A few days back, writer John Connolly tweeted the following…
Something has gone very wrong if we’ll pay $5 for a greeting card, $3 for gift wrap, but resent paying more than $2.99 for a book.
I just wanted to share it here on Karavansara.
I see the problem not so much with the price of books, but with the value that is given to creative work – any kind of creative work.
When the product of your workday is not material – when you have a story or a theory and not a chunk of stuff – paying you is considered a strange eccentricity.
After all, you could find yourself an honest job, and then do your creative thingies in your spare time, right?
And there’s no viable solution in sight.
Yes, it’s that depressing.
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Karavansara 
7 July 2014 at 18:49
Hi Davide,
It’s tragic that the prices are so depressed for intellectual capital. I see the same thing in the RPG industry. Without a big-name intellectual property or a big game-design name (house or author), products are capped at about US$10 regardless of quality or size.
But there is hope. Being a self-publisher is no longer the pariah it once was. I refer you to this guy if you haven’t seen him before. This is the first in a series from 2009.
or this one, that is more recent (20140:
The real benefit for self-publishing (PoD and ebooks) are that the author can build their own following and set their own profit. The real downside is marketing. Low Amazon prices are due to pressure for low margins, so sales need to be high to make a living.
Love your blogs!
Cheers!
Norm
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7 July 2014 at 21:15
Thanks for the comment, Norm – and for the videos!
Yes, I think self-publishing can be a powerful tool – and it needs work to become accepted as such by the general public.
It’s going to be a long run, and it’s going to be mostly uphill.
But then again, it’s the best tool we have, we better start using it.
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