Curvy Girls Rock! discussion

Hi everyone! I hope all is well and you are enjoying the weather finally starting to change. We might get rain here today and I'm smiling because it isn't snow! I was reading an email thread with the authors who are with my publishing house. I need some input. What type of things make you choose a book to download? I know we all love a hot cover and engaging blurb, but what about price? Does it matter if the book is self-published or with a traditional publisher? Does it bother you if the grammar of the book is poorly written? Are free reads the first books you look for when shopping? What price do you think is fair for a novella vs. a full length novel? These are the questions floating around in my head. I really appreciate your insight.

Obviously I love a freebie with a good blurb. Honestly, when I read about great books on Goodreads that are by authors who aren't on my auto-buy, I wishlist them and usually wait for a price break. ESPECIALLY if they are traditionally published because I just can't bring myself to pay 8.99 or more for an e-book.--A paperback, yes, ebook, nope. As far as novellas go, unless it's by an author I HAVE TO HAVE now, I won't pay more than 99 cents for it. Grammar isn't a HUGE issue for me, but if EVERY SINGLE REVIEW is complaining about it, I won't bother because obviously it's pretty bad. I also "Like" romance bloggers on facebook and see what they have to say about books. GR and facebook help me to put books on my TBR and wishlist. From there it's all about price watching. I'm a cheapskate, sorry.

Shannon, I agree with everything you said!

Shannon wrote: "Obviously I love a freebie with a good blurb. Honestly, when I read about great books on Goodreads that are by authors who aren't on my auto-buy, I wishlist them and usually wait for a price break..."

I don't think you're a cheapskate, Shannon. You're a smart shopper, as we all are in certain areas. Hey, look at the economy. No one would blame a soul for picking up freebies. I do, too.

That being said, as authors, it behooves us to make sure our product is a good one and worth the money our readers spend. If we need to edit and re-edit 50 times over to catch errors, we need to do it. We make sure the covers are attractive. We do our best to create intriguing blurbs. And we do our best to share deals with our fans.

I don't think any reader begrudges their favorite authors the money for the book, but we all get annoyed when the product doesn't deliver.

I also like a free read. I have to say though that I've been let down by some publishers because I later find out it's a self pub front and the editing just isn't there. It's very frustrating.

Pauline wrote: "I also like a free read. I have to say though that I've been let down by some publishers because I later find out it's a self pub front and the editing just isn't there. It's very frustrating."

It is, Pauline. I'd rather spend the money and get something I know will be good.

And what's with all the serialized stories lately?? Argh!!

This may be a little off-topic but I just read this on M. Pierce's Facebook page. Obviously he/she has been getting a lot of input from readers about the pricing on Last Light. It's all valid, but I just have a big issue with pricing e-books high. When I buy a paperback at the store I barely think about the $8.99 and up price tag. Because I have a physical, tangible product in my hand that I can let someone borrow if I love it and want to share the amazing-ness with--I can give to charity if it's not a winner for me, I can read without the aid of a fragile, expensive, dependent-on-electricity-and-wi-fi device. Spending a lot of money on e-books is scary because I'm almost afraid of them disappearing on me. My paperbacks I will have forever, I'm not so sure in a decade I will be able to pull up my copy of Last Light that I bought for 10 bucks.

Dear Readers,

I've been hearing a lot about the 9.99 price on Last Light. I'm working with my publishers to get this lowered to something reasonable. I genuinely believe this has been priced in error, though I'm not yet sure. It's quite typical for new traditionally published e-books to release at 7 or 8 dollars. Publishers believe books are worth this much. -I- believe books are worth this much.

At one time, I sold Night Owl for .99 cents. I did this because I had no name and no reputation, and people didn't know how well or poorly I could write. I wanted to get the book into as many hands as possible, even if it meant selling my work for less than it was worth. Now, because the books are being professionally edited and produced, my publishers reserve the right to price my books competitively within the e-book market.

And if 7 or 8 dollars seems high, check out Sweet Filthy Boy by the talented Christina Lauren, selling for $7.59, or Screwdrivered by the awesome Alice Clayton, $7.59 again, or Maybe Someday by the amazing Colleen Hoover -- all $7.59.

I expect Last Light to be priced in the same ballpark. Again, I believe books are worth this much. I've believed this since I was young and had to buy paperback books for upwards of 8 - 12 dollars each. I still believe this. And I'll always believe this. I know what goes into the writing of a book -- my whole heart, all my passion, months of my time. What's the price on that?

Much love, as always,
M. Pierce

I really dont want to pay more then $4.00 for a book.
I don't care if the book is self published or not. I don't care too much about spelling and grammatical error, but the flow and concept of the story must be good.

Annette, thank you so much for your insight. I think you're not alone in how you feel.

Pauline, I'm sorry to hear you don't like self-pub books. I know it's easy to find a lot of self-published books with errors, but honestly, I think there are just as many publishers out there who let books slide through with lots of mistakes.

As far as pricing goes, yes, I really don't believe any e-book should be priced above 5.00 and there are only a select few authors I'm willing to spend more on.

Oh Sienna...I do read self pub. I enjoy autobiographical books that are self pubbed. I agree some pubs do not have competent editors. :(

I love freebies so price can matter. I think what irritates me the most is when the cover is too descriptive. I really like covers that don't show too many details because I prefer to get an image of the characters myself as I'm reading. I don't like that particular process disturbed. Also, grammatical errors are SUPER annoying. I can typically read a book in a day. However, if I find myself correcting punctuation and grammar errors and in some cases even spelling errors it ruins my flow and I usually stop reading or slow down and then lose interest altogether. Such was my experience when initially reading 50 Shades of Grey. I actually received the first book of 50 Shades as a Christmas gift several years ago, but only read it within the last year and a half because every time I would start reading my process was stalled by the errors I kept finding. lol

Tyanne, I had people tell me 50 SOG was difficult to get through because of the errors. I like teasing covers also! :)