Sunday 9 February 2014

The price of a book...

So lets have a think about pricing!

I have noticed that my publisher Thames River Press is maintaining the e-book for Bittersweet at £3.58. Initially I thought this price was too steep for an unknown author - but I thought- hey they know what they are doing but then I started to worry that my sales rank would drop. Then recently I read in an article in the Society of Authors which mentioned the cost of ones work.  The author of the piece suggested that an ebook is often sold for less than the price of a packet of crisps and basically that made me think. I mean really think. 

As authors of the e-book revolution - sure we need to make a bit of cash - to cover the cost of those bookmarks but how little value are we attributing to our work when we price it so low? In France apparently they have set prices for books that you cannot go below ( I am not sure if this is true or not but I am sure I read this somewhere).  I can see this being helpful but at the same time I can see why we as authors de-value our own work. With a lower price you sell more, get more reviews, get ratings up and therefore sell even more. Perhaps then after this has all happened we should raise the price of our books to the equivalent of buying a packet of crisps and a chocolate bar? I don't know. 

Also as authors, lets face it, its not about the money. It's about the love for writing. We know we have to write whether we get paid for it or not so in that respect the money is just a bonus. What is most important to an author is that we want our work to be read. We want to provide some entertainment for people. A low price will result in more sales and therefore entertain more people than a book with a higher price. 

Any e-book author who has self published will tell you that setting a price for your book is an art in itself. You have to play around with it, watch the market and eventually you will get a price that works for you. As a reader I do buy books with a lower price. The time I have to read is limited though so if there 

By looking at the ranking for The Bittersweet Vine the sales have somewhat dropped. Is this because of the price hike? Is it because I haven't done much marketing? I can't really answer those questions but it is something to think about! 

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