Goldilocks pricing - how does an author get it just right?
How do you put a price on something that you have sweated over and wrestled with for months, or in some cases, years? Doubly so when you know that some readers will read and re-read your baby with glee in their hearts. Others will skim it, slap a two star rating on it, following up with a review ripping it to shreds, denouncing your work as a blight upon the world.
Sigh....
As a voracious reader I find myself navigating the bounty of books on offer in search of those elusive five star reads. Lots of things sway me to choose a book and it's not always the reviews. Unless they mention my all time pet hate, the TSTLAM heroine. Then count me out.
Sure, the price often drives my decision making. Mainly because with new to me authors it can be such a gamble.
But more and more I find myself checking the number of pages. Trying to determine if I will be getting my money's worth. Because too many times recently I've spent more money than I should have on what turned out to be a 'novella' or worse, in two cases I bought 'books' that were only ten chapters or so... before I was slammed with a cliffhanger and advised to spend my hard earned money on instalment two.
Grrr...... I'm left feeling cheated. Bad-mouthing the author as a money grubbing so-and-so, whilst kicking myself for falling for their glossy cover, or kick ass blurb.
Because even when I do all my research; reviews, price, page length, I can still get caught out.
Some authors are increasing the size of their fonts to up their page numbers. Others are blank page hogs. You know the ones, the chapter title takes up an entire page. And then there is another page between chapters. And then there are like fifteen sneak peeks of their other books at the end of the 'novella' which you could have sworn was novel length.
Some authors leave me gob smacked with envy at their audacity. $17 for a debut e-book. $17!!! Investigating further I discover the book length is worthy of being called a novel. And they have a surprising number of five star reviews... yet not one single person complained about the price. Really? I'm not talking Ilona Andrews here, we all know we'd sell our first born for one of 'their' novels. I'm talking some unknown author with no back catalogue, no famous pseudonym branching out into another genre. Like I said, gob smacked.
Then there is the other end of the scale, the freebie or low cost first books in a series. Does anyone ever bother to look at the future books in the series, as the prices climb exponentially higher and higher and do the math of what that freebie/low cost tempter is truly going to cost you? I know I've started to.
And there are many famous authors who release an amazing number of works a year; the entertainment factor high, the page length low and the price...? Well, the more famous they get the higher those prices are getting. But when you are guaranteed a great escape read and you know it will be four/five star great, I'm pretty sure we don't care, even if that escape is all too brief.
There are no answers to what is the right price. If an author actually quantified the time of writing, editing, organising book covers, publishing, marketing etc, etc, and reflected that in a book price, it would be one scary number.
So it has to come down to the level of entertainment a book offers a reader. Problem is, that is such an individual thing. Some readers only have time for a short, sharp, 150 page read; HEA, done and dusted. Others need to immerse themselves in a rich fantasy 600 page plus book to feel they have gotten their money's worth.
Goldilocks pricing. The authors can assign any price they like to their books, all that matters in the end is what the reader deems suitable, The book comes in a package - the author, the glossy cover, the blurb, the number of pages, and the price. Only the reader knows when it is just right for them.
Happy five star reading gorgeous people
Sigh....
As a voracious reader I find myself navigating the bounty of books on offer in search of those elusive five star reads. Lots of things sway me to choose a book and it's not always the reviews. Unless they mention my all time pet hate, the TSTLAM heroine. Then count me out.
Sure, the price often drives my decision making. Mainly because with new to me authors it can be such a gamble.
But more and more I find myself checking the number of pages. Trying to determine if I will be getting my money's worth. Because too many times recently I've spent more money than I should have on what turned out to be a 'novella' or worse, in two cases I bought 'books' that were only ten chapters or so... before I was slammed with a cliffhanger and advised to spend my hard earned money on instalment two.
Grrr...... I'm left feeling cheated. Bad-mouthing the author as a money grubbing so-and-so, whilst kicking myself for falling for their glossy cover, or kick ass blurb.
Because even when I do all my research; reviews, price, page length, I can still get caught out.
Some authors are increasing the size of their fonts to up their page numbers. Others are blank page hogs. You know the ones, the chapter title takes up an entire page. And then there is another page between chapters. And then there are like fifteen sneak peeks of their other books at the end of the 'novella' which you could have sworn was novel length.
Some authors leave me gob smacked with envy at their audacity. $17 for a debut e-book. $17!!! Investigating further I discover the book length is worthy of being called a novel. And they have a surprising number of five star reviews... yet not one single person complained about the price. Really? I'm not talking Ilona Andrews here, we all know we'd sell our first born for one of 'their' novels. I'm talking some unknown author with no back catalogue, no famous pseudonym branching out into another genre. Like I said, gob smacked.
Then there is the other end of the scale, the freebie or low cost first books in a series. Does anyone ever bother to look at the future books in the series, as the prices climb exponentially higher and higher and do the math of what that freebie/low cost tempter is truly going to cost you? I know I've started to.
And there are many famous authors who release an amazing number of works a year; the entertainment factor high, the page length low and the price...? Well, the more famous they get the higher those prices are getting. But when you are guaranteed a great escape read and you know it will be four/five star great, I'm pretty sure we don't care, even if that escape is all too brief.
There are no answers to what is the right price. If an author actually quantified the time of writing, editing, organising book covers, publishing, marketing etc, etc, and reflected that in a book price, it would be one scary number.
So it has to come down to the level of entertainment a book offers a reader. Problem is, that is such an individual thing. Some readers only have time for a short, sharp, 150 page read; HEA, done and dusted. Others need to immerse themselves in a rich fantasy 600 page plus book to feel they have gotten their money's worth.
Goldilocks pricing. The authors can assign any price they like to their books, all that matters in the end is what the reader deems suitable, The book comes in a package - the author, the glossy cover, the blurb, the number of pages, and the price. Only the reader knows when it is just right for them.
Happy five star reading gorgeous people
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