STOP THE E-BOOK vs. PAPERBACK ARGUMENTS. Here's why. The true question is if authors only produced paperbacks are they going to EFFECTIVELY get them to the readers. Other than social media, which I am certain brings in very little money, how are readers going to know about an author's book, if only they sell it. To sell E-books and Paperbacks together is MANDATORY. No mainstream publisher would ever even contemplate this proposition of not selling one or the other. We as indie authors have to think and run our companies more like them to truly compete on their level, and to gain respect from booksellers who have very little faith in our work. What truly needs to happen is this, authors need to price their E-books at $9.99 and just stop the cheap E-books. Mainstream publishers are not thinking about the fact that there's no overhead with E-books. A book is a book. IF EVERY AUTHOR RAISED THEIR PRICES, readers would either buy the paperback or Ebook if they both cost the same. People are trying to run businesses and eat off book sales only. Many people have full time gigs and making money from book sales ain't even a true priority because they have an income, so they should be a little less vocal regarding this. Now, let's start a movement to get every E-book raised to over $7.99 and let's really put money in our pockets, and make readers understand that our work is not worthless. And in the end, only the real writers will survive under this method, because readers are going to really select a book with caution if they have to pay $9.99 for it. Also, STOP THE FREE E-books in the end they do not really bring you sales or reviews. It's a cheap ploy for Amazon to gain more buyers not the authors. You drive people their to get your book free and the buyer buys something else from Amazon.
Sunday, July 27, 2014
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I totally agree with you Rahiem! Authors must offer their book in both formats in order to have their book considered by the majority of book clubs. If even one member doesn't like to read ebooks the book will not be considered. I actually have some book club members that were "pro ereader" for quite a few years but are now reverting back to actual books for various reasons.
ReplyDeleteFor serious avid readers it's never been about not wanting to pay $9.99 for an ebook at all. (We pay this price for all of our favorite traditionally published authors all the time.) And most times if Amazon place the paperback book on sale close to the ebook price I will generally purchase the book instead of the ebook if I have enough time to receive it in the mail. If I need to travel somewhere I may actually turn around and purchase the ebook as well. So the author may actually make 2 sells from me. People waste money on things they don't even remember spending money on so I would much rather spend my money on something that I know will benefit someone else.
I actually forbid my book club members from even suggesting ebooks that are priced low because every last one of the ones that we've read were absolutely horrible! I'd prefer to invest my money into something I KNOW I'm going to read and absolutely have no problem with paying for literary entertainment that an author truly worked hard to create and not these fly by night "authors or e-authors" that are pushing out books every month or so for an easy book or so they can be popular in their own minds! The truth of the matter is - regardless how many books are downloaded for free it simply doesn't mean that every person have actually read your book. And most people that leave reviews for these free or cheap books are grading it mainly on what they had to pay for it and not the content, which can be misleading for true avid readers. Also, offering cheap/free books doesn't place authors on the same level as traditionally published authors at all, which it really shouldn't matter how you publish your book just that it's just as enjoyable and "publish-ready" as a traditionally published author. Too many authors are trying to take the short cut to popularity, which has never worked for anyone!
Also, as inexpensive as it is to actually publish an actual book through CreateSpace and over avenues it absolutely doesn't make sense to not offer a paperback version of an ebook. And I don't believe in talking face to face with e-authors at events. I like to have an actual product in hand to have them sign! Sorry but social media doesn't rule my life. I like to meet authors in person and be able to speak with them, which goes a long way!
Thanks for your insight, TaNisha.
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ReplyDeleteInteresting article Rahiem The-Authortainer Brooks,, I don't agree with selling Ebooks at the same price as the paperback since their is no overhead for the author.. However, they shouldn't be priced at .99cents either or relative cheap prices.. We should also sell our Ebooks from our sites,, Ebooks for Kindle and Nook and any other readers are not hard to create, if you selling your books to live off of. If we limit the hold other sites and company have on our Ebooks sales then we wouldn't have to worry about the pricing. I still think a Ebook should be a little over a 1/3 or at the most 1/2 of the price of the paperback.. But we have to get this 55% discount noose from around our necks.
ReplyDeleteKelvin, there are instances in mainstream publishing that a paperback costs $9 in Barnes and Noble store and the E-book is $14.99. Having no overhead is something that indie author's created, as mainstream publishers do not agree with that.
DeleteExcellent article Rahiem, and you're right, free books mostly benefit Amazon. I think it's important too, that we make an effort to encourage our readers to opt-in to an email list, so we know who our fans are and can more effectively reach out to them.
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