Are eBooks Too Cheap?

I luv Twitter!


Not only can you network and share your thoughts but you can also pick up on some useful and interesting information, which is what I have done this weekend.


Looking at, 'The Trends' a few nights ago, I found an interesting article (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/20/ebooks-cheap-price_n_1160383.html?ref=books), arguing the pro's and con's of selling your eBooks at 99 cents or for free.

Reading through the article, the main points seemed to be:

• Traditional publishers are scared at independent authors selling their books so cheaply as most of the public (especially in the current climate) will obviously go for the cheaper options, leaving the traditional publishers struggling to gain custom,

• Some independent publishers are not happy to give away their work for free (or for 99 cents) as they feel that the time and effort they have put into creating the book has been in vain,

• Some publishers (both traditional and independent) have a problem with books priced at 99 cents, believing that they maybe of poor quality due to many of the books in this bracket been of substandard value, and;

• Before an eBook is published, "there are other associated costs to publishing a quality book, including cover artists ($125-3000), editors ($800-5000), marketing, etc. If you add up the average cover cost of $350, average editing job of $1400, then divide by 34 cents, the author would have to sell 5,134 books just to break even, and that’s nearly impossible without an additional amount for advertising".

After reading this article, I was left with more questions than I started with. However, after doing my own research into the self publishing world and using my experiences with traditional publishing houses, I realised the following:

• Looking at the top 10 successful self publishing stories, all of the authors used the same approach of setting their first books as 99 cents to get readers interested then increased the price, once they had a following,

• If you do the research of the other books in your genre and these are priced at 99 cents and you place yours at $9.99, you are already alienating your target audience as they would want to see why your book is priced so high and if you do not have reviews from readers to back up your book price, you will find it difficult to sell any copies, and;

• Although some traditional publishing houses claim that they do not rate books becoming successful in the 99 cents category, of the self publishing sector, this should make you wonder why they feel so strongly about this? As many traditional publishing houses do not take on new authors as they cannot foresee your success, however, if you already have success with your 99 cents books and have obtained a following, this should be the green light for all traditional publishing houses to snap at your heels with offers as many have done with Amanda Hocking and John Locke!

So, although everyone is different, my approach will be sell the first copies of my novels at 99 cents and then when I gain a following increase steadily, depending on the number of pages!

DIY Book Covers

Looking at the range of free template some of these self publishing website's offer, makes me see how they get people to go for the fee option.


However, doing a little research myself, I have found that creating my own book cover doesn't mean I need to enrol in a graphic design course, have amazing computer skills or be a fantastic artist!


It just means I need to do my research on other book covers in my genre, which are already published and successful, have at least a few hours to play around in Photoshop or Fireworks, have a great eye catching image and some vision (plus a little patience!).


Using a template for my first women's fiction book, I was lucky as the free template I am using is exactly what I wanted for the theme of the book.

Editing the colours, the font type and adding my own image has allowed me to have a visually pleasing from cover, which will stand out from the competition and saved me a lot of time.


Now, that was great for the women's fiction book but when I looked at the options again, I realised I would need to create my own cover from scratch for the paranormal series, I am in the process of writing.


OK, so the standard book size in the industry is 5.5 x 8.5 and the average pages in a book of this size if 300 pages, therefore the dimensions would be (in this order):

• Back Cover - 5.5

• Spine - 0.75

• Front Cover - 5.5 

Therefore the equation would approximately be 5.5 + 0.75 + 5.5 x 8.5.

You need to allow 1/8 inch off all four sides for bleed.

The bleed is if you want any picture or border to go right up to the edge of the book, you need to provide a few mm extra and above your picture to avoid it being cut to the final size.


If you are working in Fireworks, your dimensions would approximately be:


1899 + 457 + 1899 x 2912 - with the 1/8 bleed


I have used the bleed as my images and borders do go to the edge of the book, however, if you have a simple cover with no borders and your image is central, then your calculation would be:


1688 + 406 + 1688 x 2588 - without the bleed


There are templates available and I have found one on CreateSpace, which you can download and use. Covert the mm into pixels if you are creating your cover in Photoshop or Fireworks. Here it is (I have cropped the excess page):

Hope this helps all my fellow authors!