Starbucks and Books

I've been writing this romantic serial novel called Just One Night (purchase links below if you're interested). I've gotten a ton of great feedback, and really the only negative feedback I've gotten has been about the potential future cost.

As serial novels become more popular, we'll see more and more of this conversation, I'm sure. I've touched on the pricing issue before in a long blog post HERE, but I thought this was worth a mention one more time, from a slightly different perspective.

I price my books according to page length, for the most part. I rarely offer promotions or sales on my books because they are so fairly priced as it is. With the romantic serial parts, so far they've been 99¢ because they're about 100 pages long. I've had some readers suggest that if I charge more than 99¢ they will not buy those parts. I've also had some readers say that if I have too many parts in the serial, they won't keep buying.

Here is my official response to those comments:

COMPARISONS

FANCY STARBUCKS COFFEE

ELLE CASEY ROMANTIC SERIAL

  How much does it cost?   $3.50-$5.00   99¢ – $2.99 depending on length
  How long can you enjoy it?   10 minutes unless you don't mind cold coffee   1-3 hours
  How many times can you enjoy it?   Once   As many times as you want
  Does it make you laugh?   Nope   Yes
  Does it make you cry?   Not unless it’s too hot   Maybe
  Does it make you get tingley?   Not unless someone roofied it   Definitely

I think you see where I'm going with this.

The point is, before you as a reader decide out of hand that you're not going to pay for something, think about what it is you're actually saying. If an author prices by the page count, you cannot get ripped off. You will pay for exactly what you get.

I realize some authors out there are charging $2.99 for a 75 page book. That's not something I'm doing, but is it wrong to do it? No, of course not. They've assigned that value to their work, and readers who agree with the value will pay it. And since these books are on the New York Times and Amazon bestseller lists, I have to believe there are a TON of readers out there who agree.

Who knows? Maybe someday I'll increase my prices. But for today, this is where I stand on the matter, and I hope the vast majority of the readers out there will agree that my work is worth at least a little bit more than a cup of coffee (even though I've priced it significantly less than one.)

PURCHASE LINKS

PART ONE

US: http://amzn.to/1fOqwF8
UK: http://amzn.to/1crXxT8
Canada: http://amzn.to/1fOra5A
Germany: http://amzn.to/OJXFIo
France: http://amzn.to/1lpikyR
Italy: http://amzn.to/1cfC7xU
Spain: http://amzn.to/1fw8Lpt

KOBO: http://bit.ly/1kSst76

BARNES AND NOBLE: http://bit.ly/1g0aO6d

10 comments on “Starbucks and Books

  1. I love Just One Night. My only issue is that I want it all now. But I’m impatient like that. Your price is perfect, your writing is perfect and your “roofie” comment…PERFECT!

  2. I love the series so far! My only issue is I want it all now! Lol! I have a friend that is British and I am bouncing words off him and he’s just laughing! Its been so fun to read so far! The connection is steamy!

  3. Wow! This is the exact (winning) argument I had with my husband about buying books via amazon.
    husband: you spent $12 in one week on 4 books!?
    Me:”umm….you just spent $16 on a 4 pack of craft beer”.
    I win.

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