The Woods Report #5

[sleigh]

Today's news: Apple has accepted my application and I'll be setting up an iBooks account. There are a few legal hoops to jump through, and I'm not certain how long it'll take Apple to put THE WOODS online once I've uploaded it -- but I'll let all you eager iPad and iPhone users know when it's there!

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-- learn more about THE WOODS here.
--Buy THE WOODS in Kindle format here from Amazon
--Buy THE WOODS in Nook format here from B&N

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Yay!

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Another interesting post (http://write2publish.blogspot.com/2011/04/midlist-authors-traditional-or-self.html) on traditional- vs self-publishing.

B

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

And this (http://bardsandsages.com/blog/2011/01/28/wall-streets-worries-about-amazon-could-mean-changes-for-ebooks/), on what happens when $0.99 becomes the normal price for an ebook.

B

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

It was rather obvious to me that Amazon was actively discouraging writers from pricing their books low, as the 70% royalty rate dropped to 35% for anything $1.99 or below. That (obviously) means that a book priced at 99 cents (for a 35 cent royalty) has to sell 8 to 1 over a book priced at $3.99 (with a $2.79 royalty).

On top of that, Amazon charges the author a download fee on every sale to cover WHispernet. That means that against net profit, the .99 book probably has to sell 9 or 10 to one. I don't think that too likely.

The whispernet fee being covered by the author is one thing the author you cited missed in his analysis of Amazon's profits, which frankly makes me suspicious of his entire analysis. I wonder what else he missed... However, his bottom line is correct, I think: Amazon really doesn't want to sell .99 e-books.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

That was an old analysis, perhaps before Amazon instituted that fee.

B