I've been noticing that a lot of authors that I like publishing Novella's. It's harder for me to get into these works because of the cost. If they were priced right, I would probably purchase them.
Case in point, Neferet's Curse: A House of Night Novella by P.C. Cast. P.C. Cast is well known author and published a slew of books.
This Novella is 160 pages and Amazon has it "on sale" for $10.39 as of today. The retail pricing is $12.99
See, if a normal paperback book is $7.99 and is on average 350 pages, that's $.0228 per page. So, a Novella would be $ 3.65 for the 160 pages like the one from P.C. Cast. Of course, I have no idea how they calculate the price, but coming from a logical/data stand point, it seems a little more fair. A great example is Feral Magic by Robin D. Owens (one of my favorite authors) who has also writtens tons of books. Her Novella is 96 pages and is only $2.99 for the Kindle version. That's $.0311 per page. This one I will probably end of getting once I have some of my other books read.
What I'm say is that if authors want more readers, more sales, then their publishers need to be a bit more realistic. The pricing structure needs to be amended to something us readers can afford to pay for these smaller installments that we would like to read. And yes, of course that means that the authors would get less per sale - but maybe it would even out in the end??
Now I'm not saying that authors don't have a lot of stress, it's not easy to be creative and write well. I know that they have dead lines and normal every day life as well. And I would totally love to read many of the novella's that I am seeing published lately.
To me, especially with how fucked up the economy has been for the last several years, I have been very careful (aka frugal) in my book purchases. I use my local (and state wide) library system for most of my reading needs. When I do purchase books, I try to get the most bang for my buck. I will buy used books through Amazon (those priced less than $1.00 and have $3.99 shipping or free shipping) or locally at Wonder Books. For instance, I just book 7 books for $28.86 which is an average of $4.12 per book and that was because there was some tax added in. My other criteria are: Most amount of pages, most recently related books read, favorite authors, something I've been waiting & wanting to read.
Also, it's not very often I buy hard backs anymore, unless I can get them on sale or 2nd hand and a whole lot less in price. Unless it's a book that has a ton of pages and is one of my favorite authors and I've been dying to read it. Though, now that I have a Kindle Fire, I will look at the Kindle price and might get it that way. Or I will wait.
I honestly doubt it's the writer/author that's putting the price on these things. It's the publisher and merchant. They need to be shaken so that their sense or reality can be resettled into their brains. That way we can all win. Less price = more sales = happy readers = more sales = more $$ for author/publisher/merchant. At least, that's my theory and opinion. I could be wrong...
Books that I ordered through Amazon: All purchased based on the Best Price and Free Shipping from Amazon.
I agree entirely. Of course, the publishing industry is taking a pretty big hit with the advent of the e-book. Barnes and Noble is looking to close down at least 1/3 of their stores over the next ten years...and that's after adding in all of the other merchandise to help compensate for sales (board games, office supplies, gadgety things, etc). They're upping the prices to stay open and alive. I think it's pretty unfortunate they aren't aiming to change with the tides, but there it is.
ReplyDeleteI whole-heartedly agree that paying as much or more for a novella as I do for (what I would consider) a full-sized book is just off the wall batty. Or at least paying more than I would for a full-sized book in paperback. I don't know. I'm sure there's more to the thing than I'm realizing. But, still. Also, with a lot of people going to smaller/less well known publishers or even self-publishing? *Shrug* (Granted, I don't think all the people out there who are self-publishing SHOULD be self-publishing *coughNeedsEditingcough*, but there it is.)
Yes, this is true, the e-book is saving trees but killing stores. Which suckles. I REALLY miss Borders. We totally bought a gazillion books while they were going out of business :( I am happy I got books but I seriously miss our weekly trip to them. I like reading paperback/hardback more so than my kindle. My regular books don't run out of battery life. Especially at the best damn parts.
DeleteI am sad to hear about B&N, not shocked, just saddened.
It is wall batty, and that's my issues. Obviously not all of them do it, so why are certain ones so special?? And you're probably right too, because I know I don't know everything there is about the whole freaking process. I just know that when I look at 160 pages and 350 pages, I know which one I would choose.
I also agree with that, about the editing, I have read a few now that I want to, ahem, smash their faces in, when reading something and it's just painful - so painful I want to smash my poor kindle (it's not the kindle's fault - wait, it might be...) that I am **almost** willing to offer my services. Just as another pair of eyes and to point out/correct the most blantant of offenses. Because, damn. Yes yes lots of smashing I know...violent tendencies and all that.
But some self published authors have done an amazing job. Terry Goodkind's most recent novel was self published (And I LOVED IT, it was really fucking good). And just read The Never King by George Tyson that was also pretty damn good - smaller/less known publisher.
It's hard, sometimes I got crap from normal publishers and found gems on Amazon's free ebooks that were self published. But sometimes it's just hard to find a good author too.
Sighs - the times they are a changin'
I totally agree that some self-published stuff is quite awesome. I can see Terry Goodkind doing a good job of that... I can see many seasoned authors doing just fine, really. There are a few others that I'm intrigued with. I'm looking forward to seeing how Carrie Clevenger's style develops and grows. I'd like to read some more of Nerine Dorman's stuff (as I've only read little bits and pieces). There are definitely people who aim to do it right. The ones that are out there just to make a quick buck with little to no consideration for the art? I find it troubling. But then, I don't know. It's not as though it's a process I've ever been through. It could be complicated enough to warrant a learning curve...
ReplyDeleteAs for paperbacks and hardcovers versus e-books? I'm one of the ones that picked up an e-reader and didn't look back. >.< I'm working on collecting all of my favorites in e-book format. It's not that I'm planning on getting rid of my favorite physical books, but I sincerely doubt I'll ever be one of those people with masses of bookshelves ever again. With, of course, the exception of my non-fiction novels. I don't really like sidelining myself to highlight things and type notes, so when it comes to my social science books I want the physical book with a pen in my hand. Ha!
And times are definitely changing. For good or ill? I can't quite make up my mind just yet.