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Author Will Carver — who is my friend and podcast co-host — also writes his own Substack ‘Nothing Important Happened Today’. He recently posted this about the 99p book.
It’s a great read, and I thought I’d share it and also open out the discussion. What do you think when you see a book on sale for 99p? Do you automatically think it’s inferior, or hasn't done that well so the publisher is trying to claw back their investment? Or do you just see a bargain? Do you think it devalues books, when put next to a £5 cup of coffee?
I'm aware that I'm coming to this from the perspective of someone who writes, as well as reads, books, so my take will necessarily be skewed by that. When I see a book for 99p, I don't feel it's inferior, because I am fortunate enough to know about the industry and how that side of it works (in much the same way that I don't feel very much at all when I see which books are in, say, the WHSmith chart - don't even get me started on that!
But with my reader's head on, I do feel that pricing the books at this level devalues them. As Will says in his piece, if you're willing to spend £5 on a coffee, but buy one for 99p, you're probably going to expect it to taste rubbish. I also worry about where it ends. Will someone start offering books for 79p, to undercut the 99p? And then 59p? Where does it end?
There's still a lot of money in publishing. But less and less of it is flowing down to the people who write the books. It's about time we started remembering that the paperback in the reader's hand represents months of work, and can give hours of enjoyment. Maybe we should value it as such.
I agree that it devalues books over time. I read something recently saying that the average price of ebooks sold is around $2.99. I'm not sure how reliable this number is, but it's obvious that people do pay attention to price. Even though I don't buy a lot of £10 or over ebooks, I have no problem paying £12.99 for the latest Robert Galbraith novel, knowing that it will be good, and that it's nearly 1,000 pages, so in pounds per hour, it'll be cheap.
It's an odd one this. My first thought when I see a book is 99p is who is actually losing out on this - and I guess from what you've said, it's normally the author, which is bad. And for this reason, I tend not to buy books that are discounted to this degree (and often I've read already anyway)
But for some people, they might not be able to afford the normal price of a book (or the £5 latte that has been mentioned), so why shouldn't a book be available only for those who are privileged enough to afford it?
It's not the author to the extent you might think, other than a general devaluing of the work.
Another thing to consider of course, is that if someone buys an author's book at 99p, and loves it, then they might sell the next one to them at full price. Lots to consider!
I know that they're loss leaders, not just bad books. I buy an inordinate number of 99p Kindle books. I use that low price to but books by authors I know, but I haven't gotten around to reading, to try out authors I'm not familiar with, even genres I don't read a lot in. (I bought a Danielle Steel book recently, out of curiosity, and, let's just say that I was not overwhelmed by it.) I have several hundred unread books in my Kindle library, and every now and then I start reading one of those "cheap" books and am often very happy.
Because one pound is nothing. Don't forget, you can always return Kindle books if you haven't read much and don't like them, but I tend to not read these cheap books quickly, and I don't think the return window is very long.
But it depends on how many books you read. I've been keeping a list of the books I read for the past few years, started in 2021 during covid, and I read about 130-140 books a year. So paying £8 for each one would be really expensive.
I recently took advantage of a 99p promotion by a well-known author. I won't mention who.
I immediately thought that I was benefitting from a 'flash sale'. I'd already thought to myself at release day "I want to read that", but probably hesitated because I'm a bit trigger happy with my downloads to the Kindle. There's a lot stacking up there!
I didn't think the offer cheapened the book, rather I felt like I was taking advantage of an opportunity. Interestingly, I now wish I'd spent a little more than I did. The book deserves the full price. I find myself assuaging the guilt by reminding myself that whether I paid full or reduced price, the author probably got the same fee in the first place.*
* I've no idea whether this is the case. Please advise.
It's a murky area and things change all the time, but my understanding is still that if you buy a heavily discounted ebook at 99p, for example, the author doesn't take the hit (or not all of the hit). So as a reader I wouldn't feel guilty on that score.
No, it's a true loss leader. I think for some famous authors, Amazon or other companies may make a deal, and, check your contracts, it may include a reduced royalty for special sales, which are generally bulk sales and similar promotions. But I don't think authors don't benefit. Because after the sale is over, your book is more likely to be higher up on the best seller list on the site, and more people are likely to buy at it its normal price. Look at Amazon daily deals for a week, and, each day, look at the best seller lists for the following days. In fact, that might be an article I can write for the blog where I write about books and stuff. Look at Amazon sales ranks of discounted books for, say, a week after the discount and see how well some of them stay up high on the list...
I'm aware that I'm coming to this from the perspective of someone who writes, as well as reads, books, so my take will necessarily be skewed by that. When I see a book for 99p, I don't feel it's inferior, because I am fortunate enough to know about the industry and how that side of it works (in much the same way that I don't feel very much at all when I see which books are in, say, the WHSmith chart - don't even get me started on that!
But with my reader's head on, I do feel that pricing the books at this level devalues them. As Will says in his piece, if you're willing to spend £5 on a coffee, but buy one for 99p, you're probably going to expect it to taste rubbish. I also worry about where it ends. Will someone start offering books for 79p, to undercut the 99p? And then 59p? Where does it end?
There's still a lot of money in publishing. But less and less of it is flowing down to the people who write the books. It's about time we started remembering that the paperback in the reader's hand represents months of work, and can give hours of enjoyment. Maybe we should value it as such.
I agree that it devalues books over time. I read something recently saying that the average price of ebooks sold is around $2.99. I'm not sure how reliable this number is, but it's obvious that people do pay attention to price. Even though I don't buy a lot of £10 or over ebooks, I have no problem paying £12.99 for the latest Robert Galbraith novel, knowing that it will be good, and that it's nearly 1,000 pages, so in pounds per hour, it'll be cheap.
It's an odd one this. My first thought when I see a book is 99p is who is actually losing out on this - and I guess from what you've said, it's normally the author, which is bad. And for this reason, I tend not to buy books that are discounted to this degree (and often I've read already anyway)
But for some people, they might not be able to afford the normal price of a book (or the £5 latte that has been mentioned), so why shouldn't a book be available only for those who are privileged enough to afford it?
It's not the author to the extent you might think, other than a general devaluing of the work.
Another thing to consider of course, is that if someone buys an author's book at 99p, and loves it, then they might sell the next one to them at full price. Lots to consider!
I know that they're loss leaders, not just bad books. I buy an inordinate number of 99p Kindle books. I use that low price to but books by authors I know, but I haven't gotten around to reading, to try out authors I'm not familiar with, even genres I don't read a lot in. (I bought a Danielle Steel book recently, out of curiosity, and, let's just say that I was not overwhelmed by it.) I have several hundred unread books in my Kindle library, and every now and then I start reading one of those "cheap" books and am often very happy.
An interesting point! A reader is more likely to take a punt on a 99p book by an unknown author than spend £7.99 and risk disappointment.
Because one pound is nothing. Don't forget, you can always return Kindle books if you haven't read much and don't like them, but I tend to not read these cheap books quickly, and I don't think the return window is very long.
But it depends on how many books you read. I've been keeping a list of the books I read for the past few years, started in 2021 during covid, and I read about 130-140 books a year. So paying £8 for each one would be really expensive.
I've now read your comment SJ. Inevitably, I now feel like one of 'those' readers. Gah. :@)
I recently took advantage of a 99p promotion by a well-known author. I won't mention who.
I immediately thought that I was benefitting from a 'flash sale'. I'd already thought to myself at release day "I want to read that", but probably hesitated because I'm a bit trigger happy with my downloads to the Kindle. There's a lot stacking up there!
I didn't think the offer cheapened the book, rather I felt like I was taking advantage of an opportunity. Interestingly, I now wish I'd spent a little more than I did. The book deserves the full price. I find myself assuaging the guilt by reminding myself that whether I paid full or reduced price, the author probably got the same fee in the first place.*
* I've no idea whether this is the case. Please advise.
It's a murky area and things change all the time, but my understanding is still that if you buy a heavily discounted ebook at 99p, for example, the author doesn't take the hit (or not all of the hit). So as a reader I wouldn't feel guilty on that score.
No, it's a true loss leader. I think for some famous authors, Amazon or other companies may make a deal, and, check your contracts, it may include a reduced royalty for special sales, which are generally bulk sales and similar promotions. But I don't think authors don't benefit. Because after the sale is over, your book is more likely to be higher up on the best seller list on the site, and more people are likely to buy at it its normal price. Look at Amazon daily deals for a week, and, each day, look at the best seller lists for the following days. In fact, that might be an article I can write for the blog where I write about books and stuff. Look at Amazon sales ranks of discounted books for, say, a week after the discount and see how well some of them stay up high on the list...
Well. PHEW.
😂