By May.
The other day I was shopping for books based on some recommended “must read” authors that I’ve yet to try, and I only purchased one book from the more than 40 books that the six authors I was looking into had written. I found authors with backlists that are unavailable for kindle (and out of print/very expensive for paper copy), authors with a backlist that is priced at $10-$15 for kindle versions of older books, and authors who had no inexpensive options for any of their titles.
I understand that publishers and situations vary, and that authors don’t control all of these details- but it would be in the best interest of any author to make sure that they have some reasonable prices available for eBook format on at least a few of their backlist titles, or to self-publish a novella or three. Here is why I feel so strongly about this as a reader:
1.The fastest way to ensure that I never read your books is to force me to choose between reading one of your books, or picking up two to three more reasonably priced eBooks. My personal pet peeve is the books where the paper version is now on sale far cheaper than the eBook version.
2. Your expensive eBooks will have me looking to borrow from a friend, watching for paperback copies at the used bookstore, or just forgetting you altogether. This isn’t ideal for you the author – as you won’t get credit or see a penny. That is, if I even find your books and read them.
3. Everybody loves a deal. If I’m told to test out an author by someone who cares enough and likes the book enough to email me about it, and I go to check it out and if the eBook is under $5 odds are I’m buying it even if I’m not totally sure about the book. If it is $2.99 or less it’s a guarantee that I’m in.
4. There are always good deals available. If not from you, then I’ll find someone else to try.
Most of all though-hooking me with a great book at a good price will make me hunger for more. A great example of this is last year when I picked up Suzanne Enoch’s The Care and Taming of a Rogue for free on my kindle- which turned out to be one of my favorite reads of 2011, and led to my purchasing a dozen books from her backlist.
Another example is when I was on the fence about trying Stacia Kane’s Downside series, and was able to get the first book for my kindle at the very reader friendly price of $2.99. Now I’m hooked, and I don’t hesitate to pay the full price for new books because I know this is an author I’m really enjoying and feel confident about the books she will deliver.
I’m going to be buying and reading as many books as I can. The question is, will they be yours? Having some budget friendly options not only increases your odds of hooking me into reading a book, but if I love your book I’ll buy more, and I’ll tell everyone I know about it too. All you have to do as an author is figure out a way to make some good deals available and let your fans know.
Another tactic I am fast becoming a fan of is novellas that tie into a series (that are self or e-published only) as both an inexpensive taste of an author, and a way to get the feel of a series or style of writing without investing the time and money of a full length novel. If it is a series I’m already into, this gives me a chance to re-visit the world between books and I am all for that! Unlocked by Courtney Milan is a great example and perhaps my all time favorite novella. If you’ve not read it, spend the $.99 and check it out!
I want to leave you with a few good deals on authors and books I strongly recommend and adore.
Zoe Archer’s Blades of the Rose series is one I STRONGLY recommend. Adventure around the world, kick ass heroines, magic, seriously wicked villains – and you can get all four novels in a kindle bundle for $9.99.
Tessa Dare has all her books ranging currently from under a dollar to $7.99 for kindle version – the Spindle cove books (which I highly recommend!) are all $6 or less including a $.99 novella that can be read as a stand-alone novel.
Jennifer Estep has her Big Time novels priced to try – I have both paperback and kindle copies of Karma Girl which is my all time favorite super hero romance book. At $2.99 I feel good about recommending it to anyone as well.
I recommend most of Jennifer Crusie’s work, and you can test out some of her older romances in a $9.99 bundle
Finally may I recommend Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase, arguably my favorite romance novel of all time. I have read it at least a dozen times, and I never grow tired of it. The price I’ve seen varies a bit for eBook – but it is always priced to try, currently as I type this it is $3.99.
There are many more deals to be had of course, and authors who do a great job self-publishing some books, offering up very inexpensive novellas, and otherwise giving us bargain options to try them out. If you have some favorites that you recommend, please feel free to share with us. I know how we all do love to get (and share) a good deal!
YES! THIS!!!! I totally agree with you on this! I haven’t read any Dark Hunter books because the first ones are not available for Kindle and when you find one they’re very pricey. I also buy cheap books and novellas from new authors very easily, but not if that first book is over 7 bucks. Another thing that authors should look at it’s international sales, as a reader that lives in Brazil and only buys kindle books because of the practicality of it, I can’t tell you how many books are unavailable outside the US or are more expensive for us, unless you’re an author that I already know and LOVE I’ll not buy the paper version and wait 4-6 weeks for delivery, sorry!
another great point – thanks to ebooks + internet it is very much an international market!!
I hate to say it but I look at the length of the book now when I purchase for my Kindle. The other day I found a plot that looked promising, but it was under 100 pages and cost $4.99. Pass!
Yup, I do the same. And, I don’t think novellas should be more than .99.
I totally do this. I cringe when I see 80 pgs for $4. No.
Me too! I cringe when I see a novella for $5 and it’s 60 pages. WTH?!?! In my opinion if it’s under 100 pages, it shouldn’t be more than $2.
oh for sure – I never can justify that kind of $$$ for a super short story. Even if it is amazing – just… NO. I am a believer that novellas are best put at $2 max. Want more of my money, then write me a longer story!
Great recs, May! Ordered Karma Girl as soon as I read this… I love her Elemental Assassin series and I was just complaining the other day that I want some super heroes to read about…
enjoy! I have been rec’ing Karma Girl for YEARS… love love love it.
Oh God, yes. I do not understand why more publishers and/or authors (if they have that kind of decision-making power) have not figured this out. SO MUCH DATA backs up the fact that if people have to make decisions about how and where to spend their money on books, they tend to go with authors they know they like… so why not make it easier to grow your audience by giving readers a cheap entree into your work?
Especially for longer series… I don’t understand why we don’t see more discounts for first books in a series to try to hook people on it.
I couldn’t agree more. Make it super cheap, get us hooked on that series.
I love that Tessa Dare’s Spindle Cove is so affordable; I was meh on some of her other series, but bought the first Spindle Cove because it was on sale, liked it, and ended up buying the first one at that sale price for a friend, and then both the friend and I went on to purchase the novella, the second book in the series (at full price), and to preorder the third book (also at full price)… whereas we’d have never tried the series if it hadn’t been on sale!
I believe Spindle Cove is by far her best series (to date). The others I loved only 1 or 2 from each series so was a hard one to suggest. Spindle Cove I love all of them! :)
I totally agree.
When I first got my eReader 3 or 4 years ago it was very rare that I would even find a book for over $8. Now I’m seeing books for $15 or more.
I don’t care that an author’s book is out in hardcover, how exactly does that effect the price of the eBook?? I’ve dropped more than a couple of series because I was simply too cheap to buy the next book. Which is sad.
Thank you to you and all of the other blogs that post listings of inexpensive or free books. You make my husband, my bank account, and me very happy. :)
I get that they don’t deep discount when it is hardback because they don’t want to hurt the hardback sales with everyone grabbing up e-book (or whatever the reason)… but once that has been out 6months or more, I expect a drop. When it hits paperback, I expect a mega drop in eBook price. Or, I pass.
As it stands now I don’t buy hardback books period – I wait for 99.9% that come out in that format to be released in paper/cheaper eBook.
its the same here in the uk last year an e book was under £3. now they are £5.80 odd. i love a free book, ive started many series or authors from a free one. but when the e books dearer than the paperback its not on. some of the paperbacks have shot up in price to. i just cant afford them all
I totally agree May. I will not pay over $7 bucks for an ebook, so when they are priced higher than that, I usually forget about them. And I know authors are in charge of pricing, but they can have an influence on it. I know Jeaniene Frost has worked to get the price of her ebooks down, she’s blogged about it, and Jennifer Estep has a post today alerting her readers about a bundle for her Frost series.
Yes..here is link to Estep’s YA Frost series bundle – http://www.amazon.com/Mythos-Academy-Bundle-First-ebook/dp/B0089YGWGU/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1345140269&sr=8-2-fkmr0&keywords=jeaniene+frost+bundle
I’ve heard great things about it.
I loved her first two Frost books. I haven’t read the others yet. She has that sense of Elemental, I think, in that the dark is there but it’s also not completely dank and despair because of her voice.
I *love* Estep’s YA. Strongly suggest grabbing the bundle! :)
I’m thinking of it. I have the first two digital, so that’s the only thing stopping me right now.
I completely agree. For me, spending roughly $4 a book is a stretch but after reading Crux, I bought the next three books without a second glance. The same way I did Tessa Dare’s Spindle Cove. And now I’m a HUGE fan of both. Why? Because I was able to try out authors without feeling like I was wasting money.
Right now, I can’t spend $7.99 for a e-book, especially for a new author. Money don’t grow on my back deck so I can’t. While my library is nice, there’s a heck of a lot of people for a small supply. It’s akin to a Goodreads giveaway. So I have to pick books that are free as introductions or in the 2 and under range. And then I’ll purchase the others without worry afterwards.Publishers are really, really cutting that nose off to spite their own face in full force.
Side note: So glad you recced the Big Time series, too. Karma Girl has this snappy comic feel in written form. You’re waiting for the Batman “Bams!” to appear. I was just thinking of the series the other day, in fact.
It does have such a great snappy comic feel. YES!
There’s a definite irreverence feel for the genre. You can tell Estep likes the form and translates it well. Less latest Doom and Gloom of the DC. More Archie. It’s a great brain candy book when you’ve been reading something darker.
To me, this is more relevant than ever. I’ve been out of work for months. Whatever odd jobs I do, the money is turned around to help with expenses for my folks. (*sigh* Yep, moved back in!) So whatever money I do keep, it’s managed pretty tightly. I love books. I’d like to buy as many as I can. Plus, who doesn’t like to think they’re getting a deal? If I can take $15 and get 3-5 books (or possibly even more).. rather than buy 1 or 2, which option do you think I’m going to choose? Moira Rogers just had Crux out for free. I got it. Really liked it. Bought a couple more from her. Same with Carolyn Jewel(I believe I picked up Free Fall which is a novella). Introducing one or a couple of your books at a low price or even free allows readers to try you out without feeling like they’re being taken advantage of. If we like your writing, chances are very good we’ll buy more.
And thanks for the karma girl tip, I really like Jennifer Estep’s Gin Blanco & Mythos Academy series.
I don’t read many books on the Kindle, but in the last 3 years I’ve read almost 800 books. They were ALL FREE. I didn’t do anything illegal–just went to my local library. I’ve been told that I’m lucky the 2 library systems near me have quite a good collection of paranormal romance & urban fantasy books. You can also check out ebooks from your library, but their collections tend to be hit or miss. As for new releases, I try searching my libraries database about a month or two before its release date & place the book on hold. Sometimes I can get the book 1 week or so after release but other times it can be closer to 4-6 weeks. I keep telling myself all the money I’ve saved by going to the library I can splurge on some authors the library doesn’t carry, but then I discover a new author or series my library does carry.
wow – I think it is AWESOME that you have such a great library system!! Sadly this isn’t the case for a lot of people (myself included) – but it is a good reminder to check them out!
This is a great post May and I totally agree!
I remember at the beginning of 2011 I purchased a Spice Brief novella, What She Needs, to try Anne Calhoun. It was $1.99 at the time and I purchased it at fictionwise with an additional discount. When I finished it I knew I loved Anne Calhoun’s voice and then purchased her entire backlist. And while I was offered Ruthie Knox About Last Night for review, I loved it so much (a top 2012 read) and the price was so good at $2.99 I gifted it to two of my close friends that I knew would love it. I then purchased her debut novel, Ride With Me at the same great price of $2.99.
It’s true, price makes a significant difference. If I pay $2.99 for a book and I love it, I feel like I’ve got my money’s worth and more so I’m guaranteed to buy more of the author’s work. I have reviewed some great books that I would have never purchased or read otherwise due to the 9.99 ebook price and it’s said that other people will not get to enjoy those books because of the inflated price.
And I don’t care how much money a person has, everyone loves a deal! :)
Ruthie Knox (About Last Night) is one that Mandi demanded I get – and when I saw $2.99 you are right. I ordered without hesitation. Now… I’ve not gotten around to reading it but that’s ok. The order was made, the book is mine.
Good deals are for everyone – for sure. And feeling like you’ve gotten a value is ALWAYS a good thing.
This post struck home! As a reader, a book had better be pretty darned good for me to purchase at $9.99 or more. Hey, I’m on a working mama on a budget so the library is a great resource.
As an author, I thought long and hard about pricing my ebook originals. The knife can cut both ways: too low implies low quality and too high may tip the scale in the no-thanks direction.
I have to disagree on low price implies low quality. Even bestselling, long established authors have promotions and/or older titles free or very low cost. I don’t ever question the book’s quality based on low price. I assume they want to entice + encourage readers, nothing more.
I don’t know how much influence authors have over their book prices, but I totally agree with you!
I’m always shocked that more authors don’t occasionally discount the 1st book in a series. For instance, I’ve always wanted to try the Chicagoland Vampire series by Chloe Neill, but her ebooks are $12.99! Whenever I have an gift-card, I always mean to buy one, but it just never happens.
I have a wishlist on Amazon of all the books that I want to read and I check it every day for price drops :)
I just checked on Amazon to verify the $12.99 price that I mentioned, and the two newest books in the series are only $9.99 on Kindle! Why would you charge more for the first book in a series? That seems like bad marketing to me.
I actually see this a LOT. Publishers seem to forget they’ve not adjusted price on first book or SOMETHING crazy… and you end up with a costly first in series which will = me skipping the whole thing.
Messing up like this – it costs the author and publisher $ and readers!
This is a GREAT post. I got The Siren when it went on $2.99 sale, and I LOVED it, and I got Tessa Dare’s A Night To Surrender, I want to say it was going for FREE at the time?!!! Can’t wait to dive in to it. I also read Zoe Archer’s series for that $10 bundle as well. Additionally. Jaye Well’s RED-HEADED STEPCHILD made the USA Today Bestsellers List after it was recently put up for 99 cents. That’s something to pay attention to!
So much word! These days I have a big TBR pile and I have no inclination or reason to spend over a certain amount of money on one book – no matter who the author is or what the book is about.
Also, I used to think cheaper titles were lower quality than expensive titles – but I have certainly learned that this is not automatically true.
I completely and utterly agree with you. For instance, I kept hearing great things about Lauren Dane, but at $10 – $12 an ebook? I was hesitant. I finally bought one, but even though it was good, it wasn’t nearly as good as some of the books I’ve gotten for $1 to $6. Yet if the first books in some of her series were sale priced at $4 or $5 I might get involved.
When I can buy ebooks by Ruthie Knox, R.L. Mathewson and Kristen Ashley and Kalypso Masters (the prequel to her Masters at Arms series is a freebie, y’all!) for less than I used to regularly shell out for paperbacks it spoils me rotten and I REALLY have to WANT to read something to shell out $9.99 and up. REALLY.
I definitely agree. I don’t mean every backlist book should be $2.99 but pick one to make inexpensive and I’ll check it out. Then, if I love your writing and book, I’m much more likely to buy more at full price. I just can’t bring myself to pay as much for an ebook as a “real” book.
Yes! Spot on! Bravo!
One of the things I agree with you the most (and I agree with everything you’ve just said) is when ebooks aren’t cheaper than physical books, or are simply not inexpensive enough.
I mean, seriously, wasn’t that like the whole pitch? That without the cost of paper, printing and shipping, books can finally be inexpensive enough to reach most of their potential readers? It’s *green* to read ebooks for god’s sake.
And totally – if there was an author I’m interested in, and he or she had a bargain-priced book in their back list, I’d buy it without hesitation. I’d even go as far as to say that it’s good business logic if this was one of their best – get me hooked on you for cheap, and I’ll buy even your worst books at their full price.
Now that you point it out, yeah it is a great way to try out a new author….
=)
I actually bought the first book in the Dark Hunter series when it was discounted a while back. And it took me a while to get to the business of reading it, but once I did – I loved it so much I got the rest of the series in one go. I would not have purchased that first book if it had been 12.99 or something like that.
What I actively dislike is the geographic restrictions on Amazon. Partly because the sales are almost never as good, and partly because some ebooks never get released for an international audience.
Everything you said x2! :)
I read the Carrie Lofty novella recently and it definitely made me want to try her full length novels – it was a small investment in terms of money and time and an excellent way of giving a new-to-me author a try.
There are very few authors for whom I will spend more than $10.00 on a book, whether e or paper. There are even fewer authors for whom I will spend this on an ebbok which I am really only licensing (I can’t lend it, resell it or even legally strip the DRM or back it up – new Cdn Oopyright law). Those authors that I will buy at over $10.00 are those who have proved to me over several books that they will provide me with good value for my money. I have not purchased several books that I was interested in this year because the price was too high. I borrowed a few of them from my library, but most of them I just forgot about and moved on to something else. Like many here, I have purchased all of the Tessa Dare Spindle Cover Series because hey are reasonably priced and will be purchasing the next one the day it comes out. I wlll purchase the next Tiffany Reisz books because she sucked me in (pardon the pun) with the Siren at $2.99. I did not purchase the latest Deborah Harkness ebook because it was over $17.00 (in Canada) – that’s just ridiculous. Realistic ebook prices for me are in the range of $0.99 for a novella or short story to $7.99 for a big thick doorstop of a book. Any more than that and chances are I’m going to be looking for something else (and it may end up eing knitting or television rather than reading).
“Spindle Cove” – darn autocorrect.
Totally agree! Personally, I’ve had great success w/ Philly’s online free library. If you’re a PA resident and have a library card (w/ an Access sticker), you can register for a free Philly library card. I’ve read SOOOO many eBooks that I otherwise considered purchasing but didn’t b/c of price or other reasons (including Suzanne Enoch’s series mentioned above). LOVE it. It’s http://www.freelibrary.org They let you check out up to 10 eBooks at a time for up to 21 days. It’s saved my wallet much hassle.
Unfortunately, the authors have ZERO say on the price, unless they’ve been able to get the rights reverted to them. When the author “owns” the book, that’s when the backlist pricing tends to be reasonable. If the publisher still owns the rights, the backlist price is often still very high, although, especially with Regencies, I’m seeing the publishers more willing to discount the older books.
Low prices on the first book of the series have hooked me many a time. Just last week, I picked up Lish McBride’s book, Hold Me Closer, Necromancer at $2.99. I adored it and promptly placed a pre-order for the next book at $9.99. The first book was one that I NEVER would have picked up at the higher price. Another series that I recently started was Danelle Harmon’s De Montforte brothers series. She got the rights back from the publisher and has priced the first one at $.99 and the rest at $3.99. Once again, I loved the first one and have gone on to buy the second. This strategy really does work and I wish the publishers would take accept that.
I bought Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander free for my Kindle a while back, and this convinced me to purchased an electronic version of the rest of the series, even though the hard backed copies sit on my shelves!
I’ve found http://www.ereaderiq.com/ to be an excellent tool in conjunction with my Amazon wishlist for tracking price drops for Kindle books. :)
Great post May, and I agree with you and all of the other commentors. I just refuse to pay too much for my new books. The books on BookDepository have gone up in price as well since they are owned by Amazon, usually I paid around € 5,00 for a paperback, and now it is more than € 6,00 which is too much. Pre-ordering is still the cheapest way to buy books, so I pre-order as soon and as much as I can from my autobuy author list, whenever there is a discount action going.
I completely agree with you. What I’m finding is the big 6 are more guilty of overpricing ebooks than indie publishers. This is exactly why the U.S. Department of Justice is suing 5 of them. I’m hoping the result will lower more reasonable pricing.