# The Pressure of the 99-cent Novel



## Edward G (Apr 2, 2011)

Has anyone thought about the fact that once a novel becomes famous at $.99, the price point has been set forever at that price?

All novels are going to that price, eventually. And self-publishing is the only way to acheive that price profitably. Do you know what that means for the publishing industry?


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## NicholasJAmbrose (Apr 5, 2011)

.


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## Ilasir Maroa (Apr 7, 2011)

You're making quite a big claim here.  Even veteran authors who have switched completely to selling e-books don't price their work that low.  It's certainly possible for e-books to bring in a profit at significantly lower prices when an author self-publishes, but the really good self-published e-books still go through a process similar to that of a publisher, and it's tough to support that at $0.99.  Even if an author writes three books a year and sells 20,000 copies of each, which is enormous for a self-published author, they still aren't making enough to live comfortably on.


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## C.M. Aaron (Apr 21, 2011)

I have to agree with Ilasir.  The only e-books I have seen for .99 are in the public domain.  I recently bought a Kindle and was disappointed at how much the books were going for.  I thought the whole point to e-books was the lower cost, but apparently not.  I agree e-books will eventually destroy the publishing industry.  E-publishing will flood the marketplace with a lot of low-quality trash, making it more difficult for readers and writers of quality material to find each other.  One good thing about the publishing industry is that it filtered out the garbage and kept it from the market place, which is not to say that anyone who can't get published must be writing garbage.  The publishing  bureaucracy also fails to recognize some good material, too.  But change is inevitable and the publishing industry will soon go through what Hollywood and the music industry did a few years ago.   C.M.


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## obi_have (Apr 22, 2011)

C.M. Aaron said:


> One good thing about the publishing industry is that it filtered out the garbage and kept it from the market place, which is not to say that anyone who can't get published must be writing garbage.


 
So you're telling me... now I have a chance! *YEAH!* I read you.


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## Foxee (Apr 22, 2011)

Edward G said:


> Has anyone thought about the fact that once a novel becomes famous at $.99, the price point has been set forever at that price?
> 
> All novels are going to that price, eventually. And self-publishing is the only way to acheive that price profitably. Do you know what that means for the publishing industry?


 Ah...no. This claim tosses out a heck of a lot of market forces at one go.


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## BoredMormon (Apr 23, 2011)

Of course the publishing industry will collapse. Just like live radio caused the collapse of newspapers, TV ended radio, and internet has killed TV.


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## Foxee (Apr 23, 2011)

BoredMormon said:


> Of course the publishing industry will collapse. Just like live radio caused the collapse of newspapers, TV ended radio, and internet has killed TV.


 And yet there are still successful radio, newspaper, and TV entities so...not so much.


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