I’ll be the first to admit that I know little about publishing, building a readership, promotion and marketing. I’m like any other new author/self-publisher: stumbling along, trying to figure things out as I go.

But I have learned some things with that stumbling along in the past two years and when I see certain opinions or advice, I’m irked by how simplistic or off base it is.

Case in point: I’ve been participating in a discussion here.

One commentor said pirating isn’t stealing, it’s copying.

My reply:

Actually, it’s illegal distribution and copyright infringement, if my understanding is correct.

Whether it’s actual ’stealing’ or not, it’s considered by law to be illegal.

Loaning a physical book to a friend isn’t stealing – because of the First Sale doctrine on physical objects, once you purchase a print book, it’s yours to do whatever you want with.

But ebooks aren’t physical books, they’re digital files. You can’t ‘loan’ a digital file, you have to copy it to make it available to that friend.

A physical book is gone from your possession until your friend returns it. An ebook file is still in your possession and your friend has a full copy as well – which is distribution without permission of the copyright holder, thus illegal by law.

Authors/publishers have long accepted that a print book is out of their control once that first sale is made.

But ebooks are the proverbial horse of a different color. Both readers and many authors/publishers want to pretend they aren’t. That they’re just a more convenient form of books.

Which they are; but with that convenience of less cost to produce, collect and store also comes the convenience for those who decide to illegally distribute them for whatever reason they have.

It’s not surprising authors and publishers get so angry when they learn their books are being downloaded for free, and see each download as a financial loss.

DRM isn’t the solution. Consumers complain it implies they’re all criminals, and writers that do use it are trying to protect their work and ability to earn an income.

Scanning books or putting them on file sharing downloads also isn’t the solution.

Both are just causing a widening division between authors and readers.

I wish there was an easy solution, but there’s just not at this time.

Another said he’d stop downloading books when publishers stop shafting authors.

This was my reply to that:

As an independent author/publisher, I’ve been following the whole Ebook piracy saga with much interest.

I don’t considered a pirated copy to be a lost sale, because as was mentioned above, a lot of people who download books have no intention of paying for something they know where to get for free.

However, I also agree that the cover prices of books have been steadily increasing over the last couple of decades, and that has had a major effect on my ability to purchase books as a reader.

They’re just too damn expensive to buy many of in any given year any longer.

Even so, the remark made above in the comments about “I’ll stop downloading books when publishers stop shafting authors”?

Allow me to play Devil’s Advocate:

You’re contributing to the shafting of authors, because traditional publishers likely view pirated copies as a loss to their bottom line, and want to make that money up somewhere.

You’re contributing to higher prices, because again, they want to make that loss up somewhere.

The lack of availability in digital format mentioned as one reason people download books is a good point.

However, because book piracy IS growing and IS a hot topic, publishers AND authors are reluctant to put titles out in a format that makes it even easier for those books to be pirated.

So piracy basically contributes to lack of digital availability, higher Ebook cover prices and authors getting shafted over their share of Ebook profits.

/end Devil’s Advocate

I’m not too worried about Ebook piracy. I’m not a well-known author, I don’t depend solely on my writing to put food on the table, clothe my kids, pay my bills, etc.

I used to worry about it, because everyone was freaking out about it, but after some thought, I decided the worry was just getting in the way of writing, and if I kept worrying, I might end up quitting.

So I don’t worry about it. =)

A couple of other commentors seemed to feel I was complaining about sales and profit based on my input.

I am a bit: I think most distribution channels take too much of a cut for mostly automated listing of submissions. There are exceptions, and changes on the horizon, but really…demanding 50% or more of the cover price from people who are providing you content for your customers? Whose content you use as an advertising draw to sell highly priced ereaders to your customers?

Come on!

And it was suggested that ‘paying Amazon’ was a choice made for wider distribution. Well, duh…but not just that. The same commentor said to take out a loan to pay for editing/proofing/etc. and to stick a PayPal button on your own site, sell through it.

I’d hazard the guess that the influx of new authors are mostly people hoping to supplement their existing income a little with book sales. Going into debt doesn’t help that, now does it?

And your average reader isn’t going to spend hours hopping from author’s site to author’s site searching for something to read. They’re going to go where it’s convenient and easy to find/browse books: Amazon, B&N and such sites.

Not putting your books on those distribution channels is pretty much cutting off your nose to spite your face. Your website is highly unlikely to ever draw the traffic and potential buyers in a month that Amazon or the others do in a day.

I’m curious about pricing. Readers have been pretty vocal that $10 is as much as they’re willing to pay for an ebook. That’s the demand, and there’s literally thousands of authors willing to supply it.

But the growing division between readers and writers worries me. I think about the future possibilities.

Readers demanded $9.99 titles as advertised from Amazon. Now Amazon reportedly takes losses on sales from traditionally published ebooks to supply that demand, because traditional publishers sure as hell didn’t cave on their pricing.

What if ebook piracy continues to grow to the point that the majority of authors raise their ebook prices in order to make up those ‘lost sales’?

Will we see a battle of wills break out? Authors mimicking those Amazon protestors by setting higher prices, readers boycotting those authors, and piracy increasing even more? To the point that some authors just give up and quit? Find something to do that isn’t so damn stressful?

I don’t know. It’s going to be interesting.

What do you think?

My little rant here is in response to a lot of comments I’ve seen while cruising around the web and one in particular I read today.

Paraphrased quote: “Digital products should be 1/10 to 1/20 the price of the physical version.”

Really? Are you serious, dude? That’s your idea of fair pricing?

Let me see: the last paperback book I bought at the grocery store checkout was LKH’s The Harlequin. The U.S. price is $7.99. I don’t remember what I actually paid for it, but am pretty sure there was a slight discount. I’ll go with that $7.99 cover price for my figuring.

This book has 443 pages total, although only 406 are the actual title story. The rest are cover, copyright, etc. information and an excerpt from Blood Noir. I’m going with the full page count, since it did cost to print them.

$7.99 divided by 443 is .018 cents per page.

1/10 of that is .0018 cents per page.

1/20 of that is .0036 cents per page.

The book’s size is roughly 4.25 x 6.75 inches. Converting one of my longer titles to that size and a similar font point, I end up with a 302 page book.

This particular title is one I have priced at $5.25, and let me note here that it does sell at that price. (Actually better than it did when Amazon had it on for 20% off on a regular basis when I initially released it there.)

Based on the above mentioned dude’s idea of fair pricing for digital works, this is what its price would be:

At 1/10: 54 cents.

At 1/20: $1.09.

Wow! You seriously think I should be pricing my ebooks like that? At the first, I can’t even distribute it anywhere but my own site. Most other distribution sites, like Amazon, have a 99 cent lowest allowed price.

The second would allow me to enjoy the wide distribution zone I currently do.

Selling it for $1.09 directly through Amazon (where the majority of my sales come from) would mean I’d receive 42 cents per sale. Take out my editor’s and the government’s shares and I’d pocket a whopping 18 cents per sale, compared to the $1.11 I do now.

Same title, same price through my own site here: 44 cents in my pocket after fees, editor and taxes.

While I don’t price based on the time spent writing, formatting, creating a cover and so on, I do keep sort of vague track of that time.

Let’s say I put about 6o hours total into that particular title (though it was probably more like 100).

Minimum wage here in Texas is currently $7.25. Sixty times that would be $435. Minus taxes, I’d be looking at about $304.50 (I’m self-employed, people, so I have to pay more taxes.).

To earn that $304.50 and sort of ‘break even’ for my effort in producing that title, it would have to sell:

692 copies here from my own site, or…
1, 692 copies on Amazon

My best month of sales on Amazon to this date was 30 copies, and that was spread out over ten different titles.

I’d be looking at YEARS to hit that ‘break even’ point of earning minimum wage for the hours I put into that particular ebook. But I’ll never really break even, because I’ll be tacking on hours promoting it in the meantime.

That $5.25 price is cheaper than a comparable paperback.

Sure, I could lower the price and hope that the sales increased exponentially in response – but what about those readers who bought it prior to that?

We expect the occasional sale/coupon for a percentage off. We look for that, don’t we?

But a permanent $4.16 cent price drop?

In my personal opinion, that’s kind of like peeing on those prior purchasers. If they noticed it, I’d bet none of them would ever buy one of my ebooks again, feeling like they’d gotten shafted. I wouldn’t blame them either.

In my opinion, pricing should show that the producer of whatever the product is believes it has value.

I know my time, just like yours, is valuable. After all we only get so long on this planet, right?

I think independents who consistently under price their works, as well as traditional publishers and independents whom consistently overprice their titles, are all hurting the ebook market.

One is telling readers that our time and effort isn’t worth jack.

The other is telling those readers that their opinions about pricing don’t matter, despite the fact those readers have spent $300 – $400 on a special device to read ebooks and are willing to buy them to fill their chosen device with – at reasonable prices.

I wouldn’t pay $30 for a hard back fiction book, no matter how new of a release it was; I’m certainly not going to pay that for the ebook version.

I’ll wait, check it out from the library (pay nothing!) or catch it from a used bookstore or the bargain bin at B&N for $5-10, thank you.

Other readers will do the same, though there will be those who choose the way of piracy.

I fully agree that ebooks should be cheaper than ‘dead tree editions’ because there aren’t any printing expenses associated with them.

However, there are some expenses in producing ebooks, aside from time and effort.

There’s the software to write/format them with, to create their cover design & editing expense (if you’re not getting it edited by a pro…well, you should be). You have to have a computer, an internet connection and electricity.

All of that costs money, not just time and personal effort, and yet you cannot take any of it into account when pricing your ebooks or you’ll massively overprice them.

I think I chose sensible pricing for mine, and I’ll stick with it, sir.

Your idea of ‘fair pricing’ is ridiculous.

There are a lot of articles floating about concerning piracy of ebooks in regards to the effect on print sales, such as this one that Dhympna sent me today.

Let me attempt to distill the ebook piracy issue.

Why do people pirate or download pirated versions of stuff?

• 1. It’s not available in digital format.
• 2. The price is too high for your average Joe to afford.
• 3. They have no intention of paying for anything if there’s a way to get it for free.

To those traditional publishers who think delaying the ebook version release keeps hard back sales from being ‘hurt’, you’re idiots.

Sorry, blunt truth hurts. See point 1 above.

Release the hard back, delay the ebook, and what happens? Some ticked off reader scans the hard back and sticks it on a download site or P2P network. Or several.

Guess what? Some of those readers who prefer digital versions and are ticked off that you’ve delayed the ebook release go searching, find that pirated copy and download it.

Do you seriously think they turn around and purchase the legal version when you decide to release it?

‘Hell no’ comes to mind. You just lost some ebooks sales because you’re an idiot.

Those readers aren’t going to buy the hard back. You’re not damaging your hard back sales by releasing the ebook at the same time. They are not going to buy a physical version.

When you figure that out, the chance of your titles being pirated will lessen. Right now? You’re kind of encouraging piracy, and alienating a portion of your target audience that owns ereaders.

Now for point 2:

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There are few things that make me laugh more than seeing the subtle campaign waged against self-publishing by those in the traditional publishing industry.

While it is true that the ease of self-publishing allows anyone with aspirations of writing to put their work out, and that a lot of it can best be described as ‘chaff’, that doesn’t negate the efforts of those who are serious about writing and choose self-publishing as the way to go.

After all, many involved in the traditional publishing industry admit that thousands of good writers with good stories are rejected yearly.

So basically, those writers should just keep sending their stories out, hoping to land a traditional publishing contract? Yeah, right.

I hate to break it to you, but traditional publishers are no longer the Gatekeepers of the Kingdom of Books. The internet, POD and ebooks have busted the gates of the Kingdom clean off their hinges; there’s a wide sea of talent and readers hungry to discover new names to read stories by.

Saying those who choose to self-publish aren’t serious writers because they didn’t go the endless rejection route is sheer bullshit.

Traditional publishing is in trouble, which isn’t news to anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock.

Self-publishing isn’t the loser or second rate hack’s choice.

It’s the choice of those who don’t see the sense in waiting around to see their titles available to potential readers. Maybe some of them have tried shopping their stories around to traditional publishers.

Maybe some are like me, who hasn’t even considered the traditional publishing route since she was 11 years old.

I don’t lack the self-confidence or willingness to work hard. Comparing my writing on a technical basis to my traditionally published contemporaries, I can say that my stories have no more or less mistakes than theirs, with the help of my Story Tamer & MSWord to their professional editors.

Whether my stories and characters are as interesting as theirs is a different matter, but not one I’m afraid to explore.

My point is that it’s silly to ask anyone involved in traditional publishing their opinion on self-publishing. Of course they’re going to tell you not to do it; self-publishers are a growing source of competition!

Choose to self-publish because it’s what YOU want to do. Do some research; Bowker released the numbers for 2008 comparing the number of traditionally published books produced to those produced via POD & short runs.

I self-publish and I’m serious about writing.

My titles will succeed or fail based on my efforts and ability to write an interesting story and promote them to bring them to the attention of the people who matter – readers.

Readers are the ones who’ll judge them.

If you want to self-publish, do it. Don’t let anyone discourage you.

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More knowledgeable minds than my own may have already thought about this, but I’ve yet to see it mentioned as I’m about to do.

I personally think this is what’s happening, but recent dissatisfaction may be coloring my perception of matters.

The normal split between distributor/publisher or distributor/independent author appears to be 50/50.

Any small press or independent is aware the standard split at Amazon is 35/65, with them receiving the lion’s share from each sale. We also know that Amazon determines when our titles are placed on sale and for what percentage off, and that it doesn’t affect our 35% because Amazon eats the loss.

Example:
On a $5.25 title, I receive $1.84 per sale, while Amazon receives $3.41.

It’s been placed on sale at 20% off in the past. I still received my $1.84, while Amazon received $2.36.

The past five or so months, I’ve noted that none of my titles have been placed on sale there, and frankly, it hasn’t hurt my sales. In fact, I had a few of the best months in sales since I began self-publishing, and they increased quite a bit compared to the first five months of 2009.

I did wonder why, in a vague sort of way. Also, despite or maybe because of the fact Amazon accounts for 51.5% of my overall sales, I began feeling dissatisfied with that 35/65 split.

It is below the norm of 50/50. Amazon doesn’t offer anything different than other distribution channels I’ve chosen to use, so why do they take such a huge chunk?

I think I know why.

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