Monday, August 1, 2011

Price Reduction

The July Sale at Smashwords has ended.  The results were amazing. 

Smashwords sends me an email whenever a book is sold.  I'm used to receiving one or two a day.  For the two weeks of the sale, though, I was receiving 20 or 30 emails a day.

I get a little thrill every time one of those emails appears.  A new reader!

Thank you to all those new readers.  I feel the appreciation.  I love it.

From the response to the sale, I get the message: people want to read my books, but in these tough times $4.99 is a bit too much.

My blogs are free and carry no advertising.  Maybe I should permanently give my ebooks away for free, also.  But I'm not ready for that.  There's something wrong with a culture that will pay $2.00 to the mighty Starbucks MegaCorporation for a cup of coffee but won't pay $1.99 to the lowly Joe Cottonwood Unincorporated for several hours of reading pleasure.

As a compromise, I've reduced the prices of my ebooks.  The two "adult" books, Clear Heart and Famous Potatoes are now $1.99.  All the books involving children (though frequently enjoyed by adults) remain at $0.99.

I love spreading my books around.  I love getting new readers.  But other than the occasional special offer, I believe people should pay at least a tiny sum.  Writers deserve that small amount of respect.

We'll see what happens. 

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