A few weeks ago the news came out that e-book purchases are outpacing hardcover sales for the first time ever.
I personally don’t think it was an accident that once that word got out all of a sudden e-book prices on highly publicised new releases were higher than the hardcover price. It was at that moment that I started refusing to buy any ebook priced in such a manner. I also started leaving polite comments to that effect (yes,they are actually polite) on the Amazon author pages. As a writer myself I figure they might like to know that their publishers’ decision is costing them a lot of birds from many bushes.
One of those books dropped $2.00 in price after the first week. That says to me that they might actually be listening.
But what cracks me up are the number of people critical of those of us who won’t “just pay the money and enjoy a really great read.” That’s what some woman who thinks a 40% price jump overnight is no big deal told me yesterday. That struck me, because it reminds me of all the times victims of things far more serious than price gouging are told to just lie back and enjoy it or to buy a pair of dark glasses, some heavy makeup and a couple of long-sleeved blouses.
No. I’m not crazy enough to be saying that an expensive book is the same as rape or domestic violence.
What I’m saying is that there seem to be a lot of folks who would rather give in than fight for justice because giving in is easier in the moment. It troubles me.
Granted, I probably look like a huge fool for whining about $5.00, but I can remember a lot of times when $5.00 was the difference between ramen noodles and scrambled eggs and toast for dinner all week.
I suppose that since I’m out of things to say on the original topic I should conclude this entry. But since I don’t want to start another entry I am going to fold the other thought I had into here. That is that I have since learned that people who self-publish on Amazon and set their book prices between $2 and $3 are in some cases making $50k a year on ebook sales alone. It makes me wonder if I’m nuts to not self-publish. Then I realize those books are probably porn. Man, there is a LOT of pornrotica for the Kindle.
Dude, for $50k a year I could totally write up some pornrotica. Where do I sign up?
Some of those self published things just look like utter drivel. You could try it though. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Even though you don’t write pornrotica, though I would not criticise if you did, there is a good market for strong, well-written eBooks in the 2-3 dollar range, I’m sure of it.
I for one would love to read some of your fiction and would pay for the privilege.