Here's that money thing again. I was alerted this morning to a tweet from a reader who sees my backlist selling for $2.99 and wondered why another author's old titles are priced so much higher ($9.99). As I explained in a disjointed, multi-part message to the unhappy reader, I am in the fortunate position of owning nearly all of my backlist. I can charge whatever price I choose. After some inexperienced dithering at the beginning, I decided to follow Joe Konrath's example and price my books at $2.99, old title or new. There is an exception to this which you will find on this blog if you scroll down to look for it. Same graphic and everything.
I'm not out to gouge my readers--I want them to enjoy my work at a price that's fair to all of us, which e-publishing makes possible. That other author's books being sold for $9.99 are most likely still controlled by her publishers. I'm not knocking trad publishing, paper books, etc. I've simply chosen the model that works best for me.
So for now and the foreseeable future, my books will be priced at $2.99. If you find them cheaper than that, please know that I did not discount the price, the vendor did. I'm not happy about it and I'm doing what I can to change the situation. $2.99 is more than fair. Less than that is not.
$2.99 is a fantastic price for an ebook. The low prices at Smashwords tempted me into buying up your entire backlist, and also those of several other authors.
ReplyDeleteThe $9.99 price is reasonable in comparison to what some backlist titles are being sold for, presumably by the publishers and not by the authors. I'd love to read Penelope Williamson's 'Keeper of the Dream' but the Kindle edition costs $16.85. That's more than I'm prepared to pay for an ebook.
Hi Alexis
ReplyDeleteI found your blog because I'm on a similar journey - I'm publishing my backlist as ebooks.
Exciting times! Good luck with your books.
Helen
Wow! I'm doing the same, and also publishing a few that never made it to New York.
ReplyDeleteI stumbled upon your ebooks at The Romance Reader when I was taken with the World War I book about the 1918 Influenza epidemic (my grandmother's sister died in that epidemic)--a period that has always interested me.
Good luck with sales.