I want to talk about book prices. If you’re a reader, please bear with me. This article is about you.
You’ve heard it before. Authors spend months, often years, on a book, so why should they give it away free? And yet some do, because they feel it’s the only way to sell and get reviews. The market is now saturated with free reads or reads at rock-bottom prices, and the competitive advantage has disappeared. Many new authors now have to give away their books just to keep up.
That’s not right. My book prices are between $4.99 and $5.49 for full-length novels, and $2.99 for novellas and shorter works. Selling for less than $2.99 is not an option, because the royalties would be so low, I might as well make it a freebie. Only my collection of short stories is $0.99. It should be free, because it’s so short, but Amazon doesn’t do free anymore, unless you sell exclusively via Amazon.
Do you give away your time for free? You might, for family, a good cause or for friends, but for strangers? Not only have I spent all of my free time on this book, the cover and editing and formatting and promotion involved in releasing a book add up really quickly. We’re talking thousands of dollars. So if you want to read my books, you need to pay full price.
Or do you?
Actually, you don’t. I take part in many Facebook events where I play little games and give books away to participants. I randomly offer giveaways on Twitter and on my website. I often join forces with other author to lay on a fantastic spread of books at great prices, where I discount to $0.99 for my short work and $2.99 for my novels.
And if you approach me and show me that you regularly leave book reviews, I might even send you a review copy (although I’ve been burned doing this in the past). Some reviewers also receive swag bags and free books by other authors from me, and often they get to name characters. Furthermore, my e-books are offered to libraries for a great price, and if you’re really strapped for cash, send me the details of your local library and I’ll make sure to donate a print copy of my book.
Not all authors do this, of course, but many are really very accommodating. That’s because writers are, first and foremost, fellow readers. We understand that reading three to ten books a month is expensive. All we ask for in return is a little respect.
