I was reading an article tonight about the Department of Justice targeting Apple and book publishers for price fixing. It reminded me of the “good old days” (in reality only a couple of years ago) when almost all new release books were $9.99. Now we have to pay several dollars more than that to get a book that we cannot pass on to friends and family members, but can read at midnight the night it is released.
It frustrates me that many of the books that I now have to pay extra $$$ for are also not able to be lent to other e-reader device owners. I think it would be less painful to pay the extra price if I could share the book even once with someone. Or pass it on permanently to one other user when I was done reading it.
While it is great to see lists of free or inexpensive books in the Amazon store (I hungrily search the lists as irreaderreview.com posts them each day to see what gems I can buy and never read), it is still books by my favorite authors that I really want to hold in my grubby hands on the day they are released.
It would be interesting to see how many people actually buy less new release books on their Kindles than they would if the top price for a new release went back to $9.99 and if the publishers would make more money that way. I admit that with the exception of one or two book series, I have my name on several lists at the local library to get a physical copy of a new release book. $3 to $5 more for a new book just pushed me past the point that I want to pay to read a book once or twice.
I’d be interested to hear what other readers feel about the price changes over the years and if you find that you buy fewer new release “big name” books and look more for bargains than you would if the release price was below that $10 mark.
Happy reading!
Filed under: Amazon Store
Hi. While I did not have a Kindle until a few monthes ago, I feel that $9.99 should be the max price for new releases by popular authors whose novels are similar in length to Tom Clancy’s (very long). Average length new releases by popular authors should be $6.99 max. Anything over 1 year old or shorter than a full novel, $4.99 or less.
I would buy more ebooks by big name authors if prices were more reasonable. I buy very few ebooks now, usually priced at $3.99 or less. I do read quite a few free and .99 books by indie authors.
They’ve lost me permanently, it doesn’t matter to me if their books are $9.99, $12.99, or $17.99. Once the agency model went into effect, I discovered indies and authors that self-publish their backlists. Add in the free and sale books and I now have so many great books to read, I don’t have to buy another one as long as I live. I also have an ereaderiq.com price drop list 800+ books long.
I’ve come to realize that most of the bestsellers are pretty cookiecutter, I can almost always find the same kind of book for $2.99 by another author. Big spending for me these days is a book that’s $3.99 or $4.99.
I have one favorite author that I would like to keep reading. I checked out the Kindle version of his book at the library. If publishers continue to keep ebooks out of libraries, then I’ll just wait and get a copy used, even though I rarely pick up a physical book anymore. For that author, I may make an exception.
What’s really great about all this is that I discovered so many new authors I had never heard about before. Some are indies but some are established authors that I didn’t find until I was looking for affordable books. I thank them greatly for having the confidence to regain their rights and self-publish their backlists.