It appears publishers are still struggling to understand the importance of pricing. Where people may be willing to shell out $20, $25, or even $30 or more for a hardcover novel, the price is stuck at $9.99 for a digital book. And in this electronic age — instant gratification (or dissatisfaction) is coupled with instant reviews.
I do not even consider a book over the price of $9.99. Not that I am stubborn, but the book is electronic, for sunshine and cookies sake! I mean, no paper, no ink, no long delays in delivery dates – the entire process is almost entirely pure profit!
So why do authors and publishers push the envelope, setting a price above the amount Amazon has proven to be nearly fatal? Every day, publishers and authors continue to shoot themselves in the proverbial foot with the consequences clearly apparent by customer ratings and reviews.
Why? Pure and Simple – Ignorance.
Case in Point: Don’t Blink, by James Patterson and Howard Roughan
Mistake #1
While not his best novel by far, in my opinion the book rates much higher than the “2 start rating” it is receiving. Granted there was a slight misunderstanding during the pre-launch. When ordering the Kindle version for $0.00, the title was misleading, while the “graphic cover” was not. Nearly all “1 star ratings” are based on the misrepresentation of the pre-order at the zero price and only receiving a few chapters instead of the expected entire novel.
Mistake #2
Unfortunately, when the book did launch, the price for the electronic version was higher than the hard cover price ($14.99 versus $14.00). That threw people into another rage and the result was another onslaught of “1 star reviews”. I believe many would have offered “zero stars” if that were possible.
The Fallout
From the very start, the publisher didn’t do James Patterson and Howard Roughan any favors. And their refusal to reduce the price to a reasonable $9.99 price is suicide. I simply cannot understand the reasoning for the higher price, especially since the royalties paid for any book over $9.99 is only 35%; while books $2.99 to $9.99 pay 70% royalties.
Take a look at the Amazon product tags used to describe this book: “expensive”, “999 boycott”, “ripoff”, “overpriced-kindle-version”. While I may agree with that the pricing for the book is too high, reviews and tags are to describe the quality of the book. These tags are also used in the Amazon search. Who’s going to purposely search for a book that is too expensive?
The ultimate result is a book rating based mainly on misrepresentation of delivery and too high of price. A sad result considering the book isn’t bad.
Conclusion
The harsh reality is you are no longer critiqued solely on the quality of your work, but on the accuracy of your offer as well as the price. Make sure you understand how to correctly offer Sample Chapters and set a reasonable price for your book BEFORE you make a costly and deadly mistake.
In the matter of “Don’t Blink”, the publisher should take note of poor ratings, and the higher royalty payments and do the authors a favor — lower the price.
