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On why my work is worth more than two pints of Guinness
April 27, 2011 | 9:54 am
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By Paul Biba
That’s the title of an article in the Irish Publishing News today. Here’s a snippet:
Adrian White, bookseller and author, discusses why he’s pricing his novel at $9.99 in digital form.
Pricing my ebook at $9.99? Am I crazy? Maybe so, but here’s why:
I have three novels published as ebooks. Two have been published previously by Penguin Books but the third is published exclusively as an ebook. When I came to set the prices, I took the opportunity to try out the three different price points of €2.99, $4.99 and $9.99. I’m well aware of the power of $0.99 as an attention-grabbing price, particularly on Amazon, but it seems to me that a lot of that attention is on established writers such as Stephen Leather – writers making the most of an extensive backlist and an established readership to storm the Amazon sales chart. Or writers of serial genre novels, paranormal romance etc. And good luck to Stephen Leather and the others who manage to pull this off but, although my paperbacks have sold reasonably well in Ireland, I don’t believe I possess the reach to do the same. Also, there’s something in me that says this is my work and if I don’t value it correctly then who will?Harry Potter and the Half-Price Book
I’ve worked extensively as a bookseller over the years and no other industry manages to devalue the potential of their bestselling product quite like the book industry. Dan Brown, Harry Potter, Stieg Larsson- booksellers can’t wait to give away margin and to price premium-selling product as low as they possibly can. Sure, they point to the price in Tesco or on Amazon and there’s wailing and gnashing of teeth but boo-hoo, I think. Any sales matching that low price represent a complete waste of time, effort and expense when it comes to making money for the retailer. And don’t talk to me about loss-leaders – if you need to half-price Harry Potter to get customers into your shop, perhaps it’s time you took a long hard look at who you are as a bookseller and what you’re trying to do. Those customers won’t stay with you once something cheaper comes along whereas your real customers, the customers that you should value and that will value you in return, well, maybe they’d pay a little extra for Harry Potter because shopping in a proper book store makes them feel good about themselves. Half-price Harry Potter books are not your business; your customers are. The fact that millions of ebooks are being bought for $0.99 doesn’t necessarily mean those ebooks are being read; some customers are buying them simply because they can, now, at that price. And, if these ebooks are not being read, there’s ultimately no future in this market model.
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Nothing wrong with his logic, and he certainly has the right to take such a step with his books. Now it only remains to be seen whether the public (not the most logical lot) will agree with it, or vote against it.
I think he should read JA Konrath’s blog/analysis on pricing of ebooks for little known authors. Look, he can price his book at whatever he wants. But it is a FACT that he will sell many more ebooks at a lower price point.
Seems to me he is cutting of his nose to spite his face. But, it’s his choice.
Oh of course it’s his choice. But it is a bit of a tragedy to see people like this who’s egos are bigger than their common sense.
I guess he will be happy selling a small number of his title to people gullible enough to pay a high price.
But on the other hand I imagine he will be telling himself he is a wonderful author charging all of 9.99 for his fabulous books and walk around with a self satisfied glow instead of a full wallet.
Me .. I’d prefer to earn more. That’s what I call ‘value.
I tend to agree that if you have strong convictions, standing by them is a reward in itself; people write for many reasons and making money is not the only goal of writing so judging this decision by monetary revenue maximizing tools is pointless.
Utility is a much complicated function than pure $$$ and lots of people do lots of things for other rewards.
Liviu – but the incongruous factor here is that this writer DOES depend on a high price for his book for his self satisfaction. So PRICE is at the heart of his desires. He just has an ego driven disconnect between the price of individual books and the ‘value’ of his work.
Your kind of writer that you refer to is one who has NO interest in the price of his book or what he earns.
Outside of profit, wouldn’t the author’s ego want his book in more hands and minds? Far more people will read the book and share their opinion of it if the price is right. That’s why the indie market with most books priced $2.99 and lower is such a success.
I resent the comment that just because I paid only $.99 I’m not going to read the book. Of course I am, why bother otherwise? I have read many fabulous books at $.99 or even free. One of my favorite indie authors just gifted me his new book, although I would have purchased it anyway. As soon as I’m done reading it, I’ll write a review. When people in the Kindle forums ask for recommendations, his books will be in my list. That’s how the market works. Even better, I don’t have to wait 18 months to 2 years to read the next one, it will be out in the fall. Because this author priced his books right to begin with, he now has a guaranteed sale with me for each of his new books.
As for Adrian White, I won’t spend $9.99 for a book from one of my previous favorite print authors, why would I spend it on a book from an unknown author?
“Outside of profit, wouldn’t the author’s ego want his book in more hands and minds? ”
Absolutely agree. I guess some writers (and this one is not the first or the last) have an emotional connection with his perception of his book on the shelf of a bookshop. He is so fixated with this individual book image that he cannot grasp the wider picture.
An author should measure his success, imho, by the total number of readers who are willing to pay for his title and the total payment he receives for that title.
An author receives 30 cents for each 99 cent book sold. He/she would have to sell a large number just to cover his costs. Readership success does not equal financial success.
“Your kind of writer that you refer to is one who has NO interest in the price of his book or what he earns.”
Not necessarily – price here is a signal, so asking a high price and 100 people paying it may make one happy in a way giving it for free and 10000 people reading it or asking a low price and 1000 people paying it may not; in the second case more people read you, in the third you make triple the money as in 10 x 100 vs 3 x 1000, but you are still happier in the first case because you feel really validated by that 100 people.
Again motivation is tricky and while the message our western society screams is that profit is god, lots of people have other motivations
To me, 9.99 sounds quite expensive for an e-book. Maybe fans of an established author could be persuaded to shell out that much, but for relatively unknown authors involved in DIY publishing, 2.99 is a more realistic upper level.
I’ve been buying ebooks for a couple of years now and have never paid more than $7.99 (and only a very few at that price). Every ebook I’ve wanted at $9.99 and higher has been available in hardcopy at my library. I have no problem with Mr. White pricing at what he thinks his book is worth, and I hope he finds the readers he desires at that price point. I just won’t be one of them.
“Oh of course it’s his choice. But it is a bit of a tragedy to see people like this who’s egos are bigger than their common sense”
Quoted for truth.
“The customers that you should value and that will value you in return, well, maybe they’d pay a little extra for Harry Potter because shopping in a proper book store makes them feel good about themselves”
This statement alone shows just how naive Mr Biba is. Price is what drives the market, if I can get a book cheaper off Amazon than from Waterstones or borders then guess where i’m going and that’s why these book shops are shutting down.
Ouch! on the ego thing! In my defence, two out of my three books are priced at $2.99 and I’m happy about that. I’ve also been giving the $9.99 away for free for the past month and I intend running a 3 for 2 promotion on the three novels, with the higher priced book being free. I may also change my mind about everything in the morning but iun the meantime – it’s good to talk.
It is indeed
“The fact that millions of ebooks are being bought for $0.99 doesn’t necessarily mean those ebooks are being read”
It’s a bit off topic and I don’t want it to read as if I’m singling out Adrian White for it but I’m constantly seeing statements like this since 0.99 became such a big deal and it’s really getting on my nerves. Yeah lots of people who buy books at 0.99 don’t read them.Just like lots of people who buy books at 7.99 or 9.99 or higher and don’t read them either, at least not for a long time. That’s why almost everyone who likes reading has a “to read” pile. Why should it be any different with ebooks?