The Price is Ri...Wro...oh hell, I don't know
Money. A discomfiting subject, crass and unsavoury, yet a necessary one.
The reason why money is on my mind (and I got my mind on my money) is that I'm trying to work out what the hell I ought to be charging for my first Novel (Crystal Eyes, now available at all good eBook retailers!).
There are several things to balance: how much do I think it's worth? What's the market rate? How low can I price it without seeming to devalue it? How high can I price it without putting people off?
There is no guide out there that says "Yes, this is the correct price!", you just have to try and make it up as you go. I'm guessing, in other words.
On the one hand, I want people to read and enjoy it, that gives me satisfaction, but on the other hand, I dream of making my living writing novels and a lot of work has gone into the creation of Crystal Eyes.
The thing is, away from the headline grabbers like Rowling, Pratchett and Martin, the marketplaces of the Kindle and iBooks are flooded with other authors just like me and we're all trying to get our books read and, maybe, if we're lucky, get some cash. It's a minefield and I have no idea what I'm doing. I have the horrible feeling that no one else does either, despite the number of Guides to Selling Your eBook that are available!
And all of this is before you get into the whole Amazon KDP Select business - I really don't know what to make of that. Not convinced it's a good thing for a little inde author like myself.
Also, my book's just gone live on iTunes, which I'm thrilled about, except iTunes seems to be entirely ignoring exchange rates - it's 99 cents in the US and 99 pence in the UK. This means that anywhere else that sells Crystal Eyes in the UK is effectively undercutting Apple and I have no control over how Apple set the price - it's sent to them through an intermediary company called Smashwords.
It's all terribly confusing so, rather than try to puzzle it out, I'm going to make a coffee and Baileys (mmmm) and play Star Wars: The Old Republic (short review: meh. Good, not great, doubt I'll sub to it)