Great article today in the WSJ (here) about digital publishing. In the article, Cheapest E-Books Upend the Charts, Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg describes a thriller writer who prices his novels at 99 cents and is doing quite well. Not surprising. For years I've read about writers who are doing well peddling via e-retailers. If I had a greater library of finished novels I'd try it myself. There's a market there. Mr. Trachtenberg writes:
"Amazon.com Inc.'s top 50 digital best-seller list featured 15 books priced at $5 or less on Wednesday afternoon. Louisville businessman John Locke, for example, a part-time thriller writer whose signature series features a former CIA assassin, claimed seven of those titles, all priced at 99 cents."
What is revealing is that the article goes on to describe how this is threatening the conventional publishers as it is changing the reading habits of the buyers. Now, instead of being forced certain "name brand" authors works, there is a greater variety of authors and books out there, all who can set their own prices. I wrote earlier (here) that I feel a 99 cent price is too low, and the reasons for that. Still it's causing problems.
"As digital sales surge, publishers are casting a worried eye towards the previously scorned self-published market. Unlike five years ago, when self-published writers rarely saw their works on the same shelf as the industry's biggest names, the low cost of digital publishing, coupled with Twitter and other social-networking tools, has enabled previously unknown writers to make a splash."
Having just gotten a lead from an agent, I'm not sure if it's a good or bad thing for me.
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