Why $2.99?
If you've discovered Stone Soldiers you might have wondered about the price--some of you have anyways. I've been told $2.99 isn't enough, that I should charge more. Others have insisted that since I rely on beta readers for editing, I should be giving all my books away from free, until I can crowdsource funding for an editor who'll change my stuff to make it better--like they do in the traditional publishing world.
I say poppycock! (Mainly because it sounds funny and reminds me of Monty Python)
When I was in High School, way back in the 1980s, devouring as many as six paperbacks a week, they cost a couple of bucks (or less if I got them at yard sales). When I first looked into being an author back then, I found out many authors got about $1 a paperback, after all the advances, royalties etc were said and done.
Yes, many an ebook is $4.99, $5.99 and up, but that just seems wrong to me. Why should I gouge the reader, when I'm not printing anything? I don't have to pay any editors, or cover artists, or promotional people or printers. All I'm out is some time. $2.99 seems very fair to me.
And what about those editors? Many of them claim its arrogant to think you can write a book on your own without a noble, hired-gun to rewrite it, slash out sections etc. My response is why aren't they on the cover then? If editors are so important to the creative process that I shouldn't DARE charge for a book that didn't have one, why don't they get co-writer credit?
Well, I don't need a book doctor. I write my series fast, and maybe sloppy, on purpose--to capture that reckless abandon that the early pulps had. I'd love to have proof readers for those inevitable typos and misspellings like they're/their/there, but as an Indie still struggling to make it, I'll stick to my loyal betas for now.
$2.99 for 50,000 words seems about right to me. Thank you for spending it. I pledge to do my best to keep that price for a long time.
I say poppycock! (Mainly because it sounds funny and reminds me of Monty Python)
When I was in High School, way back in the 1980s, devouring as many as six paperbacks a week, they cost a couple of bucks (or less if I got them at yard sales). When I first looked into being an author back then, I found out many authors got about $1 a paperback, after all the advances, royalties etc were said and done.
Yes, many an ebook is $4.99, $5.99 and up, but that just seems wrong to me. Why should I gouge the reader, when I'm not printing anything? I don't have to pay any editors, or cover artists, or promotional people or printers. All I'm out is some time. $2.99 seems very fair to me.
And what about those editors? Many of them claim its arrogant to think you can write a book on your own without a noble, hired-gun to rewrite it, slash out sections etc. My response is why aren't they on the cover then? If editors are so important to the creative process that I shouldn't DARE charge for a book that didn't have one, why don't they get co-writer credit?
Well, I don't need a book doctor. I write my series fast, and maybe sloppy, on purpose--to capture that reckless abandon that the early pulps had. I'd love to have proof readers for those inevitable typos and misspellings like they're/their/there, but as an Indie still struggling to make it, I'll stick to my loyal betas for now.
$2.99 for 50,000 words seems about right to me. Thank you for spending it. I pledge to do my best to keep that price for a long time.
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