days as a tool to help establish my name because I believe that technique is different from permanent cheap pricing.
As to the revolution, I’m all in. Just tell me where the next fire fight is.
Regards, SW
Are we connected on FB? I’ll send you the invite to our underground group!!
The first rule of the Guthrie Revolution is you don’t talk about the Guthrie Revolution. The second rule of the Guthrie Revolution is . . .
Thanks for my first true LOL of the week. Classic.
Loved this post! I agree that we can’t go on forever with the $0.99 books. It just doesn’t make financial sense in the long run. And as you’ve mentioned, there is a perception that $0.99 or free isn’t good. I have no issues with it as a promotional tool or even as a loss leader, but I hope that over time, indie-authors will edge their prices up. Both my novels (120K) are priced at $3.99. That still isn’t very high, but I feel it is a good medium-range price for a new author.
I agree Kristine, we do have to ease into the higher price zones. I think there’s a good argument for quality Indie work to settle in between $7.99 and $9.99 (considering that the well-known authors’ publishers are charging $13.99 – $16.99 (you’d still be talking a near 50% discount in some cases). But I think your numbers are pretty good. I don’t equate dollars and cents with word count. That’s another area that authors have been told for too long what is “too short” and what is “too long”. I mean I totally agree a short story (5k words) can and should go for even the dreaded 99 cents! A short novella? Sure, 20-30K words, maybe $2.99 – $3.99. But ultimately page count is nothing more than a function in Microsoft Word. I never went to a book story looking for the fattest novel (in fact I would argue that there are a lot of 120K novels whose stories could have been better told in 60K words). 🙂 Thanks much for the comment and food for thought!
A few months ago I dropped the price on the first in a paranormal romance series to $.99. Nothing happened. I repriced it to $3.99 figuring I could NOT SELL as many at that price as at $.99. Now I have 3 books on Amazon (2 romance and 1 mystery) and all are $3.99. I’m working in two novellas (back stories to the paranormals) and will price them at $1.99. My novels are on the short end, just under 70,000 words, but I’m toying with upping them to $4.99. Even then, IT’S CHEAPER THAN A LATTE AND LASTS LONGER!
Thanks for the response, Michele. I think there is another misnomer we authors have been sold over the years: word count. I’ve always believed labeling a book with a certain min/max word count is like saying all cars should hold exactly this much fuel. If the story can be told in 50,000 words, it better get told in 50,000 words or my 80,000 word book needs some SERIOUS weight loss. I finished my second book and started panicking because as the story was coming to a close it was becomIng clear my book was not going to quite hit 40,000 words. Then I stopped and thought, “has the story been told?” it had. And I’ve gotten better reviews on the second in the series and nary a complaint about its length.
Who walks into the book store and looks for the thickest book? In fact, have you ever even been considering two different books and compared thickness to make the decision? 🙂 I seriously wish authors would stop measuring their work at all based on “word count”. It’s like tellIng me the height and weight of a football player…yeah, but can he PLAY? 😉
Word count comes from its equating into pages of printed-and-bound books, all of which ties into the metrics publishers have scrutinized over the past 60 years in order to figure out what book length will sell the most copies, thereby generating the greatest ROI vis-a-vis printing and shipping costs (there’s a reason a big fat hardcover of your favorite author is as expensive as it is; run the numbers on Createspace and see for yourself). However, if a new bestseller comes along and becomes the next HARRY POTTER or the next DAVINCI CODE, and it’s 260,000 (!) words, but it’s all the rage and movie studios are bidding for it and it’s a frenzy, every agent in the country will suddenly go looking for 250,000-word manuscripts. You ride her til she bucks ya, and then you don’t ride her no more. At least, not until 5 or ten years pass and you can re-sell the same gimmick because everyone has forgotten about it. But you’re right: word count/page count is mostly arbitrary; a good yarn is a good yarn is a good yarn.
I feel it’s important to reprint Rob Guthrie’s blog which is absolutely right on. My books are worth more than a super value menu item at Taco Bell or McDonald’s. A crappy burrito or value fries shouldn;t be worth more than a buck but a book that you have invested years in? Indie Authors need to ostricize John Locke and Amanda Hocking for setting the bar sooo low that now reader’s don;t want to pay more than .99-cents for an ebook. Indie Authors need to set a minimum price range with all Indie Author’s agreeing to sell in this range. Since publishers set pricing begining at $8.99, I suggest a $5.99-$9.99 ebook range. But this .99-cents crap has got to go and authors who sell at this price should be ostricized by community of Indie Authors. Thanks Rob for pointing out a painful truth for all of us hardworking Indie Authors who strive to deliver quality and just want a “fair price” for our work.
http://networkedblogs.com/xfqcY
I’m one of those .99 self-published authors, and I’m not going to change the price. It’s the first book in a series (sweet historical Western romance) and the next are $2.99 and $3.99. In a year, I sold about 60,000 of the .99 books and made the USA Today list. With all my books combined, I’ve sold almost 100,000 in a year.
Rob, you and other authors who take this stand are looking at the wrong part of the price. You need to look at how much you MAKE, not how much you sell for. At .99 it’s .35. How different is that from what you’d make from a traditional publisher? Pennies more or LESS.
I’m not devaluing my work, I’m enjoying the money that Amazon and Barnes & Noble drop into my bank account every month. I credit the .99 first book in the series as being a big part of that.
Every self-published author is different and needs to make decisions for what works for him or her, including a low priced book. Don’t worry about the rare reader who only reads higher priced books. Think of the many, many readers who can only afford low priced books, others who like a bargain, others who will do an impulse buy, and those who don’t care what the book is priced. Then make the decision that’s right for you.
Thanks for commenting, Debra, and for offering an opposing perspective from an Indie who has clearly “made it”. I fail to see your logic in charging higher prices for your 2nd, 3rd, etc. novels if you are thinking of the “many, many readers who can only afford low priced books”. Obviously there are those who hit the right place, right time, lightning struck, lottery numbers lined up, call it what you will. Great for you…always good to hear of a rousing success story. But for every one of you, there are tens of thousands and the 99 cent price point is not helping them, it’s hurting them. You talk about thinking of the money “made”. I am making more money now that my book is at $3.99, even though the sales count is down. Unfortunately Amazon’s algorithms favor ranking, number of units, etc. not profit made.
Again, congrats on your success. I don’t begrudge you your USA Today list or the number of books you’ve sold in one year. I do, however, see a contradiction in your higher prices for all but the first book. If 99 cents is what we should be charging for our books and we are thinking of all those who can’t afford higher-priced books, and the 35 cents made is “plenty”, why would you raise your prices.
Finally, a lot of bankers made a lot of money with certain practices in the housing market. Their success did not make the process or the means appropriate. Just an illustration—you quoting your brilliant success really doesn’t have much to do with the market as a whole, Indie writers as a collective, or the 99 cent price point as good or bad overall. You’ve definitely succeeded and indeed the 99 cent price point was likely a large factor in that (just as it was for Locke and Hocking). Clearly now that you have your fan base established you are doing what any good businessperson would do and you are raising your prices to the intersection of supply and demand (i.e. the place in the market where you make the most money). I admire you for that. At least you are not clinging to the 99 cent rule as a matter of principle.
I can tell you flat out that very few people are seeing significant difference in 99 cents and, say, $2.99 are far as sales numbers. Yes, mine are down, but I don’t sell 60,000 copies a month yet. I will. But I choose not to do it by devaluing the art. The one thing I disagree with you on (vehemently, in fact) is that you most certainly ARE devaluing books by selling them at the price of a cheap plastic comb. As I read your post I would have summed it up as “I used whatever tool that worked to become successful and won’t apologize for it.” Fair enough. But 99 cents for a good novel is ludicrous and always will be, no matter how many copies it allowed you to sell. Some of us believe in the collective success of the community rather than the heaping success of the one. But that’s are choice just as it is yours to choose your own path.
I thank you again for the response. Sincerely. And continued success to you, my friend. 🙂
I couldn’t have said it better myself Rob
Certainly I can see people starting at 99 cents to build a fan base ( 1st book out, no one knows or cares about who they are )
But once that fan base is in place.
I also think cross promotion is going to be important.
Thanks, Jon. The only place you and I seem to differ is that I think a book should be at 99 cents for only two reasons: 1) It’s on sale / promo 2) That’s literally how much the author sees it as being worth. But that’s just a difference of opinion that I’ve reached in the last month or so. I used to also believe in starting it out at 99 cents. Once it REALLY sunk in how little 99 cents is, it made me sick to think of ever, ever pricing my work that low. $2.99 is STILL dirt cheap AND you get 70% royalty. But I digress….this is your stance we’re talking about. Thanks much for the comment, my friend and great fortune wherever you price your work!
valid point. Heck if I had my way I would have it so every book was priced at 9.99 but a wheel has been pushed into motion thanks to some head cases that 99 cents is the indie standard. I hope we can change that.
A recent post I came across here http://www.lindsayburoker.com/amazon-kindle-sales/recent-amazon-algorithm-changes/ had some interesting thoughts on the subject that I think may turn the tide once people know that it may not be best to go the whole 99 cents route
It’s great to see you again, Rob!
I have such mixed feelings about the 99 cent price point. I lowered to 99 cents for a promotion last summer and stayed there for a long time. Now that I’ve gone up to $ 2.99, sales have dropped significantly (hard to say if it’s price or saturation). The lower price helped me to build an audience, though, so I’m not sure I would change that, although the price of the new book will be higher.
I do think KDP Select plays a part in the pricing issue. Readers want a bargain – and who can blame them? But what does this mean for pricing in general? In a recent interview, Carolyn McCray said more people now browse the free than the sales shelves. Hard to say what this means long-term, but I think it warrants consideration.
Thanks so much for bringing this important issue forward, Rob! I love that you have authors talking about it! Thank you, friend!!
With all my best,
Terri
Bargain. If 99 cents is a bargain, I wonder what they think $9.99 is? Only doable for the rich and famous.
No I think there has to be a movement started whereby indie authors set the standard, so that they can be in a position to drop it for a sale. Right now if an author is at 99 cents they cant do a sale.
I’d take you up on the offer of a free book except for two things:
1. I don’t mind paying for it if I want to read it.
2. My reading list is so long, right now, that, even if I took it, it would just get shoved to the end of the line, and I hate doing that. I’d rather wait till I’m at a point when I’ll actually be closer to knowing I’m going to read it soon.
Oh, and is that my free entertainment example your using or did someone else use that example, too (I don’t have time to go back and read through all of the comments to find out)? If it’s mine, cool! Glad I could expand my opinion, because I’ve been saying it for a while, now.
And if someone else said it, too, well, that’s also cool, because it means other people are also realizing.
That was your example, bubba!
Great post, Rob. Totally agree. The 99-cent price point certainly worked for many authors in the old days (aka 2009-2011 😉 but the market has expanded rapidly and 99 cents no longer has the same promotional punch. We indies need to change our approach. I raised my prices to $3.49 in March and was pleasantly surprised that my sales and rankings actually went up. Would I do a 99-cent sale now and then? Sure, but only as a promotional strategy, not a permanent price.
Totally! 99 cents (or free, or two-for-one)…heck yes! Promos are great. The problem is a number of authors jumped on the John Locke wave and now we’re left to deal with consumers, some of who have been conditioned to believe that books are worth 99 cents. I’m ecstatic to hear that your numbers kept climbing even after the price change. Mine haven’t, but I’ve not been doing my normal marketing and promoting so I have a feeling it’s not price-related at this point. Thanks for the comment a great fortune on your books! 🙂
Exactly Shelly, good to see you doing that too. You deserve it!.
Just tweeted out this post, too. I’m not yet published, other than short stories (and just getting those uploaded now). I have two novels in the works. So I am reading and digesting all I can on the pricing of e-books. I agree with your thoughts, including the “hoarding” of free/.99 books. Viva la revolution! 😉
Thanks, Donna! You rock!!!!! 😀
Rob you make me laugh matey. This has become one of my fav blogs to visit.
I agree that 99cents is kind of nuts. Especially when you are known authors who have dropped the price of their soft and hardcovers and increased the price of their kindle prices. The kindle format for them has become the old hardcover price 🙂
Meanwhile indies are still acting as if they need to give their right nut sack just for a measly 70% of 99 cents for their whole life.
Now here are my thoughts on it.
I have my 1st book coming out this year and I have a plan of action in place but I can assure you it will not be staying at 99 cents for the entire time its up. I think it takes time to write a book and if someone can’t cough up $4.99 ( what I think is reasonable price for a book – basically cost of a dvd rental ) then maybe they shouldn’t be reading.
I think the new standard for indies should be NO LESS than $4.99, sure sales will go slow for a while but soon readers will realize they can’t get it for less.
Then indie authors every now and then can do a FIRE SALE where for 72 hours you can get it for 99 cents but thats not the price they stay at.
The way it is right now if you start at 99 cents.. YOU CANT do a bloody sale. I mean you can give it it away but, I really dont think that is the goal.
We want to get paid for the work. If someone wants to be a martyr, cut their ear off all for the sake of ART, more power to them. But I want my ears and I want my $4.99 🙂 so pay me you sodding scallywags!
99 cents is for songs, not books.
I think another thing to bear in mind is that it’s fine to have some books at 99 cents if you have like 10 or more books. And those 99 cent ones are your LOSS LEADERS but I don’t think 99 cents is going to sustain authors over the long haul.
Worse case scenario. $2.99 should be the lowest, $4.99 standard and for those who are kicking ass as authors, whatever the hell they like 🙂
A) Laughter/humor is the greatest single emotion behind love
B) Amen on the song comparison…but even individual songs on iTunes are now (on average) $1.29!!!
Thanks for the post, Rob. I’ve been thinking the same thing, and recently raised the prices of the second and third book in my trilogy to $3.99. Sales slowed a bit, but I agree that once readers realize that’s the price, they’ll return. I use the first book in the trilogy as a loss leader, sometimes free and sometimes 99 cents, but it ends with such a cliffhanger that I have found it’s the best way to draw readers in. Perhaps once I have established my reputation I can put a higher price, thinking $2.99 on the first book. And I dream of the day when I can charge six dollars or more for each of my books. Viva la revolution!
Rob-
I just rewrote my website and thought you might want to peruse the remarks I made about cheap hucksters who call themselves “writers” but who in fact are not “writers” but clever marketers who use cheap ploys to sell a million copies of a poorly written book at 99-cents and who have shredded the field for everyone else.
You are who you associate with. I do not want to be in the 99-cent pool.
I’m not one those 99-cent Indie Authors who are more clever marketers than writer’s. I’m an author with over 30-years experience. I’m not selling books. I’m selling Kilburn Hall books. No one else can do that! You see, when you purchase a Kilburn Hall book, you’re getting the quality of writer’s like James Hilton, Trevanian, Vera Caspary, Robert Merle, Tony Hillerman, Robert Heinlein and my mentor, Michael Crichton who invented the “techno-thriller genre.” All my books are written in the tradition of these outstanding authors and at an affordable ebook price of $7.99 which puts me in the same category as authors like Steve Berry, Lincoln Child, Doug Preston, John Connolly and Elmore Leonard.
Don’t fall for the clever marketing ploys that many cheap hucksters use to get you to buy their poorly written books for 99-cents. A 99-cent book or free “give-a-way” book is too expensive if the book is poorly written as most of the 99-cent books are. It takes one minute to make a $3.50 special drink at Starbucks. It takes two-years to write a well crafted ebook. Why would you sell your hardearned work for the price of an iTunes download song, a crappy burrito at Taco Bell, or value fry at McDonald’s?
It takes more than cheap marketing ploys by hucksters to write well. These are skills one must learn. Kilburn Hall is the nom-de-plume for a newspaperman with 30-years newspaper experience in journalism, advertising, and editing.
We live in a world where people pay $5 for a presumably special cup of coffee and where cell phone users will pay $5 so their cell phone has a special ring-tone, and who will then spend $5 more just three days later because they’re tired of it. They want QUALITY! They know QUALITY!
Just thought you might like to read my comments. You know of course of whom I speak.
Hi Rob. Great post. I wasn’t going to comment until I read the following by Debra Holland…“Rob, you and other authors who take this stand are looking at the wrong part of the price. You need to look at how much you MAKE, not how much you sell for…” I respect everyone’s opinion, but this type of comment really makes my teeth itch. Part of the 99 cent issue stems from the fact that authors published by the big six aren’t making what they should (on a per unit sale) from their e-book sales, and on that particular sub-issue I agree. But the fact remains, it’s their problem, not ours. I’ve heard the argument time and again that indie authors should be charging less because our profit margins are going to be higher at a much lower price point. That is absolutely wrong. Price and value go hand in hand. Sure, some authors a few years ago wrote some stories, prices them on the cheap and sold over a million copies. But I promise you, not one of those authors would have sold over a million copies had they priced their stories any higher, because the writing is poor, and the stories are awful. Like you, I would rather write a great story, price it fairly given the amount of effort I put into it, and do what I can to gain the trust and commitment of my readers, even if I have to do it slowly. Maybe especially because I have to do it slowly. I priced my short stories at 99 cents because they’re short. But they are good stories. I priced my first novel, Voodoo Daddy, at $7.49 and that’s where it is going to stay, until my next novel is out, at which point I’ll probably drop it down a little, but not below $4.49. There is a definite perceived value there and so far it is going well. Am I number one on the list, (or any list for that matter)? Nope. And that’s okay. Why? Because Voodoo Daddy was well written, is a good story, is priced less than what a bookstore paperback would cost, and it is selling just fine. How much I make (comparatively speaking) is not the issue. Keep up the good work, Rob. You are not alone.
Respect.
Thomas L. Scott
Author
Voodoo Daddy
Great post. What I love seeing are Indies pricing their books where they feel they are worth and HANGING IN THERE (particularly when it’s going well). Under current market conditions, I believe that may be the only way to break the “entertain me for free” spell. I agree with the posters who’ve said the consumer will ultimately dictate the proper market price. We just need the semblance of a proper market first. 🙂
I happened upon your blog through a Google search. All I can say is this is a very insightful post. This is the kind of information that a newbie (like myself) can use and looking for. Marketing is key to any product promotion. But we can price ourselves out of the market by pricing too low (seen as less valuable) or too high (overpriced). Having worked in medical publishing for many years, I know what it takes to get a book or a journal out the door of a traditional publisher. I also know what authors have to give up to do so. I’m big on research so before I undertake self-publishing my children’s book, I want to know everything I can about the marketing and distribution process. Your blog is a keeper for me and I’ve bookmarked it. Oh…on the revolution…count me in!
Thanks for taking the time to comment, Gail—this kind of input really helps a blogger figure out what’s helping the blog reader (if we aren’t writing with that purpose in mind, why are we here?). 🙂 At the risk of promoting my own blog, check back through some of the previous posts. I’ve been working with a dear friend to put together a compendium of posts (into a book format) that fit the kind of criteria you’ve talked about here (i.e. helpful to Indie writers, for example).
Again, your comment is MOST appreciated. Warm regards, Rob.
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