The price of Island of Fog novellas

I have great plans for the Island of Fog novellas. I published Eye of the Manticore in February, and most of the feedback I've received via email and Facebook has been positive. But is the price of $2.99 an issue?

Take this 2-star review from Amazon:

Not worth the price. This was a very short, although insightful, point of view story from Thomas. Not much outlined and displayed, although it did help (somewhat) explain/describe Thomas's history. I felt this was too short to be worth the price. But i definitely do love Robinson's Island of Fog chronicles and sincerely appreciate his writing and creativity.

The issue here might not just be the price. It might be that the novella is too short or simply not good enough to tell a full story. But the heading is "Not worth the price," which makes me think the price is indeed a major issue. Would the reader have given it a higher rating if it were free or $0.99? I don't know.

I'd really like to delve deeper into this and figure out how much of an issue the price is, versus the story itself. Would $2.99 have been too much for ANY novella no matter how good? Or would this novella have received a 2-star rating even if it were free? If that reviewer is reading this, please don't be shy! I'm always open to criticism and feedback, good or bad.

Before Eye of the Manticore was published, another reader once mentioned that $2.99 would be too much for any novella. Well, let's think about this. All the Island of Fog books are 100,000 words and were originally priced at $3.99 (except for Book 1, which is free in most places). Since Eye of the Manticore was looking to be about 40% of the length, at around 40,000 words, you could argue that its price should also be 40% at $1.60. So that reader was right.

However, $1.60 is a problem, for reasons I'll explain. As it stands today, the books are $4.99, meaning a 40%-length novella should be $1.99. This is better. But you see, authors earn 70% of the list price if the book is $2.99 and above, and only 30% if lower. This is a huge difference. A book priced at $2.99 earns me about $2.09 per book. A book priced at $2.98, just a penny less, would only earn me $0.89. And a book priced at $1.99 would be $0.59. This is the dilemma authors face for these shortish books.

So I opted for $2.99, the lowest price I could manage without drastically cutting my royalties. If I'm going to write novellas, or indeed any book, then I need to make it worth my while financially. It's not like I'm rolling in money from writing. The best I can hope for is to justify the time I spend away from actual paid work.

Then again, if a reader refuses to buy a novella for $2.99, then it's all for nothing. So there's a bit of a standoff here. I won't write them for less, but a reader might not buy them at that price. What to do?

It always surprises me when a reader says the price is too much. I forget that readers naturally have a different mindset. In my head, the violin starts up and I think of all the hours I spend writing and editing. I think to myself, "Why should this reader get it for less than the price of a Big Mac Meal, which is gobbled up in two minutes?" There's a reviewer who loved Book 1 (which was free) but complained that "the other books cost money" and gone on to ask where they can download them for free.

I think the internet -- complete with piracy -- has made a lot of people feel a bit too entitled. We occasionally spend $2 just to get cash out of an ATM, or $3 on a slushie or coffee, and we don't even blink. But spending the same on a book from a favorite author for hours of entertainment...?

All that said, every reader is different and has a unique case to put forward, and I'm not one to argue. The only thing is, I need to choose whether to write novellas that people balk at buying because of the price hurdle. I do seem to be selling Eye of the Manticore, but it only has two reviews -- a 5-star and a 2-star, which makes my overall rating pretty poor -- so it's hard to say what average readers really think.

Any and all thoughts on this subject are much appreciated!