Who’s Afraid of Very Cheap Books?

A common meme in publishing is that cheap books are destroying the world or literature, and that low prices are undermining the viability of publishingor writers’ ability to make a living.

I’ve long thought this position is nonsense – a narrative which plays on misplaced fears of change and a confusion of price and value, whichis also based on flawed assumptions and analog, zero-sum thinking.

And, if anything, the opposite is true.

Why So Cheap?

Self-publishers are fond of 99c pricing for a numbe...