How much do you charge for a digital book in this new publishing world we live in? In the days when print was the only show in town, it was a lot simpler. You had paper. printing, binding, warehousing and transport costs, and you had to make sure these were covered by the price you charged. Nowadays, these substantial costs have effectively been reduced to zero, so it's a lot easier to publish at very low prices without losing money.
But how low do you go?
Is 99 cents too cheap for an eBook? What about the year's work that may have gone into it. You can't get a cup of copy for that price. Surely a book is worth more than a cup of coffee that takes 5 minutes to drink?
On the other hand, how does an individual writer get read with all the world's books only a couple of a clicks away for any reader? With so much choice, why would anyone spend lots of money on a writer they're not familiar with?
A new theory on how business on the internet works called The Curve addresses this dilemma The writer basically argues that it makes no sense to have uniform prices anymore and that there should be many different variations of the product priced along a curve starting from the very cheap or even free. It's a bit like the old hardback/paperback model in some ways but with infinitely more flexibility and points of difference.
Macmillan Momentum have applied this model to my recently published Books of Ascension trilogy. Although each of the three books are more or less the same length, Zenith is $1.00, Equinox is $2.99, and Eclipse $4.99. You can see the curve at work here, and I think it makes sense for both the reader and the author. Readers can try the first book without having to worry about outlaying too much, and they will only pay the higher price for the subsequent books if they are enjoying the series (which means it's good value for money for them). Of course, the author (err... me, in this case) is hoping that without a price barrier, many readers will cross the threshold into a world that they wouldn't have otherwise entered, and a large percentage of them will enjoy the experience enough to trek further.
The curve is waiting. Are you ready to ascend?
But how low do you go?
Is 99 cents too cheap for an eBook? What about the year's work that may have gone into it. You can't get a cup of copy for that price. Surely a book is worth more than a cup of coffee that takes 5 minutes to drink?
On the other hand, how does an individual writer get read with all the world's books only a couple of a clicks away for any reader? With so much choice, why would anyone spend lots of money on a writer they're not familiar with?
A new theory on how business on the internet works called The Curve addresses this dilemma The writer basically argues that it makes no sense to have uniform prices anymore and that there should be many different variations of the product priced along a curve starting from the very cheap or even free. It's a bit like the old hardback/paperback model in some ways but with infinitely more flexibility and points of difference.
Macmillan Momentum have applied this model to my recently published Books of Ascension trilogy. Although each of the three books are more or less the same length, Zenith is $1.00, Equinox is $2.99, and Eclipse $4.99. You can see the curve at work here, and I think it makes sense for both the reader and the author. Readers can try the first book without having to worry about outlaying too much, and they will only pay the higher price for the subsequent books if they are enjoying the series (which means it's good value for money for them). Of course, the author (err... me, in this case) is hoping that without a price barrier, many readers will cross the threshold into a world that they wouldn't have otherwise entered, and a large percentage of them will enjoy the experience enough to trek further.
The curve is waiting. Are you ready to ascend?
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