When the iPhone might have invented wireless, one-touch commerce in the 21st century, it also started the race to the bottom. I remember when they built the Apple App Store atop iTunes' rotting shoulders, piggybacking onto the success of selling one song for $0.99, and an episode of The Office for $3.99. I remember during that first Summer of iPhone when somebody sold an app that did nothing called "I'm Rich" for $1000 (NOTE: that might not be the actual price).
I remember when I bought the sublime endless-runner game progenitor, CANABALT, for $0.99. I remember when my friend started working at Zynga and reminded me every day to try Farmville for free. He didn't work in development, he worked in HR.
The mobile app now sits comfortably at the low price of Approximately Between Zero To Five Hundred Future-Dollars.
In the race to the bottom, we devalued digital goods. The whole farm was gambled on a whale falling from the sky, bones ripe for the picking.
Yes and no. Apps are now a platform, a storefront. So, that begs the question:
How Can You Make ANY Money Off Writing Cheap Ebooks?
Short answer, the same way you sell anything: by charging what it's worth.
My writing targets 35,000 words. They aren't over-long because most things are. People lose interest in over-long things, myself included.
I wouldn't charge $1. It's worth more than that. It's worth more than gutter change. It's not worth less than a song on iTunes.
I wouldn't charge $10. Nobody would pay that, at least not at this point in my career. I'm an unknown commodity.
I wouldn't charge $5. That's too obvious.
Let's work it from the other direction again.
I wouldn't charge $2. That $2, while double $1, is not worth the hassle of charging anything.
I would charge $4. It's 200% more than $2, while still being less than $5, which I wouldn't charge, at least not at this point in my career.
To attract potential buyers, the $4 value has to be confirmed. This is accomplished by providing free introductory chapters. They are crafted as standalone stories to invite in readers. They are so well-written that there is no questioning the value of what's to come on the other side of the paywall.
The initial batch of 5 stories should always maintain this price. If the opportunity arises for physical versions, collector's editions, or omnibuses, the value will have already been proven, and the price can rise.
If the initial wave is successful, future novels may cost more. For now, this is the plan.
All The Books Live Within A Shared Universe
There are five books drafted. A sixth will conclude the arc. Each dwells within a unique genre. This is meant to keep my creativity from riding a rut and to make it welcoming to people with particular taste.
Some readers enjoy fantasy. Some enjoy historical fiction. Some enjoy mystery. Some are men. Some are women. Each story is connected, but also independent. There are references and small points of continuity, if you look carefully.
The shared universe tactic encourages readers to perhaps explore genres they normally wouldn't. Certain, small mysteries are introduced in one book and are explained in another. This is the benefit of a shared universe.
This means I don't have to sell 1 book to 100 people. I can sell 5 different books to 20 people, each. Then those 20 people buy the 4 remaining books.
It's vital not to rip the reader off. Each story is contained. There are clues that they exist alongside one another. Maybe one character holds a solution to another's problem. It can never be critical to the plot though.
It's a shared universe, with focused corners, not a gigantic puzzle mashed together. At least not yet.
Get started now! Download a free book sample via the link below for reading on your Kindle or e-reader app!
-- @Alex Crumb
