jakonrath entry that google wouldn't post
Sep. 30th, 2010 04:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pagerdI am a kindle consumer and have been since January 2008. I am not a writer and have no interest in ever being a writer, so this is just from a reader's point of view.
If an ebook is from a "big six" publisher and is priced equal to or greater than the dtb (dead tree book) version, I will not buy it unless there is a compelling (to ME) reason to. And yes, I do compare the prices. I've been known to open a new tab and search on the "book" department if the comparison box isn't set up yet. If the price is not acceptable and I think I may want to read the book some day, I'll add the book to price watch at kindleiq. (Oh, I advise any author planning to reduce his/her prices to enter their own books there beforehand; they'll show up on the "recently reduced" list.) Also, take a look at what kindle-owners consider prices that they're unwilling to pay. It should be no surprise that the most watched book is Follett's Fall of Giants. $19.99?
KindleIQ is a godsend to those hit by the windowing affect. By the time the publisher drops the price, the ebook is off the consumer's radar. Whoops, went off on a tangent.
I usually cut small press publishers some slack in pricing because I am aware they lack economy of scale.
Self-published backlist that I can tell is self-published, I'm willing to pay $2.99 without even debating it, if the book is in one of my preferred genres and there are no horrible errors in the description. I've commented before I'd rather pay $2.99 than $1.99, since I'm aware of the royalty structure. I tend not to bother with samples unless I suspect the book is in topaz format. Topaz is evil. It slows down the reading process and takes up too much room on my kindle.
As the price goes up, I have to think about my degree of interest in the book more. That's when I look at reviews. If the reviews mention formatting problems, it's a "no sale". If the price goes above six dollars, and I know it's self-pubbed, I begin to feel gouged, unless the book's an epic length.
I am a total convert to kindle. If your book is not available as either non-drmed mobi or on the kindle platform, it may as well not be published as far as I'm concerned. (Unless it's in color or all pictures, that is, and I'm reading books like that on my kindle for PC.)
I haven't disposed of any of my over thirteen thousand dead tree books, but I'm increasingly reluctant to pick up one of them to read. I've thought about scanning and OCRing some of my favorites for my personal use. I'd prefer it if the authors would just get their backlist up to save me the inconvenience and allow me to pay them a royalty.
Does anyone know who has the rights to Ellery Queen's (Dannay & Lee) books?
I was expecting better of SF&F publishers, but other than Baen, they've been pretty feeble in the market. Tor started out with the freebies, but the followthrough has been so bad. Their books are either unavailable or overpriced.
New authors' self-pubbed titles: Joe's mantra of "cover, description & price" comes into play here. This is where a loss-leader of ninety-nine cents can halp, but if the cover and description are really good, I don't have too much resistance to the $2.99 price. If you have a series, please put the series order in the description. Make the first in the series your lowest priced book. If I read it and like it, I will be willing to pay more for the next in the series.
Robin
ebook pricing
Edited to fix html error (it did finally post at above site).
If an ebook is from a "big six" publisher and is priced equal to or greater than the dtb (dead tree book) version, I will not buy it unless there is a compelling (to ME) reason to. And yes, I do compare the prices. I've been known to open a new tab and search on the "book" department if the comparison box isn't set up yet. If the price is not acceptable and I think I may want to read the book some day, I'll add the book to price watch at kindleiq. (Oh, I advise any author planning to reduce his/her prices to enter their own books there beforehand; they'll show up on the "recently reduced" list.) Also, take a look at what kindle-owners consider prices that they're unwilling to pay. It should be no surprise that the most watched book is Follett's Fall of Giants. $19.99?
KindleIQ is a godsend to those hit by the windowing affect. By the time the publisher drops the price, the ebook is off the consumer's radar. Whoops, went off on a tangent.
I usually cut small press publishers some slack in pricing because I am aware they lack economy of scale.
Self-published backlist that I can tell is self-published, I'm willing to pay $2.99 without even debating it, if the book is in one of my preferred genres and there are no horrible errors in the description. I've commented before I'd rather pay $2.99 than $1.99, since I'm aware of the royalty structure. I tend not to bother with samples unless I suspect the book is in topaz format. Topaz is evil. It slows down the reading process and takes up too much room on my kindle.
As the price goes up, I have to think about my degree of interest in the book more. That's when I look at reviews. If the reviews mention formatting problems, it's a "no sale". If the price goes above six dollars, and I know it's self-pubbed, I begin to feel gouged, unless the book's an epic length.
I am a total convert to kindle. If your book is not available as either non-drmed mobi or on the kindle platform, it may as well not be published as far as I'm concerned. (Unless it's in color or all pictures, that is, and I'm reading books like that on my kindle for PC.)
I haven't disposed of any of my over thirteen thousand dead tree books, but I'm increasingly reluctant to pick up one of them to read. I've thought about scanning and OCRing some of my favorites for my personal use. I'd prefer it if the authors would just get their backlist up to save me the inconvenience and allow me to pay them a royalty.
Does anyone know who has the rights to Ellery Queen's (Dannay & Lee) books?
I was expecting better of SF&F publishers, but other than Baen, they've been pretty feeble in the market. Tor started out with the freebies, but the followthrough has been so bad. Their books are either unavailable or overpriced.
New authors' self-pubbed titles: Joe's mantra of "cover, description & price" comes into play here. This is where a loss-leader of ninety-nine cents can halp, but if the cover and description are really good, I don't have too much resistance to the $2.99 price. If you have a series, please put the series order in the description. Make the first in the series your lowest priced book. If I read it and like it, I will be willing to pay more for the next in the series.
Robin
ebook pricing
Edited to fix html error (it did finally post at above site).
