What's Your Writing Worth? by Deborah Batterman
No sooner do I get an iPad when the offers – free e-books – start flooding in. A longtime fan of Project Gutenberg, for what it made available in those prehistoric days before e-readers were state-of-the-art, I marvel at how many free/bargain e-book sites there are now and what is accessible at the click of a button. The app that has insinuated itself onto my tablet – Free Books – is a Crayola mix of book spines nestled in an iBook-like-bookshelf.
I peruse the offerings, intrigued at what I can get at the touch of a finger. Until a light goes on, a revelation. How many free books does a person need? I love a bargain as much as the next person, but I can’t even keep up with the unread books on my shelves. Am I being suckered here, into some new form of accumulation, less obvious for its digital hide-until-you-seek format? Is there some insidious lure at play – kind of in keeping with my theory that people are on cell phones so much because of all those free minutes. Use it or lose it.
Which brings me to my point, the worth of a book.
Let’s face it, writers (putting aside those engaged in for-their-eyes-only journaling) want to be read. We want an audience that, at its best tells us how wonderful we are, at the least gives modest reassurance that maybe, just maybe, the story or novel comes across exactly as intended. Making money? Ah, there’s the rub. The odds are not in our favor. Yes, I’ll be the first to tip my hat to John Locke, whose strategy for success paid off big time. In a Wall St. Journal article that appeared in April, Cheap E-Books Upend the Chart, he’s quoted as saying, “When I saw that highly successful authors were charging $9.99 for an e-book, I thought that if I can make a profit at 99 cents, I no longer have to prove I’m as good as them. Rather, they have to prove they are ten times better than me.” Then there’s wunderkind Amanda Hocking, who, whether or not you’re a fan of her work, you have to admire her tenacity and savvy.
Tenacity? I have plenty to spare. It’s what keeps me writing (do I dare say ‘duh’?) and what spurred me to enter the e-book market with my short story collection, originally published in print by a small, indie publisher. Savvy? I’m still learning the ropes. If I thought that traditional publishing was competitive, the e-book market – filled to the brim with self-published books – gives me pause. There’s a lot to be said for the democratization of publishing and for writers to take charge of the means of production and marketing. But every step in the process requires a hard look at what brought you here (can you imagine your life without writing?) and where you fit in (you may not consciously write to a market, but a market is what you need); then there's the constant reevaluation of your own work, the unrelenting inner critic that takes you from draft to draft (i.e., can you cut the mustard)?
So here’s the $64,000 question: does the proliferation of free e-books and bargain books have a way of diminishing the value of a single book? And how do I put a price on my own writing? I did my homework, thought I got it right when I initially priced my short story collection at $7.99, not as a high as well-known authors of fiction, but within the range of books I thought were similar. My own book-buying habits weighed in: If a writer whose work I love comes out with a new book that I must have, I’m among the first to buy it. If a writer/friend publishes a book, what better way to support her/him by buying a copy, whatever the price? All of which is to say, within months I had the price down to $6.39. Then I came across John Locke’s strategy for success. I read what Tony Eldridge had to say, How to Price Your E-book, and took note when a writer who’s been in the e-book market a little longer than I have suggested I reduce the price to 99 cents. Now, as my head surfaces from the sea of free e-books, bargain books, and marketing tips, I kick around some numbers with my Internet guru (a.k.a. my daughter), and the one we come up with (magic or not) is $4.99, which, she tells me, is the top price she’d pay for a cool new iPhone app. Coincidentally the same price as the Kindle edition of John Locke’s latest, How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in Five Months!
Going once . . . Going twice . . .
