There’s quite a gap between what publishers charge for ebooks and how self-publishers are pricing their work. Many authors (and readers) have a visceral reaction to price. Of course people are sensitive to a price they perceive too high, but many believe that if it’s too cheap, it must be crap. (JA Konrath suggests self-publishers play with price, and experiment to find the right price point.)
However pricing affects you intuitively, there’s no direct correlation between price and quality. Many fine ebooks are often priced low because the author is not well-known. Lower prices encourage timid readers to take a chance on new fiction. When the price is lower, readers buy more. It is freeing to click, click, click and still pay less for fiction than you might for a latte and a croissant. Self-publishers hope to make it up on volume.
If you are trying to figure out how to price your ebooks, or what a fair price might be, Dean Wesley Smith has a great and useful summary.
His suggestions have influenced my thinking greatly. As a result, my first book (that will be available digitally) will be a short story collection. I still plan to roll out my big novel in November, but the collection, including some award winners, will come this summer!
It’s all happening very quickly. It has to. And most glorious of all, now it can happen.
Time and me?
We wait for no one.
Not anymore.
Related Articles
- Write. Commit. Do. (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
- The Heart of the Matter: Ebooks and Self-Publishing Part 2 – Another Dialog Between Authors Barry Eisler and Joe Konrath (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
- Ebook pricing power is undermined by perceived value (radar.oreilly.com)
- The Very Rich Indie Writer (novelr.com)
- Making a Living Writing Fiction (selfpubauthors.wordpress.com)
- A New Online Magazine For Fiction Writers (pittsburghflashfictiongazette.com)
- EBookNewser interviews Smashwords’ Mark Coker on e-book pricing, costs (teleread.com)
- E-Publishing & Pricing: How Much Is A Book Worth? (writeitforward.wordpress.com)
- Writers: How to Publish on Smashwords (by Guest blogger Rebecca Senese) (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
- eBooks Really Are Getting Cheaper! (geardiary.com)
- The Ebook Will Evolve. So Should Authors. (jchutchins.net)
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Filed under: Books, DIY, ebooks, grammar, links, My fiction, publishing, self-publishing, Writers, writing tips, Dean Wesley Smith, E-book, fiction, Pricing, Publish, Smashwords
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