Self Publishing Advice for the Inspired Indie: PRICING!
Introduction by Camestros Felapton: Timothy felt that he should have his own self-publishing advice blog. Sadly, like many of his projects, he didn’t have the time to get the project properly launched. He did write this one column and as the ideas he elaborates have been applied directly to the production of this volume, I think it is appropriate that we include it here.
Clever Cat Crazy Club: We Aren’t Just Clever, We Are Also Cats
Self Publishing Advice for the Inspired Indie: Pricing!
Timothy the Talking Cat
This has been a difficult week for me health wise and I did wonder if I would have time to complete my weekly blog entry fro the Clever Cat Crazy Club. I know how you would all be disappointed but we all know how difficult life can get in these difficult times. I sometimes wonder if our values and way of life will survive, what with all the things happening.
I wasn’t sure what to write but let me tell you about something I saw yesterday. As you know I live near some beautiful woodland. Many people cooped up on their East Coast cities never truly look at the countryside. To them it is just something they see from the windows of their chauffeur driven cars that take them from their gated community to their job in some fancy office building where they publish books for some liberal multinational.
As I looked at the trees I considered the lazy and thieving squirrels who were busy hoarding nuts like people on welfare. Those squirrels reminded me of just how bankrupt Marxism is. Marxism is very bankrupt. This was a lesson I learnt growing up as a small kitten. In those days we were very poor. Not so poor that we had nothing to eat but poor enough that may parents simply couldn’t afford to buy me a playstation. Unlike the kids today I had to make my own entertainment or perhaps play on the gameboy I had got for Christmas. Good times.
Naturally this got me thinking about the mainstream ‘Big four’ publishers and how their business strategy is doomed. Nobody buys books from them anymore and yet they run around frantically trying to get money out of their big name authors (I shan’t name examples but John Scalzi springs to mind) just like those squirrels gathering nuts for winter.
Now George RR Martin might laugh at us and say ‘Winter is coming’ but like other big name authors he doesn’t understand that this is not winter. Winter always turns to spring but there is no spring for the Big Publishers. They think that readers who they have systematically alienated with message fiction and disenfranchised by excluding them from popular awards with insulting ‘asterisks’ are going to come flooding back in the near future. Sorry Big 4 but it is too late. Readers got the message LOUD AND CLEAR already and they are choosing indie published books.
As an Indie Publisher and accomplished editor, people ask me ‘Timothy, what is the best price for my new novel?’ Firstly, to me your novel is priceless. It is a thing from your heart that you have given to the world. But to everybody else and Amazon, you need to set a price.
What can we learn from economics? Economics tells us a valuable lesson that we can learn just by looking at how badly the elites have been running big government. The liberals think that if they keep raising taxes that the government gets more money. Oops! Wrong! Instead deficits keep rising. In truth the only way to get more money is to LOWER TAXES and CUT COSTS.
Modern kids these days don’t learn mathematics in school, instead they have social-justice math encounter experiences or some other kind of ‘new math’ common-core rubbish. Those of you lucky enough to got to school in the past or maybe to a private school will know enough maths to have worked out the obvious conclusion from the economic lesson I gave above.
LESS IS MORE when it comes to taxes and when it comes to ebook prices. So think about that a minute. If less is more then what is MOST? You are right! The best price point is ZERO DOLLARS but remember that only works if you cut your costs to ZERO. That means doing all the work yourself, writing, editing, cover or finding somebody who will help you for free because they are an idiot like Camestros. OK, some of you have to pay other people to do things - in that case $1.99 is as good a price as any. If, like me, you can get your costs to zero dollars then FREE is the guaranteed way to make a fortune.
So don’t be like the Big 4 publishing house squirrels and cry out ‘winter is coming’, try publishing for free as an indie and watch spring (and the dollars!) arrive!
Great Battles in History: Timothy versus some squirrels