- Joined
- Apr 7, 2005
- Messages
- 7,632
- Reaction score
- 1,204
- Location
- London, UK
- Website
- torgoblog.blogspot.com
Cor, this is interesting. So The Bookseller asked a bunch of authors, both self-published and 'traditionally published' (I know, I know: we may have to live with that descriptor now, folks) what they thought about a bunch of stuff and the answers are right here: http://www.futurebook.net/content/author-paradox
Plenty of chewy stuff in there, from both sides of the aisle. I would be interested to hear what people think.
We asked traditionally-published authors* on a scale from 1 – 10 how satisfied they are with what their publisher achieves (1 – very unsatisfied and 10 – very satisfied). Their* average rating is 6.2, which suggests that publishers serve them reasonably well but hardly a glowing endorsement.
When questioned deeper, these authors gave some interesting views on their publishers’ ebook pricing and marketing strategies;
*I don’t know their rationale.
*Their ebooks are overpriced and they do very little differently in promoting them.
*They have discounted the first book in the series to $2.99 which has boosted sales, but the remainder are at $9.99 which is not an attractive price point.
*I am not convinced that they have any strategy
*They've been very slow to respond to the changes in the marketplace and are just now considering e-book price reductions, which I think has been detrimental to my sales.
*Overpricing, meaning they are unable to compete.
*An overly blinkered approach imposed by the parent company's board, allows no flexibility or common sense and my e-sales are about 2% of total.
*Marketing not great.
These responses reflect at least 80% of author answers. I’m sure not music to publishers’ ears, but rather fundamental questions scream out from this:
*Are publishers communicating their marketing and pricing strategies with their authors?
*Can publishers implement a nimble and responsive pricing strategy across their vast numbers of books?
*Are publishers working closely enough with their authors who understand their market, competitors so well?
Plenty of chewy stuff in there, from both sides of the aisle. I would be interested to hear what people think.