I had one idea for a blog that became two, that are somewhat related (Indies trying to succeed in a cruel, isolated world and the pricing challenge faced by all). So I mashed them together here. I hope it turns out better than that potato recipe I tried last year. Bad. So very, very bad.
The other day I read a comment from one writer to another (where else? on a blog) that stated the person was sick and tired of the “coffee versus books” comparison as far as pricing goes. The gist being that coffee is not cheap to produce, yadda, yadda, yadda. I have never—nor was the blogger who received the comment—written about “coffee”. I buy my own beans, grind them, brew my coffee, and pay about 1/7th the money on my fix than when I used to hit the ‘Bucks everyday (anyone ever catch that little nuance before?). I use Starbucks venti latte with extra foam-type extravagance for my comparisons. But for anyone who is still confused on why this makes such a perfect jumping off point for the price of books, a quick summation:
1) The aforementioned latte is around $5.
2) There is quite literally a Starbucks on every corner in most cities, and I rarely see one (any time of day, as long as they are open) without a gaggle of customers both in the store and at the drive-thru.
3) Like books, Starbucks “coffee” is not a necessity, it is a discretionary purchase.
4) The price point in the market really seems to be settling, for now, in the “cost of a latte” range.
Finally the (mini) argument: that a latte gives a reader perhaps ten minutes of pleasure before it goes cold, and you need another at the very latest, the next morning. It takes the barista perhaps three minutes to make your drink. A book, on the other hand, takes a writer anywhere from months to years to write, incurring other costs such as a cover that makes the reader want to buy the product, editing, proofreading, advertising (no Indie I know has the budget of even one Starbucks franchise for that). The book also gives, depending on your reading speed, days and days of pleasure. In fact, if (like me) you savor it, reading a chapter or two a night, it can last. Throw in the lending programs now (would love to see Starbucks implement that one), and I think readers are getting a heck of a deal.
Oh, and as to the traditional follow-up “yes, but it could be crap; I don’t know that author yet.” My answer is, fair enough, but you can read a fairly generous sample in most cases (something Starbucks cannot match other than perhaps one new flavor once in a while). And if you end up not liking the book, it wasn’t all that much money. Pretend it was like the last cup of Mocha Cappucino that slipped from your hand and splattered all over the pavement. You know, the one you went right out and either replaced or bought again the very next morning.
So I still submit the Starbucks-eBook comparison is one of the best we have right now as far as the market is concerned. All I’m trying to point out to readers is that authors put a lot of work into creating a book especially for you and that there needs to be a cultural market change that reflects that (i.e. that paying $3.99 or $4.99 for a novel is a steal). I’ve said it before yet it bears repetition: not too long ago, your only option for reading (other than the library) was to pay premium brick and mortar prices ($12.99 – $19.99 per book. Smelly used paperbacks at garage sales sell for a buck or two apiece. A fresh, brand new book from an author you’ve sampled and think you’ll like is a very low risk purchase. And again: a deal and a half.
Next for your reading pleasure, a ham-handed segue into the next topic: social networking as a vendor marketplace to sell your wares (books). I’m going to use Twitter, because I still believe Indie writers (including me) treat it as the Holy Grail of “getting the word out”.
I want you to imagine a prison cell, but a fairly large one. I’m talking holding tank. This puppy can hold anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 inmates, no problemo. Now imagine most of the prisoners are writers, each allowed to bring copies of their own book(s) in with them. Or imagine every last one of them are pure readers. Yes, writers are readers, too, but let’s make this a best case scenario (other than the prison part).
So here you are, the only writer amongst an entrapped (even bored) group of readers. At first, you do all right. But then, even under the best circumstances, everyone has read your book by day three or four. Ah, but you already had a second one lined up. Well, setting aside the percentage that didn’t like your style, ability, genre, etc. (or are too busy banging on the bars shouting “I’m innocent, get me out of here”, your second book is gobbled up in the next three or four days.
Now you need to sit in the corner and write another. How long does it take you? Let’s go with six months. And let’s say that a few of your fellow inmates leave in that time span and a few new ones come in, but you’re a fairly seasoned prisoner so more or less, the same crowd remains. And the truth is, we’ve constructed a fairy tale. In truth, your Twitter prison cell is crammed full of mostly other writers, who yes, are readers, but most of them not all that motivated to buy but rather to sell.
Do you see where this is going. I know writers with a hundred thousand followers who are doing exactly the same thing I am with my 13K (and the same thing Writer C is doing with her 8K and Writer D is doing with his 2K and so on and so on, ad infinitum. Facebook? Wow, I have to say (my opinion only) but Facebook has never been even as good as a prison cell for peddling your wares. Most people log onto Facebook to post pictures of their cat, or the latest humorous cartoon. (Yes, I am exaggerating, but I am a “fan” on a lot of famous artists’ pages (writers, bands, etc.). I don’t even see them getting much hoopla. Some. But they are famous. And I’d still bet you their marketing person, people, whatever spend way less on Facebook time (and even Twitter) than you’d think. Famous people use Twitter and Facebook mostly for the purpose they were originally created: socially.
“Watched Saw VII last night…hated it!”
“Who’s watching Idol? Can you believe that last performance by Adam Lambert? Brilliant.”
I’m not trying to be discouraging. Really. But I think if you’re shrewd, innovative, and motivated to sell, you should start thinking more outside the box. Er, prison cell.
I’m the type of person that wants someone to show up with not only the problem but an idea to fix it. So here’s mine for you:
Get back to basics. 75% of the readers I talk to (and I worked in an extremely technical industry with very tech-savvy folk) DO NOT have an eReader (and hate the idea of reading a book on their computer—which is at least 80% of the reason they don’t own the eReader in the first place). BOOKS. Work on moving your books. Yes, we each need a strong digital presence, because those numbers (whatever they truly are) will shift. They are shifting, but at a much slower pace I think than most of us thought after the deluge of sales to John Locke and followers.
I know people who still go into brick and mortars and spend over ten bucks on a real I-can-hold-it-in-my-hand-and-smell-the-wood-pulp BOOK. Book are legitimate, somehow, where people balk and paying a few bucks for a bunch of ones and zeros. That’s my take on it. Many of us are focusing our voices on deaf ears. Or no ears at all. Or worse, each other’s ears only.
Just listen. That’s the echo you’re hearing. It’s the sound of all that tweeting bouncing off the cold, concrete prison walls. I can’t be the only one feeling this way. I tweet for myself, other authors, other bloggers, my blog.
I’m not suggesting we slit our wrists, or even stop tweeting. Heck no. When you hear the pounding of the “think outside the box” drums, however, you might want to alter that phrase and “think outside the prison cell”. Which leads me to my next thought. Come closer. Just you who feel the same way I do. We don’t need any halfhearted lifers who’ve been institutionalized or any of you damn trustees with your head up the warden’s patootie. Come on, you serious ones. Listen up.
We need a jailbreak.
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The blank page is dead…long live the blank page.
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Author known to use spontaneous satire, sarcasm, and unannounced injections of pith or witticisms which may not be suitable for humorless or otherwise jest-challenged individuals. (Witticisms not guaranteed to be witty, funny, comical, hilarious, clever, scintillating, whimsical, wise, endearing, keen, savvy, sagacious, penetrating, fanciful, or otherwise enjoyable. The Surgeon General has determined through laboratory testing that sarcasm can be dangerous, even in small amounts, and should not be ingested by those who are serious, somber, pensive, weighty, funereal, unsmiling, poker-faced, sober, or pregnant.)
I hope your taste in books is better than your taste in coffee. Ugh. Sorry for that comment, but I can’t my head around the fact that some people actually “like” bad-beans-burnt (substandard coffee heavily roasted to cover up its defects like pistachio nuts are dyed red to cover up blemishes). Beyond that, I totally agree on your assessment of book pricing. You get what you pay for.
Who said anything about substandard coffee beans? I buy Peet’s Major Dickason’s Blend beans ( http://www.peets.com/shop/coffee_detail.asp?id=118&cid=1005 ) I also buy Starbucks esspresso roast for my esspresso machine at home. Never bought cheap coffee in my life and I go to Starbucks all the time as well. I just don’t bitch about a book being $5…I make my own quality coffee at home because I don’t like to wait in line. 🙂
Jailbreak. Yep. I’m in. I’m a pretty good digger as long as you keep the coffee coming. Gotta say, though, it’s a most daunting box to try to think outside of. I’ve been thinking down in some pretty deep holes lately, so I guess I’ll look around in there and see if anything wants to see the light of day.
I just need to make a good paper-mâché dummy head to put in my bunk and I’m good to go!
Rob, I don’t pretend to have the answers to the book sales conundrum. But, I started on the other end, with paper books to sell at venues. I haven’t done that nearly so many times as some people, but I would report that my experiences with that process were nothing to write home about. I like meeting people, shaking hands, etc. But book fairs, for instance, are often like a collection of buzzards (that’s the authors) who wait to pounce on anyone within range and resent the hell out of a fellow author who tries to draw attention to his work (and away from theirs).
A good day at a sidewalk book selling event would be to sell ten books (Unless you are already a known author who is drawing fans in for a book signing). It is a time-consuming and brutal process.
I suppose the long and short of what I am saying is that selling paper books is no different than selling digital ones. Indie writers are still on the short-end of the deal.
Thanks for the comment, Stephen. I know you’re absolutely right, and there’s no “easy answer” or an easy sell (for any unknown). It’s all uphill for the unknown. But that is also where, eventually, with enough elbow grease, cream rises to the top (as Caleb Pirtle reminded me). At least in person you can see someone, let them get to know you, tell them about your book, have a chance to sell them on it…may be hard work, but for me it would beat sitting here watching my computer screen, waiting for another anonymous click of a sale. Again, not saying take away the digital side, but rather augment and work harder with the paperback. I have to say your description of a book fair is pretty discouraging, though. At least online we don’t have to witness the interaction between vulture writers…not that there are any around here…;)
Starbucks went broke down under. In the ensuing fall out one comedian noted that the reason was, simply “that Starbucks makes sh** coffee”. This has nothing to do with your topic but I thought of it just now. The coffee/ebook remains, in my mind, one of the better analogies with respect to price point and it’s one I continue to use myself. And you know, it’s funny – people baulk at reading a digital book while, in the same breath, have no problem spending bucket loads of time on Facebook via their iphones – for which the kindle app is readily available.
As for Twitter – I despair for that part of my platform sometimes. I see that much of my follower base are other authors which is fine and I have genuinely tried to interact with them one on one but rarely if ever do I get much conversation in return. The twitter noise is so deafening, it’s making my ears bleed.
On Twitter, as in real life, I whittle down to a list (group) of friends who engage me (and vice versa). Otherwise the noise, as you so perfectly stated, is deafening (and flows like a raging river down through the canyon). I feel like trying to get a message across on Twitter is like standing next to a freeway screaming at the cars as they fly by with their windows up. : |
And that’s not forgetting the bloody big Jenworths that are barrelling towards one with their air horns blasting… 🙂
Kenworths… (geez Louise).
Oh, Kenworths. They’re bad enough, but those Jenworths are the worst!
A good book lasts far longer and is much more gratifying than a cup of Starbucks coffee or my own coffee, for that matter. Coffee has never made me laugh, cry, or scared the hell out of me. A book can.
Amen, Caleb.
I think the numbers have shifted more than you think. Traditional publishers are doing everything they can to -not- let us know how much the numbers have shifted. I was just reading a report about those numbers, in fact. Traditional publishing is reporting that e-books are now making up about 30% of total book sales. In dollars. They’re telling us this in this format to downplay the importance of e-books by reporting this in dollars. When you look at the unit sales… Well, I’ll put it like this: Let’s assume a physical book price of $10 (many are much more) and an e-book price of $3 (many are less); for every physical book sale, you’re having 3 e-book sales to equal up. Being conservative, they’re estimating that e-book sales by unit are equivalent to physical book sales at this point. Also, many studies are showing that people reading electronically buy more and read more.
Don’t get me wrong, I love it when I sell a physical copy of my book, especially if it comes out of my hand to the buyer. Thanks to Amazon, that’s where I make the most money (because people don’t buy the physical book through Amazon, which is where I make the least money), so I love selling signed copies, but that’s not where the future is.
I do see the validity of the coffee/book comparison, but I also understand the reason people don’t like it. It’s not even like comparing apples to oranges but more like comparing apples to dogs. I think the book/movie comparison works much better, because those are both about entertainment. I think if people are willing to shell out $10+ for a movie (or $20+ for a Blu-ray), they shouldn’t complain about $3 for a book.
On another note, because you’re interested in new ideas, I’m trying a new idea. It went live today. Of course, it’s going to take quite a bit of time to see how it works out, but I figure with the (lack) of sales I’ve been getting, it can’t hurt.
Well let me know how your new idea works out! {winks}
On the apples to dogs, you’re right about movies being a better comparison. Actually I think the best comparison are songs/albums. Individually songs are now $1.29 while writers have been pressured into selling entire books for 99 cents. An entire album by almost any artist is $9.99.
I do believe all are fair comparisons—the daily Starbucks fix may be better to exemplify people willing to spend $5 per cup of satisfaction on a daily basis (and wait in line to pay it) but balking at spending the same amount on a book that brings hours (or days) of satisfaction, no waiting.
I fully agree with your comparison of Starbucks to books, Rob. To me, it makes sense. And I’m not going to start arguing the quality of anyone’s coffee.
What I can’t agree with, though, is avoiding buying Starbuck’s coffee in favour of brewing my own. Actually, I do both. But sometimes I think that, if it weren’t for the need for coffee and going to a cafe to get some, some of us writers would never tear away from the computer or see another human being.
Yes, we need a jailbreak – from the indie author prison and the routine. And the coffee shop. So count me in. I’ve already purloined a spoon from the mess hall!
I do both, too…see my response to Jack. 😀
P.S. I think that should be your next book: The Purloined Spoon. Poe would approve. 😉
Here’s the thing…
Most people on twitter who have large followings ( unless they are a celebrity ) only have that large following because they have sat there and clicked ” FOLLOW” about a thousand times
And they use a tool online to automatically follow back anyone who follows them, so 50% of their followers are spammers so naturally they will have lots of twitter followers but thats all they are ” followers ” not ” fans”
Though it might for a while stroke the ego of the one who can tout x thousand of followers
But eventually they will get tired of it and do what most do and DELETE everyone who is following them in one go using another tool and then ONLY follow those they truly enjoy getting their tweets from
I mean lets face it. Do you like getting bombarded by thousands of tweets under HOME on your twitter account. All of them saying the same thing. Buy my book, buy my book LOL its nuts
I had over 10k followers at one point and the day I wiped them, man it was liberating. To only have the people I enjoyed seeing tweets from.
I also didn’t get deafened every time i went on twitter. I also didn’t have to MAKE a list just to see the peoples who I liked.
Ultimately twitter is only as good as the results it gets and unless your celeb… your probably tossing your salad into the wind…. and your starbucks coffee… and your 99 cents book 🙂