Let's hear some positive things about books you've read recently. What about them made you want to shout, "Whoa! You have to read this!"?

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Hmm, I notice mine have gone up to 11.99 also. I had nothing to do with that. It's Penguin doing it, and they only pay me 15 %.
I noticed that. 15% of an ebook is highway robbery. I bought your first one used but like new for .91 plus shipping came to 4 bucks. Now I would have bought it for 9.99 because I like to see the author get theirs. Sometime these people cant see the forest for the trees.
Strangely enough, experience has shown that the people who want the books don't mind the cost. For me, the tradepaper option -- so often touted as a sales-producer -- was not all that good. A significant number of serious readers attach value to hc editions and complained to me.

Now an e-book is quite another proposition.
It depends on what you want and when you want it. For a book newly released in hardcover, $11.99 is a bargain. For a book already out in paperback, it's too high.

And it's all about perception of value. You can buy a new book from a favorite author, or you can take a date to Burger King.
There are 2 things I don't understand about the valuation of ebooks:

1. It costs so much less to produce. Wouldn't approx. half the print price be enough to be profitable for the publisher and still pay the writer about the same as they'd make on the print book?

2. Ebooks can't be shared (unless you lend someone your Kindle, or swap Kindles with a friend). A print book can be read and shared and passed around until it falls apart; the ebooks won't be read as many times, so they wouldn't be worth as much to the buyer.

I'm new to this business, so please tell me why I'm wrong. But my thinking is that if print books are between $10-$30 on average, ebooks could range between $5-$10 and be just as lucrative for both publishers and authors.
It costs so much less to produce. Wouldn't approx. half the print price be enough to be profitable for the publisher and still pay the writer about the same as they'd make on the print book?

$11.99 is less than half the price of a hardcover, yet some people still think it's too much.

Ebooks can't be shared...

Piracy is a huge concern for everyone in the publishing industry. Some people think it doesn't hurt sales, while others are certain it does.
Youre right Robin. To epublish is almost cost free. Many ebook publishers pay 50-25% royalties to authors. I dont know how many readers shop ebooks by publisher, if any. I shop by author as do most.
They will not be as lucrative for the author. 15 % of 11.99 is a lot less than 15 % of 29.00.
Did this get off-topic? Anyway, I read "The Maltese Falcon" almost every year and each time I'm blown away. I despair that I'll ever be able to write in this genre. Even so, I think my sequel to BLEEDER, titled VIPER, kicks butt. I hope the editor thinks so.
Off subject?... I reread TMF several years ago and although its a classic I was disappointed. It started fine but after that most of the novel took place in Sam Spades hotel room. Rating it today I would only give it three stars. I think in this case the novel has been carried by the movie and the supreme performances by Humphrey Bogart Peter Lorre Sidney Greenstreet? and all.
Never liked the MALTESE FALCON either. It's bound to horribly dated by now.
Love The Falcon! Maybe my all-time fave in the genre in fact.

The Spade character was seminal and he's the grand pappy of so many sardonic hard-boiled detectives we see today. Great characters, fun plot, and I've always enjoyed and admired Hammett's prose style.

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