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A fair price for ebook self publishers?

In 2012, e-books passed a critical milestone when they outsold hardcovers for the first time.

In the UK, self published ebooks accounted for 20% of crime, science fiction, romance and humour sold in 2012. But when you look deeper and realise how many new authors are forced to give their work away for free, or at best the bargain price of 99p. Selling what is normally hundreds if not thousands of hours of work just to gain the exposure, does raise the question – are we receiving a literary feast for a writers famine?

For author Kerry Wilkinson, a 99p pricing strategy allowed him to top the UK charts with his self published novel ’Locked In’, with Amazon and his own site stating that hundreds of thousands of copies had been sold.

This is an amazing achievement for an unknown author, and shows this kind of strategy can help to get your work recognised for the first time. But while this method will give you much needed exposure, it’s worth considering the financial impact in your long term plans.

In March 2011 Victorine Leiske hit the New York Times best selling e-book list and stayed there for over 6 weeks – by May 2011 she had sold over 100,000 copies. Dreams accomplished? Consider this. When you buy an ebook for 99p the author only actually receives 34p.

So 100,000 copies sold would actually earn the author £34,000. You could say that this initial exposure will help to achieve greater sales volumes for your next work, perhaps even at a greater price – and is a good step towards achieving your long term goals. But the question is, does this kind of strategy devalue a writer’s work? Do your public expect the 99p feast? Are we setting a standard of expectation that all writers will be forced to adhere to at their great financial cost?

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Pastures Moo .