I think that it's important, as writers and as business people, to keep in mind the various techniques used to help generate sales. As we have seen already, the world of publishing is changing, especially in regards to self-publishing. I'm not saying one is better or any such thing, only that it's changing.
And how people view self-publishing and book pricing is changing, too. We are seeing this with publishers who dabble in pricing strategies.
Take for example Michael Connolly.
His recent short story and first part of his new book is currently taking a pounding in the reviews.
I think a lot of things tie into this. It wasn't
just a short story offered. The publisher included the first part of another book with a different character.
And at the price point of $0.99, which is considered cheap.
I have to wonder, if the publisher had left the short story and sold at that price, if he still would have have gotten such a backlash. According to the reviews it appears people feel cheated and it seems most likely because they thought they were buying something
completed. It's hard to say otherwise because tempers are running high at feeling ripped off and it's kind of hard to pin down why.
Was the short story substandard for Connolly? According to a few of the reviews, it was. Was it that the novel excerpt was just that, an excerpt, and it wasn't clear in the product description that it was just an excerpt? Was it that both offerings weren't for the same character? (the short was a Harry Bosch story, the novel excerpt was part of his Lincoln Lawyer series)
It looks like buyers had no problem plopping down their $0.99 to get something. But regardless of the price, they felt they were stiffed for what they paid for because they didn't get something that was finished/complete.
Then let's look at Baen who gave books away for free and this was long before it became a such a thing for self-publishers to do. Apparently it was successful for them, they kept doing it.
If we are going to keep hammering at the old saw that writing is an art and publishing is a business, we can't lose sight that businesses are going to experiment with pricing to see what best effectively moves books. Isn't that what we, as writers, want? People reading our stuff? People buying our stuff?
Also, Kathryn Rusch has a several part blog series she's doing called Discoverability.
In part 7, she discusses pricing. I thought it was a very interesting read. She's not adhering to the 'party line of pricing' for self-publishers, many of whom have had great success with different pricing strategies that she advises
against.
What is most driven home to me by the current discussions in pricing ebooks, especially for self-publishers, is that publishers (self and trade) are still trying to figure out that sweet spot and that sweet spot is moving around in an effort to find the best place to settle.
