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My New Look & New Low Price!
Anastasia here. As the star of an amateur sleuth
mystery series, I want as many people as possible to read about me in the books
written by author Lois Winston. Can you blame me? However, Lois and I both know
that most readers only have a limited amount of dollars they can spend on their
reading habit, and most choose to divvy up those reading dollars among a
variety of authors and protagonists. Hey, I understand. Thanks to dead louse of
a spouse leaving me with debt equal to the gross national product of Uzbekistan,
I know what it’s like to count pennies and live on an austere budget.
That’s why we find it so frustrating when publishers
charge an exorbitant price for ebooks. After all, ebooks don’t have anywhere
near the production costs of physical books. There are no paper and ink costs,
no printing costs, no warehousing costs, and no shipping costs involved in the
production of an electronic book. The manuscript has already been edited, and
the cover has already been created for the print version of the book. The only
added expense is in the file conversion for the ebook. According to Lois, who
is admittedly no computer genius, this is a relatively easy process that
doesn’t involve much time. If she can do it, anyone can. Yet some publishers
are now charging more for ebooks than for the paperback edition of the book.
How does that make any sense?
Over the last few years Lois has slowly gotten her
rights returned to her and thanks to modern technology, has republish her books
herself—at a much more reasonable price for both the print and ebook editions.
I’m happy to announce that Revenge of the Crafty Corpse, the third book in the Anastasia
Pollack Crafting Mystery series, is now finally available at a significant
discount from her previous publisher’s edition. Whereas the publisher was
charging nearly $10 for the ebook(yikes!), Lois’ version is a very fair $3.99. The
only difference? A new cover and lower price. In addition, there's also a new edition of the paperback, again at a lower price than what the publisher had charged.
Revenge of
the Crafty Corpse
An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 3
Anastasia Pollack’s dead louse
of a spouse has left her with more bills than you can shake a crochet hook at.
Teaching craft classes at her mother-in-law’s assisted living center seems like
an easy way to supplement her meager income. But when Lyndella Wegner—a
98-year-old know-it-all with a penchant for ruffles and lace—turns up dead,
Anastasia’s cantankerous mother-in-law becomes the prime suspect in her murder.
Upon discovering that Lyndella’s scandalous craft projects—and her scandalous
behavior—made her plenty of enemies, Anastasia sets out to find the real killer
before her mother-in-law ends up behind bars.
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18 comments:
Many congrats on being given a new life Anastasia! Your story sounds fun.
Lois,
I think this was wise. You want to keep your backlist circulating. E-books are an excellent way to do this. I don't self-publish myself but see it as a viable way to continue your work.
Indies can charge less because we don't have to support layers of middle management. Congrats on getting your books back into your own hands!
I agree about the price of ebooks. I don't pay more than $4 for one because I also know that at any time, those ebooks might not be mine. Even though I buy them at Amazon, they are really just a borrow..unlike a print book I can keep in my hand. And even there, I only buy hardcovers for my keeper authors.
Thank you, Calisa, Jacqueline, Anna, and Melissa for stopping by and weighing in. It's such a different world out there from when I sold my first book. In some ways it's a lot more exciting. There's something to be said for having more control over your destiny.
Hear hear about pricing, but the costs mentioned are not the only ones involved with publisher-created ebooks. Publishers have to pay overhead costs (do they really NEED offices in Manhattan?), including rent, waste disposal, electricity, and city taxes. They amortize those costs against e-books as well as printed books, and when they price books, they take those costs into account. I think they figure that what they're saving on editing, covers, and so on by producing an ebook of an already-published print book, they can use to pay the rent.
Authors have to pay rent (or mortgages) too, of course, but those are not business expenses, and aside from home office costs, are not included in the cost of books sold. It makes much more sense for authors producing their own ebooks to price them lower than publishers do. I think the argument about "devaluing" books by setting a lower price ignores the fact that the value of the book itself is only a small part of what a publisher charges for it--and an author pricing an ebook at $3.99 is actually valuing *her own work* more highly than a publisher who priced a book at $7.99. Particularly if you figure how much the creator of the book is getting in each case!
You go, Lois! I hope your book sells well forever!
Thanks, Ashley! Actually, if an author looks upon her writing as a business, she should be factoring in overhead. A good accountant is a must. It's amazing what the IRS will allow as expenses that most authors aren't aware of because they do their own taxes. My accountant isn't cheap, but he's worth every penny I pay him each year.
As for the publishers, they're all part of huge conglomerates now and are run by bean counters. A book to them is no different than a widget. They're only interested in the bottom line, not in authors and often not in the quality of the product they're producing. When you have editors who are juggling over a hundred authors each, something winds up suffering, and that something is our books. And then there's the fact that most publishers no longer put any time or money into promoting most of their authors the way they used to. It's up to us--no different than if we're publishing as indies.
Congratulations on the new look! Many wishes for mega success. Being independent is a good move!
Sharon Woods Hopkin
I think you made a wise choice, Lois. I don't read e-books, but I think $3.99 (which is what I charge for my e-books, too) is a fair price. One of the reasons I decided to go indie, was because I wanted control of my books. I know as much as I'd like to be able to buy hard cover books, I buy very few because of the high price. Good luck on your venture. I think you'll be happy.
Thanks, Gloria! I've actually been indie publishing for a few years now, but I didn't have the rights back to all my books. Now I do.
Awesome news! Congrats!!
Good info Lois. I just bought some nonfiction ebooks for travel--and the price hike was very disturbing. I know publishers need to survive, but I think they will hurt themselves in the long haul. I feel used.
I know what you mean, Martha.
SO good to hear you've taken this step! I'm sure it will result in significant sales. I know I've stopped with my finger on the Buy button several times lately when I've seen one or another favorite author's ebook priced in the $10 range.
Thanks, Kate! I absolutely refuse to pay $10 for an ebook. What really galls me is when I see publishers charging more for the ebook than for the print version. To me, that's price gouging. I don't want it done to me, and I certainly wouldn't do it to my readers.
I don't see why anyone in their right mind would pay a lot for an e-book, and I don't see why any author should overprice an e-book.
Mine go anywhere from my permafree book, to 99 cents, $1.99, and $2.99 at the highest.
I don't see why anyone in their right mind would pay a lot for an e-book, and I don't see why any author should overprice an e-book.
Mine go anywhere from my permafree book, to 99 cents, $1.99, and $2.99 at the highest.
I don't see why anyone in their right mind would pay a lot for an e-book, and I don't see why any author should overprice an e-book.
Mine go anywhere from my permafree book, to 99 cents, $1.99, and $2.99 at the highest.
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