5 ms·

At $1-$2 prices, purchases are made mostly on impulse. This is why I think e-books should come down to that price, too. For many authors the sales would just sk

At $1-$2 prices, purchases are made mostly on impulse. This is why I think e-books should come down to that price, too. For many authors the sales would just skyrocket, because people will just start buying 10 books at a time, without even thinking that it may take them a full year to read them all. But they will just "want them there" for a later read.

alanfalcon 14y ago
But once they do realize that they have a year's worth (or more) on their reading list, why would they keep coming back to the store to buy 10 more books?
- rmATinnovafy 14y ago
  And that will lead to authors only publishing short books, or even sell individual chapters for $1. Not a good thing.
  - josephcooney 14y ago
    Why would this not be a good thing?
  - hdctambien 14y ago
    That's similar to how Dickens wrote A Tale of Two Cities[1]. "The 45-chapter novel was published in 31 weekly installments in Dickens' new literary periodical titled All the Year Round. From April 1859 to November 1859" Likely more people will read a book in short chunks because it looks less imposing. And it gives you an opportunity to "pivot" your story if it's not going well. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_Two_Cities http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_Two_Cities
    - TylerE 14y ago
      Dickens' method had more do with economics. Most of his audience was not especially well off, and books were VERY expensive back then, as in over $100 in today's money.
- theevocater 14y ago
  personally? yes. Many times I'll buy a bunch of cheap (physical and digital) books, read them for a bit, get bored and then eventually sell the physical books. Most times if a book is expensive I'll put off buying it, but if its a dollar or two, no love lost if I only read a few chapters and don't like it.
- fbuilesv 14y ago
  Because this is how a lot (most?) people work. They read about something interesting today, buy the book, send it to their Kindle and then forget about it. When they get to actually read a book they enjoy they might start looking for more titles from the same author/genre and at $2 you won't think too much about buying 2-3 at once.
- Mz 14y ago
  A) I once read that only about 17% of the books people buy actually get read. People seem to get some satisfaction out of "owning" the info even without consuming it. B) When I was homeschooling my sons I frequently bought actual (dead tree) books for a dollar or so off the clearance tables. It was cheap enough that I was willing to gamble on their usefulness. Some panned out. Some didn't. Enough panned out for me to feel it was still well worth it.
- russell_h 14y ago
  I'll go on Amazon and buy several cheap Kindle books before I travel. Invariably I don't finish them all, and set the Kindle aside for a few weeks. Then I pick it up, see the unread books and read them before buying more I've always wondered how much more money Amazon would make if they didn't highlight unread books, and how much people would care about the lack of that feature.
adrr 14y ago
If it was that easy to get additional income, they would have done it. They probably have a bunch of MBA types with fancy spreadsheets that came up with the pricing strategy not mention Amazon's pricing 5x to 10x additional sales over the long term is probably not realistic.
ja27 14y ago
My current understanding of psychological price barriers, at least for mobile apps, is that once you're over the 99 cent barrier, there isn't much of a difference (at least to Americans with our $5 bill) between $1.99, $2.99 and $3.99. It's only when you hit the $4.99 that they think of that as a different price class. There will still be people that balk at paying $3.99 instead of $1.99, but supposedly not 50% of them.
- cageface 14y ago
  Do you have any references for this theory? If true it would influence my pricing strategy for my own apps. I have seen more sales at $2.99 than $4.99 but I haven't tried anything in between.
  - ja27 14y ago
    I wish I did but it's from a bunch of different posts. I wish it was easier to A / B test in the store but the daily traffic is so unpredictable and unmeasurable. I guess it could be tested on a landing page before hitting the iTunes store, even if you have to lie about the price.
tzs 14y ago
That might happen initially, but I think the effect will go away as people get used to dealing with e-books. When I'm shopping in an actual physical bookstore it often makes sense to buy a book that I won't be ready to read for a while. First, if I become ready for it at a time when it is inconvenient to get to the bookstore to buy it I have to wait to start reading it, and that could be annoying. Second, it might no longer be stocked when I get around to going back for it. I then have to order it, wait for delivery, possibly go pick it up if I order for delivery at the bookstore. Third, I might forget about it. With an e-book, none of these apply. First, the e-bookstore is for all practical purposes open 24/7/365, and the book is only a couple of minutes away. Second, it is unlikely to go out of stock. Third, when browsing at an e-bookstore there is usually an easy way to mark books you want to get back to later. Putting these all together, there is very little point in buying an e-book when I'm not ready to start reading it soon, unless it is on sale.

alanfalcon 14y ago

But once they do realize that they have a year's worth (or more) on their reading list, why would they keep coming back to the store to buy 10 more books?

rmATinnovafy 14y ago
And that will lead to authors only publishing short books, or even sell individual chapters for $1. Not a good thing.
- josephcooney 14y ago
  Why would this not be a good thing?
- hdctambien 14y ago
  That's similar to how Dickens wrote A Tale of Two Cities[1]. "The 45-chapter novel was published in 31 weekly installments in Dickens' new literary periodical titled All the Year Round. From April 1859 to November 1859" Likely more people will read a book in short chunks because it looks less imposing. And it gives you an opportunity to "pivot" your story if it's not going well. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_Two_Cities http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_Two_Cities
  - TylerE 14y ago
    Dickens' method had more do with economics. Most of his audience was not especially well off, and books were VERY expensive back then, as in over $100 in today's money.
theevocater 14y ago
personally? yes. Many times I'll buy a bunch of cheap (physical and digital) books, read them for a bit, get bored and then eventually sell the physical books. Most times if a book is expensive I'll put off buying it, but if its a dollar or two, no love lost if I only read a few chapters and don't like it.
fbuilesv 14y ago
Because this is how a lot (most?) people work. They read about something interesting today, buy the book, send it to their Kindle and then forget about it. When they get to actually read a book they enjoy they might start looking for more titles from the same author/genre and at $2 you won't think too much about buying 2-3 at once.
Mz 14y ago
A) I once read that only about 17% of the books people buy actually get read. People seem to get some satisfaction out of "owning" the info even without consuming it. B) When I was homeschooling my sons I frequently bought actual (dead tree) books for a dollar or so off the clearance tables. It was cheap enough that I was willing to gamble on their usefulness. Some panned out. Some didn't. Enough panned out for me to feel it was still well worth it.
russell_h 14y ago
I'll go on Amazon and buy several cheap Kindle books before I travel. Invariably I don't finish them all, and set the Kindle aside for a few weeks. Then I pick it up, see the unread books and read them before buying more I've always wondered how much more money Amazon would make if they didn't highlight unread books, and how much people would care about the lack of that feature.

adrr 14y ago

If it was that easy to get additional income, they would have done it. They probably have a bunch of MBA types with fancy spreadsheets that came up with the pricing strategy not mention Amazon's pricing 5x to 10x additional sales over the long term is probably not realistic.

ja27 14y ago

My current understanding of psychological price barriers, at least for mobile apps, is that once you're over the 99 cent barrier, there isn't much of a difference (at least to Americans with our $5 bill) between $1.99, $2.99 and $3.99. It's only when you hit the $4.99 that they think of that as a different price class. There will still be people that balk at paying $3.99 instead of $1.99, but supposedly not 50% of them.

cageface 14y ago
Do you have any references for this theory? If true it would influence my pricing strategy for my own apps. I have seen more sales at $2.99 than $4.99 but I haven't tried anything in between.
- ja27 14y ago
  I wish I did but it's from a bunch of different posts. I wish it was easier to A / B test in the store but the daily traffic is so unpredictable and unmeasurable. I guess it could be tested on a landing page before hitting the iTunes store, even if you have to lie about the price.

tzs 14y ago

That might happen initially, but I think the effect will go away as people get used to dealing with e-books. When I'm shopping in an actual physical bookstore it often makes sense to buy a book that I won't be ready to read for a while. First, if I become ready for it at a time when it is inconvenient to get to the bookstore to buy it I have to wait to start reading it, and that could be annoying. Second, it might no longer be stocked when I get around to going back for it. I then have to order it, wait for delivery, possibly go pick it up if I order for delivery at the bookstore. Third, I might forget about it. With an e-book, none of these apply. First, the e-bookstore is for all practical purposes open 24/7/365, and the book is only a couple of minutes away. Second, it is unlikely to go out of stock. Third, when browsing at an e-bookstore there is usually an easy way to mark books you want to get back to later. Putting these all together, there is very little point in buying an e-book when I'm not ready to start reading it soon, unless it is on sale.