About Those Boxed Sets of E-Books for 99 Cents
A while back, I mentioned The Deadly Dozen "box set" of e-books. It featured novels from 12 crime and thriller writers, all offered in one e-book for 99 cents. The quality of the stories and the price combined to launch it to the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists.
It seems that kicked off a trend. A lot of authors across all genres are grouping their e-books together, offering their "box sets" at 99 cents.
Some look pretty good. One that stood out to me is Thrilling Thirteen. It's offering 3,250 of thriller-ific pages for a buck. A couple of the authors, such as Debbi Mack and Zoe Sharp, I'm already familiar with. For the others, this looks to be a great way to get acquainted. Here's the line-up:
A Touch of Deceit (Nick Bracco Series) - Gary PonzoRussian Hill (Abby Kane FBI Thriller) - Ty HutchinsonArctic Wargame (Justin Hall Series) - Ethan JonesLook For Me (Rachel Scott Adventure) - Traci HohensteinThe Last Horseman - Frank ZafiroThe Diplomat (Justin Hall Series) - Ethan JonesThe Recruiter (A Thriller) - Dani AmoreMark Taylor: Genesis (Mark Taylor Series) - M.P. McDonaldIn the Shadow of El Paso - Frank ZafiroDon't Close Your Eyes (Stephanie Chalice Thriller) - Lawrence KelterQuicksilver (Forensic Geology Series) - Toni DwigginsLeast Wanted (Sam McRae Mystery) - Debbi MackAbsence of Light (Charlie Fox Thriller) - Zoe Sharp
Click here to get the Thrilling Thirteen from Amazon for the Kindle for 99 cents.
And Now for a Writerly Word About Pricing
For readers, this is great stuff. For writers, it raises some questions about the value of a novel. This would seem to be a way to price a novel under 99 cents, the minimum threshold in this market (Amazon and the rest won't allow anything under that price). So is this a thumbs up or thumbs down proposition?
I give it one up and one down. On the one side, I like that authors I know (such as Vincent Zandri and Allan Leverone) picked up enough sales to wind up on the big-time lists. On the other, I think this is an idea that will work initially and then play itself out as more people jump on board. I'd gladly take 1/12 of 99 cents if it meant we moved 50,000 units or whatever, but in the end the market will hit a wall and have to find another way to further devalue those novels to make it stand out to the price-conscious reader.
In other words, the 100-novels-for-a-buck box set is just around the corner.
