↓
 

The PolyBlog

My view from the lilypads

  • Home
  • Life
    • Family (all posts)
    • Health and Spiritualism (all posts)
    • Learning and Ideas (all posts)
    • Computers (all posts)
    • Experiences (all posts)
    • Humour (all posts)
    • Quotes (all posts)
  • Reviews
    • Books
      • Master Reading and Review List (by Author)
      • Book Reviews List (by Date of Review)
      • Book Reviews (all posts)
      • PolyWogg’s Reading Challenge
        • 2023
        • 2022
        • 2021
        • 2020
        • 2019
        • 2015, 2016, 2017
    • Movies
      • Master Movie Reviews List (by Title)
      • Movie Reviews List (by Date of Review)
      • Movie Reviews (all posts)
    • Television
      • Television Premieres (by Date of Post)
      • Television (all posts)
      • Master TV Season Reviews List (by Title)
      • TV Season Reviews List (by Date of Review)
  • Writing
    • Writing (all posts)
  • Goals
    • Goals (all posts)
    • #50by50 – Status of completion
    • PolyWogg’s Bucket List, updated for 2016
  • About Me
    • About ThePolyBlog.ca
    • Privacy Policy
    • Subscribe
    • Contact Me
    • WP colour choices
    • PolySites
      • ThePolyBlog.ca (Home)
      • PolyWogg.ca
      • AstroPontiac.ca
  • Andrea’s Corner

Tag Archives: economics

Articles I Like: The 99 cent price point for ebooks

The PolyBlog
January 24 2012

Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg has an interesting article in today’s WSJ that deals with ebook pricing models, and the 99-cent “impulse” price point (E-Book Prices Get Slashed — note link may expire). An excerpt from his post appears below:

The book world is discovering the 99-cent special. Nearly two years after book publishers forced a sharp increase in the price of newly released e-books, a new low-price trend is emerging. A growing number of publishers are experimenting with 99-cent temporary prices on e-books, in hopes of persuading readers to sample a wider range of authors.

The latest example is George Pelecanos’s new crime novel “What It Was,” which goes on sale Monday. The digital edition costs 99 cents for the first month, and then $4.99 afterward. While Mr. Pelecanos is known for his work on HBO’s gritty Baltimore series “The Wire,” he has also authored 18 books. But he has never been a big seller.

I’ll eventually get around to posting my own take on e-book pricing from an “economics” perspective i.e. what is an “optimal” price if the economists were tackling the question, but I like the idea that the “big” names are suddenly realizing they’re getting their butts kicked by the mid-listers or the newbies. Why? Because competing on price is a really good strategy. It’s worked for hundreds of electronics firms, car companies, musicians, etc., to shift some of an industry’s revenue from corporate-backed big names to the little guy. So much so that a name like Pelacanos (profiled in the story) is willing to “experiment” with a price point that isn’t much of an experiment — everyone KNOWS it will sell at that price since everyone else is having success at that level. Best quote ever from Pelacanos though:

“It’s a gamble, but I want to be read.”

Welcome to the new digital world…it’s only unfortunate that his cut, roughly half what he would get if he had self-published the novel, might be deemed “unprofitable” to him and therefore a failure — given that his last hardcover had only 25K sales, not clear why he would think 100K digital sales could be a “failure” though.

Posted in Writing and Publishing | Tagged e-books, economics, market, pricing, publishing | Leave a reply

My Latest Posts

  • Deadlines, dominoes, and delaysJanuary 30, 2023
    As most people who have read this blog from time to time already know, I’m big on time management techniques, various options for to-do lists and tracking tasks. I like to set ambitious annual goals, and then monitor them throughout the year. Some years turn out better than others. Whereas many people set resolutions and … Continue reading →
  • Curated: We Need To Talk About Professional Jealousy – Electric LiteratureJanuary 20, 2023
    I occasionally like to share online articles that I like, and you’ll see sporadic posts entitled “Articles I Like” throughout the blog. But honestly, Curated is probably a more accurate title. I recently found an article by Benjamin Schaefer on the website Electric Literature, although I was led there by ThePassiveVoice website. The article is … Continue reading →
  • Schrodinger’s computer purge (part 1 / 3)January 15, 2023
    So, I’m a techno-wannabe-geek with elements of hoarding in my DNA. I find it hard to dispose of working computer parts, long after I’ve outgrown the need for them. Some “saves” are practical and some are not. And like Schrodinger’s cat, my computer purge is both real and theoretical at the same time. A. Network … Continue reading →
  • Some more reading ideas…January 15, 2023
    Chapters/Indigo has their Reading Challenge for the year too. They do it up like a bingo card, but the headings are: I’ll have to go through some of the links to see if there’s anything I want to add to my long list. 🙂
  • 11 years, a gig platform, and a chequeJanuary 13, 2023
    Somewhere in this universe, if life after death exists, my father is rolling over in his grave. Or rolling his eyes, shrugging his shoulders, throwing up his hands…whatever the ghosts do when they see their descendants doing stuff that they think is ridiculous. And it is NOT my father’s fault. Let me be clear. He … Continue reading →

Archives

Categories

© 1996-2021 - PolyWogg
↑