5 Responses

  1. Jan
    Jan at |

    Interesting, especially the price point issue. I read a lot of free fiction, because for every book that is too awful to finish, there will be one that is genuinlly good (imo). There is a LOT of blah out there too. I’d pay $6.99 for a novel by an author i know and enjoy, and I think m/m is very good value for money. I wouldn’t pay $15+ for an e book which is what some of the big publishers are asking.
    These days i pay for very few authors, I either enter contests, or I read freebies, I only buy books that I’m pretty sure I will enjoy by tried and tested authors, but that reflects my own financial situation as well as that there are a lot of interchangeable authors and books out there.

    Reply
    1. Josh Lanyon
      Josh Lanyon at |

      I think you make an important point, Jan, and that is that readers do not have unlimited amounts of disposable income. Anymore than they have unlimited time in which to read. They have to pick and choose. And given the power of a first impression, authors have to be smart.

      Reply
  2. Jillian MacLeod
    Jillian MacLeod at |

    I was going to say something quite similar to what Jan said: I have no problem at all paying $7 or $8 for a novel-length ebook by an author I trust, but there is so much dreck out there, and I really resent even spending $1 or $2 for something that turns out to be terrible. It’s come to the point where, for authors I’m not familiar with, I borrow ebooks from the library or from amazon.com, and if I like what I’ve borrowed, then I purchase their back catalog as I can afford it.

    I’d be happy to take more risks and pay a higher price for a book that is an unknown quantity to me, if there were some way to verify — before plunking my money down — that it had actually been edited/proofread by competent professionals. I don’t hesitate to buy an interesting-looking book published by Carina, for example, because I know they’re a professional publishing house and that what I get will at least be polished rather than painful to read. Alas, the same cannot be said for many of the other publishing houses that sprang up when the M/M market exploded, nor for the majority of self-published authors out there.

    Reply
    1. joshlanyon
      joshlanyon at |

      Jillian, I think what you’re saying reflects how a lot of readers feel now. We’re all past the kid-in-the-candy-store phase. There are more books out there (heck, there are more books on my Kindle!) than I’ll ever have time to read. So of course it makes sense that we would all get a lot more choosy.

      I have no problem paying for quality merchandise (be it organic produce or a properly edited book) whereas I do resent throwing a dollar away on something that falls apart the first time I try it out (be it lousy fiction or cheap sandals). And these are the types of readers authors want and need.

      Reply
  3. Kae
    Kae at |

    I don’t mind paying $6.99 or more for quality fiction, especially from known authors that I follow. Free or 99¢ is reserved for iffy contents. I think it could benefit new authors to get their piece out at a low price…introduce their talent, and then build from there.

    Reply

Please take a minute to leave a comment it is so appreciated !