An E-Book Case Study - 3.000 Freebies and One Sale!

[norilana]

I just had to post this, because it is partially amusing, and it partially illustrates the roots of my (and other writers') financial problems.

Remember how this summer I made the Dreams of the Compass Rose e-book a free download for 90 days

Comments

[queenoftheskies]

That really sucks.

I never feel comfortable downloading free books, for some reason. But, alas, even if I did, I don't have an e-book reader and am always using my computer for something else. When I read, I go away from the computer.

My son has a Nook, though, and is slowly convincing me that I'd like to have one when I can afford it. At that time, I'm going to see what you've got.

There are anthologies I'd like to have and, slowly, I'm getting to the point of being able to afford some things I want. So, you should see orders from me soon.

[norilana]

Thank you for the kind comments. :-)

Yeah, I don't read anything online either myself, for several reasons, including poor eyesight.

So far, this is the only book on Smashwords I have. There will be Eugie Foster's eugie wonderful collection Returning My Sister's Face coming soon, but otherwise I have only put out a few of my own books up on Kindle, mostly as an experiment, and none of the other Norilana titles.

In a nutshell, making e-books is a whole full-time job, it turns out, a real pain. *sigh*

Maybe it is also that way because I am an anal perfectionist and make mine really NICE and clean. :-) I've hard some horror stories how publishers dump really poorly formatted files and sell them...

In any case, I am unable to convert all the titles en masse yet, because of how arduous a process it is. So it will take me a long time to get the whole catalog done. Meanwhile, this is just one of the first initial experiments in e-book publishing.

[3v1lsh33pz]

There are a lot of interesting discussions around price of e-books in various online forums(ex fair price to pay, e-book price increase...) from the points of view of both writers and readers. I have no idea if these forums are reflective of the opinions of the greater population of e-book readers, but from what I've picked up spending time on these forums, most people generally want an e-book to cost less than a mass market paperback *unless* it's a hardcover new release, in which case they'll pay up to $9.99 for something they really want. There's this perception that e-books cost less to produce than a paper book and therefore should by default be much cheaper. It's an interesting topic - what something like an e-book is worth in terms of time, effort, etc. versus what someone is willing to pay for it. It's a frequent topic of debate on the Writer's forum on Kindle Boards: there are people who feel $.99-$2.99 is the sweet spot and are selling thousands of their books a month while there are others who feel that's too cheap and