Richard Pierce

Richard Pierce – author, poet, painter

Writing

On ebook prices and quality

As I announced on BBC Radio on 29th January, I will be raising the prices for my ebooks from 1st February. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time.

Some months ago I read a very interesting article on how readers perceive the value and quality of the books they read. There is apparently an Atlantic divide, with US readers preceiving the price of a book to represent its quality while most UK readers think of price first and quality second (in other words they seem to want something for nothing). That’s puzzling in itself. I have come to the conclusion that if you pay peanuts you get monkeys, or, to put it more crassly but more appropriately, if you pay shit you get shit.

My train of thought has already been partically mapped out in my blog post of 5th December 2015, Decision, Decisions – Integrity, in which I explained why I wouldn’t be offering any of my books for free any more, why I wouldn’t make my paperbacks so cheap that I’d be making a loss on them, why I think it’s not right for writers to be expected not to make a living from their writing. This planned price increase for my ebooks is the maturing of that train of thought. If the big publishers, for all their economies of scale, can sell ebooks for more than £2.50, then why can’t hybrid writers do the same? Is there a significant difference in the quality of the writing? Well, if I have to be honest, there is. My writing is better than a lot of mainstream published writing. And if I have to be more honst, for which I think the time has come, many of the ebooks out there which are self-published and sold for something between nothing and 99 pence, are unfortunately not very good at all.

“The vanity of the man,” I can hear you say. Well, if not me, who else? I have realised, possibly 25 years too late, that I have to push myself, that I have to put myself forward, that no-one else will do this for me, and that I am actually a good writer. The publishing industry has changed beyond recognition in that time, and most of that change has happened in the last seven or so years. Writing is product, content PLUS packaging is king, even very successful writers have to do the bulk of their marketing themselves, publishers more than ever consolidate their offerings to maximise profit, literary agents more than ever consolidate their rosters to appeal to the publishers consolidating etc etc.

I am lucky, very lucky. I have had one novel traditionally published, a novel which received critical acclaim, was nominated for a literary award, and which has changed people’s lives, including mine. Yes, I would like to have another novel published in that way, but I am not prepared to go through the meatgrinder of sending off submission after submission to representatives of a homogenised market place. I’ll be me for a change, and be in control of myself rather than allowing others to control me.

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3 Comments

  1. Anonymous

    30th January 2016 at 16:12

    Good for you.
    But don't go too high or your friends won't be able to afford to support you!

  2. richard pierce

    30th January 2016 at 17:02

    My ebooks will always be less than £5. R

  3. Anonymous

    5th February 2016 at 10:58

    I've been thinking about this myself, Richard, for similar reasons – and I have also seen some comments from US members of several FB groups I belong to which support your statement that US readers seem to value more highly books that are set at a higher price. I'm about to experiment myself… Because, like you, I have had sufficient endorsement from within the industry and readers to know that I can write well.

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