Comments on: What's Coming In 2012: Book Publishing

By: Janet Angelo

Janet Angelo — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 02:41:09 +0000

Since when did the word “quality” smack of elitism? That is the most ridiculous thing I have read in a long time. Quality in books is easy to define: excellent writing; professional editing; clean formatting and interior design; relevant, attractive book covers with readable fonts.

Do not ever shirk from demanding quality in anything, especially when it comes to books and the written word. Please note that this level of quality is NOT necessarily the domain of the traditional publishing industry.

Janet :-)
a long-time developmental editor and proud indie publisher of high quality books

By: Laura Hazard Owen

Laura Hazard Owen — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 15:47:24 +0000

Hey David, agree that “no substitute” is probably a better way of thinking about this. Even that is going to vary from person to person…but an e-book’s price doesn’t shift depending on how much people value it (yet. Seth Godin has more good thoughts on this; click through to the link I cited above).

Another good post on this here from Declan Burke: “ I suppose my central concern, when it all boils down, is that fans of e-books are confusing cost and value. That’s not to say that very good books aren’t being sold for $1.99, or $0.99, or even being given away free. But it’s patently self-limiting for a reader to impose an arbitrary price of (say) $4.99 on a book, and state that he or she refuses to pay any more, regardless of the quality of that book.

This becomes especially resonant, I think, when we move away from the realms of fiction, and particularly genre fiction, to talk about the kinds of books that require serious research, which in turn requires investment. But that, again, may be a debate for another day.”
http://crimealwayspays.blogspot.com/2011/12/some-thoughts-on-pricing-of-e-books.html

By: Fotortist2

Fotortist2 — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 01:23:00 +0000

I, for one agree books should be at a lower price point. Myself, I usually only read a book once and cannot see paying $24 for a hardback I only read once! It would also give more people who don’t have a lot of money a chance to read more. A lot of our publuc libraries are sadly underfunded so most of the books are very outdated!

By: David Barnes

David Barnes — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 23:45:41 +0000

You need to be careful with the word “quality” because it suggests some absolute assessment. The *better* book should be more expensive, right? Except often, it doesn’t.

Thinking of “no substitutes” is more useful in a lot of cases.South Pacific at the Lincoln Center might offer better quality than the local high school can muster. But if my son is in the high school production then the quality is irrelevant — there is no substitute for seeing my son in a musical, and the school can charge me a price just as high as the Lincoln Center, if not higher.

By: Francis Hamit

Francis Hamit — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 20:26:55 +0000

Self publishing authors experiment with pricing all the time. Currently I have a 99 cents sale on the e-book edition of my novel “The Shenandoah Spy” with the goal of selling 100,000 copies or more by January 8, 2012. Given that the price was ten times that for the e-book and 22.5 times that for the print edition, this should be easy, right, especially with a title that has multiple five star reviews? Not so. despite multiple e-mail campaigns, press releases, and social media appeals the sales bump along like a balky lawn mower engine. Discounting does not produce automatic increases in sales and a race to the bottom does no one any good. Lowering the price was only worthwhile if it produced a surge of sales and , unless that happens in the next two weeks, this experiment will not be repeated.

By: Cary Sherburne

Cary Sherburne — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 13:16:11 +0000

With some sources reporting that 5 million Kindles and who knows how many iPads etc. opened on Christmas Day 2011, 2012 looks like a HUGE transitional year for book publishers. Hope they are ready.