tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2208627029605402728.post2776159654766823332..comments2021-09-17T10:17:46.295+10:00Comments on Christian Writers Downunder: Indie eBook PricingSusan J Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01020859162801279149noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2208627029605402728.post-86879176761949151882016-11-07T14:33:18.994+10:002016-11-07T14:33:18.994+10:00Appreciate your post, Narelle - lots of things to ...Appreciate your post, Narelle - lots of things to think about :)Jeanette O'Haganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11057798704247611224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2208627029605402728.post-86124255598368334962016-11-07T14:32:39.297+10:002016-11-07T14:32:39.297+10:00All good points :) I&#39;ve priced my novella &amp...All good points :) I&#39;ve priced my novella &amp; short stories lower - that makes a lot of sense. Could be that many avid readers have moved to low-cost ebooks rather than using libraries. (In Australia at least, libraries still pay authors for books lent &amp; you can now borrow e-books). And totally agree that being an Indie author is running a small business though for many it can be more a hobby. Perhaps too there is a feeling among Christian authors that approaching writing as a business (instead of a calling) is somehow wrong. I tend to think that business and calling can co-exist - and, while God gives the increase and we do need to trust him, that being professional about our writing hopefully helps its reach. Paul after all used Roman roads and transport systems, synagogues and Godfearers to spread to the gospel - in other words he didn&#39;t just sit and wait, he had a strategy which God blessed. Jeanette O'Haganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11057798704247611224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2208627029605402728.post-82861266022258300442016-11-07T12:51:14.163+10:002016-11-07T12:51:14.163+10:00Jeanette wrote: &quot;On reflection - I wonder if...Jeanette wrote: <br />&quot;On reflection - I wonder if one of the issues is that, because most new and emerging authors - and even established authors - don&#39;t depend on their book earnings as their primary income, they can and consistently do sell books below cost (once the author&#39;s time and skill &amp; the typical number of books sold is factored in ) - and than in turn conditions the readers to expect e-books to be dirt cheap (basically below the real cost).&quot;<br /><br />Jeanette, I sometimes wonder if authors think about the time they actually spend on their writing in the same way they count the hours they work in another type of job? I don&#39;t depend on book earnings as my primary income, but I strongly believe in the principle of workers being rewarded financially for their work, including work in the arts. If we want the best writers producing books (and not just writers who can support themselves via other means) then they need to earn a reasonable return on their investment in writing their books.<br /><br />Indie authors are effectively running a small business. They will struggle at the start to make a good profit because they have to pay upfront costs to publish. Traditionally published authors who are paid an advance have more certainty over their income. A problem in recent years is that advances have been falling in value while the cost of living continues to rise each year. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Narellehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07665380446283721576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2208627029605402728.post-55127736674840204582016-11-07T12:39:48.475+10:002016-11-07T12:39:48.475+10:00Thanks, Paula. I&#39;m glad you&#39;ve found my po...Thanks, Paula. I&#39;m glad you&#39;ve found my post helpful. Narellehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07665380446283721576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2208627029605402728.post-48035185464562233122016-11-07T12:38:52.108+10:002016-11-07T12:38:52.108+10:00I agree, the glut of ebooks is independent of vani...I agree, the glut of ebooks is independent of vanity publishing. The vanity presses tend to target authors who want print books. Indie publishing has been helpful in providing authors with an alternative and viable route to publication that can earn them a decent return on investment.<br /><br />What vanity publishing does do is devalue the creation of literature. The author is intentionally choosing a publication path that is unlikely to reward the author with royalties for the time and effort they&#39;ve invested in their book.<br /><br />Have we conditioned readers to expect cheap and/or free eBooks? Print books have traditionally been borrowed in large quantities by library users. Secondhand print books are on-sold, and the author/publisher doesn&#39;t earn money from the sale of used books. I think some of the library market of readers have relocated to the eBook market. Borrowings of print books in my local library have fallen and the stock of physical books on the shelves is smaller.<br /><br />There have always been readers who, for various reasons, have not purchased brand new print books. The big question is how much are the print buyers who now buy eBooks prepared to pay?<br /><br />If an author can make volume sales on a 99c book, they may earn more than if the book was priced at $2.99 or higher. 99c boxed sets in popular genres can be lucrative due to the volume sales and KU page reads.<br /><br />An author/publisher will set a price to maximise their profit. Permafree can work well if you have at least half a dozen other books for sale. Each genre tends to have pricing &#39;sweet spots&#39; and the top 100 paid lists will give you an idea of the price point. <br /><br />Yes, I agree, pricing so you have room to discount is important. It&#39;s important to remember with KDP that the earnings from 1 sale at $2.99 is the equivalent of 6 sales at $0.99. I price my novellas at $0.99 because they&#39;re 1) shorter reads and 2) have been available for sale in a 99c boxed set. When I indie publish my Heartsong backlist (hopefully before the end of November) you&#39;ll see my pricing strategy for the six books and how that fits in with the novellas I currently have for sale. Narellehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07665380446283721576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2208627029605402728.post-64343735850438770702016-11-07T12:37:56.489+10:002016-11-07T12:37:56.489+10:00Hi Narelle, Thanks for this. It&#39;s interesting...Hi Narelle, <br />Thanks for this. It&#39;s interesting to read about the economic principles behind the pricing. Some good discussion topics in the comments too.Paula Vincehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02079952414990463270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2208627029605402728.post-55167912962029332152016-11-07T10:47:19.747+10:002016-11-07T10:47:19.747+10:00I take your point about supply and demand - though... I take your point about supply and demand - though On reflection - I wonder if one of the issues is that, because most new and emerging authors - and even established authors - don&#39;t depend on their book earnings as their primary income, they can and consistently do sell books below cost (once the author&#39;s time and skill &amp; the typical number of books sold is factored in ) - and than in turn conditions the readers to expect e-books to be dirt cheap (basically below the real cost). In most other industries, if you consistently sell below actual costs you go out of business. I&#39;m just wondering, if as an Indie author it&#39;s good to have reasonable prices which one can discount for specific campaigns - though I can see the value of having the first book in the series at discount or permafree to lead readers to the others &amp; there is always the huge issue of discoverability. No easy answers. <br />Jeanette O'Haganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11057798704247611224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2208627029605402728.post-69924976782948336052016-11-07T10:26:58.146+10:002016-11-07T10:26:58.146+10:00Hi Narelle - yes, great point that profit is usual...Hi Narelle - yes, great point that profit is usually not the main driver for author&#39;s decision to publish (and I think that&#39;s a good thing) - though the reality is that authors still need to eat &amp; pay the rent or mortgage - so unless they are being subsidised in some other way (the day job, a pension, a grant) their capacity to write is significantly curtailed. As Paul says &#39;a worker is worthy of his/her wages&#39; 1 Tim 5:18<br /><br />Also good point about vanity publishing - though I&#39;m not sure that the glut of e-books is just about vanity publishing (after all, often the author prepared to pay big money to have a book in their hands is more interested in a print book than an ebook). I can&#39;t help but think that past marketing strategies of dropping prices for ebooks and perma-free have conditioned readers to expect to get ebook for free or less than a dollar. After all, putting 99c on a novel that may have taken years to write - and certainly several months - is devaluing art just as much as the vanity author (who is probably locked in to selling their books at inflated prices). Jeanette O'Haganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11057798704247611224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2208627029605402728.post-24477626075319988402016-11-07T10:06:31.841+10:002016-11-07T10:06:31.841+10:00Hi Jeanette, It&#39;s hard to know the answers whe...Hi Jeanette, It&#39;s hard to know the answers when you consider there are millions of indie authors and publishers playing in the publishing pond. <br /><br />One thing we need to remember is there are also authors willing to pay thousands of dollars to vanity presses to publish their book (which is irrational behaviour by authors, imho) and taking big financial losses for the chance to hold a book with their name on it in their hand and maybe sell a handful of copies to family and friends. <br /><br />Since profit often isn&#39;t the main driver behind an author&#39;s decision to publish their book, the oversupply of ebooks is unlikely to change. <br /><br />How do we convince society, in general, to value the arts? If artists (authors) don&#39;t value the time and effort they invest in their writing (by choosing to vanity publishing, for example), how can they expect anyone else to value their art enough to choose to pay to read it? Narellehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07665380446283721576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2208627029605402728.post-32443918190499372782016-11-07T09:55:40.272+10:002016-11-07T09:55:40.272+10:00Hi Anusha, Yes, the massive oversupply is distorti...Hi Anusha, Yes, the massive oversupply is distorting the market price for eBooks. The eBook oversupply means that indie authors and publishers can&#39;t manipulate price by deep discounting to make big gains in market share. It&#39;s the reason why marketing is very important. <br /><br />In other industries when there&#39;s a massive oversupply of product and profit margins are squeezed, many of the producers are forced to leave the industry and find an alternative product to sell that&#39;s profitable. <br /><br />We haven&#39;t seen a mass exodus of authors who have quit writing, which is a consequence of profit not being the overriding goal for most authors. The traditional publishing model for print books created barriers to entry that moderated the supply of books in the market (stores). <br /><br />I think print books are here to stay, and readers understand the value in owning print books.Narellehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07665380446283721576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2208627029605402728.post-17342999891968014742016-11-07T09:54:07.553+10:002016-11-07T09:54:07.553+10:00Great post, Narelle. Thanks for the break-down of ...Great post, Narelle. Thanks for the break-down of different points to consider. You make some really valid points about supply and demand, perceptions of value, and how marketing strategies can condition our readers to get things for free (or bargain basement prices). <br /><br />I agree that e-books cost less to produce than print books - though as you say &quot;There are fixed costs in terms of book formatting, cover design, editing, etc.&quot; There is one &#39;cost&#39; that often seems to be left out of the equation - and that is the time, skill, research etc that the writer (creator) brings to produce the book. And while costs are less - it&#39;s takes a huge number of sales at 30 cents (or even $1-2) per book to recoup all the outlays (for cover design, editing, formatting), let alone the author&#39;s time. It&#39;s a bit of a catch-22 - the need to discount to attract readers, the practice of discounting conditioning readers to expect to pay less than a cup of coffee to get a book (which they can still go back and re-read &amp; can lend to friends and family). <br /><br />I don&#39;t have any answers and can see the value of lead-losers &amp; a well thought out strategy - I&#39;m wondering if having &#39;sale periods&#39; when the book is reduced or free (and not in a predictable pattern) may keep the balance between valuing our work and attracting the attention of readers? <br />Jeanette O'Haganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11057798704247611224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2208627029605402728.post-44522290497778144472016-11-07T08:16:33.554+10:002016-11-07T08:16:33.554+10:00Great post Narelle and very helpful. I can see we ...Great post Narelle and very helpful. I can see we have a major problem in that the supply is way more than the demand for eBooks. I find it encouraging though that print books haven&#39;t gone out of fashion as was predicted some years ago. Yay! :) However, it is a problem for Indie authors isn&#39;t it? Thank you for a well presented post which will be very helpful to all Indie authors.Anushahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00859837228901127984noreply@blogger.com
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