There is more to the chasm between me the author and best selling authors than I believed. Sure, they have that whole pre-sale thing going on, and they have NYT Best Seller status even to their latest and least greatest titles (I'm talking about you Evanovich and Patterson!) Apparently there's also a mental chasm between us and them.
Let's start with this article on The Wall Street Journal on ebook pricing and the DOJ/EU investigation.
Then there was this bit on Amazon and their pricing. Do I think Amazon is trying to take over the world? Yes. Do I think that's what business is all about? Yes.
Finally there's this take on the Amazon pricing and Scott Turow's take on it...(if you can't laugh at the commentary you probably shouldn't finish reading the post). And this, Mr. Turow's take on Amazon, ebook pricing, and the like, is why the chasm between me as an author and best seller Turow is even wider than I originally believed.
Clearly he has no idea what it's like not to have the name or the brand.
Anyone have other thoughts or comments on this? I'd love to hear them, even if they differ from mine. It's what a great discussion is all about.
I think that people still want (and will pay for/borrow from the library) a good story. It intrigues me that people have no problem paying for a $5 latte at Starbucks but scoff at a $3.99 e-book price. Priorities, I suppose. :)
ReplyDeleteI think that people have gotten use to books being so cheap that anytime something is a over a dollar they start to get angry. I agree with Liz, people pay more for java and other things but they won't pay for books..
ReplyDeleteIt's true, coffee trumps books any day. Actually, I just saw a graph about where your paycheck goes. Spending on tabacco and alcohol were higher than reading.
ReplyDeleteLet me find the link again. But the graph was depressing.
Here is it:
ReplyDeletehttp://visualeconomics.creditloan.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/wheredidthemoneygo.jpg