出版与作家生涯2011reviews.cnet.com
99美分Kindle电子书的兴起
The rise of the 99-cent Kindle e-book
导读
这篇报道讲 Kindle 上 99 美分电子书的兴起，评论区则从作者收益和读者心理两个角度讨论低价出版是否划算。对写作者来说，它提供了一个实用视角：定价不只是收入问题，还影响读者是否愿意尝试一位陌生作者，以及旧作能否重新卖出。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
把已经积压、无人问津的旧作放到电子书平台低价出售，比让它彻底沉没更好；七成版税远高于传统出版的百分之十。
- 02
低价能带来更多冲动购买：一本 1 美元的书比 3 美元的书更容易让读者在没听过作者时试一试。
- 03
读者付出的真正成本是时间而不是钱：写小说要让读者觉得这二十小时值得，否则再便宜也是浪费。
- 04
书封上的简介如果说不清书里到底写了什么，读者就只能靠低价来判断，所以简介要写得更具体。
HN 评论精选
低价适合盘活旧作，因为版税分成远高于传统出版。
专门为卖一美元而写的书，本来就不该期待质量，那种多半是骗人的 PDF 小册子。但对原本会烂在角落里的内容，这就是极好的办法。正如 Jerry Pournelle 说的，70% 比出版社给的任何比例都高得多。出版社给 10%，一本 20 美元的书作者只拿几块；在 Kindle 上定价 3 美元反而赚得更多。而且一美元或三美元更容易带来冲动购买，销量很快能累积到一万甚至十万本。如果你的合同里谈妥了版权回归条款，这就是让被遗忘的作品再赚一笔的好方法。
pstack查看英文原文
An actual book written to be sold at a dollar isn't expected to be much. In fact, I would assume any book written for that price point is probably one of those scammy "Send me $20 for a PDF all about being a video game wizard!" website type of books. However, for content that would otherwise be languishing, it can be a terrific move. Like Jerry Pournelle said, 70% is a hell of a lot more than you ever get from a publisher. Hell, 30% is a hell of a lot more than you ever get. Ten percent (what you'd get from a publisher) on a $20 book is going to get an author a couple bucks. On Kindle, they could sell it for $3 and still make more money. And at a buck or three, you're more likely to pick up more spontaneous sales and they can add up to ten or even a hundred thousand sales, pretty fast. If you are smart enough to have included a rights-reversion in your contract, it's a good way to make some additional income on what might otherwise be forgotten and ignored.
低价降低陌生作者的尝试门槛，但价格战会压低整个市场。
对不知名作者、简介又说不清内容的书，我更愿意花 1 美元而不是 3 美元，超过 3 美元基本不会考虑。亚马逊 2.99 美元的定价政策其实帮了作者：它逼着大家把价格维持在一定水平上。如果 99 美分的书也能享受同样政策，很多作者就会降价，形成新的价格底线，还有人会降得更低来冲销量。
wccrawford查看英文原文
I'm a lot more willing to pay $1 for a book than $3, especially for an unknown author and a book that has a description that doesn't say much about the actual book. (Not talking about this author, but in general.) And more than $3 would never happen. Amazon might actually be doing them a favor by their $2.99 policy, too. It forces everyone to sell for more, keeping the playing field up. If they had the same policy for $.99 items, many authors would just drop the prices and a new floor would be set... And some would drop lower to try to generate sales, just like this guy did.
读者付出的真正代价是时间，作品必须值得这二十小时。
我一直在惊叹电子书现象。我只买过一本电子书《Learning Python》，几乎在每个商店、每种设备上都买了一遍，看哪里体验最好。最后最喜欢的是 O'Reilly 的无 DRM 的 ePub，配合 Stanza 在 iPad 上离线阅读。这本书花了我不少钱，但我搞清楚了什么最适合自己。读这本书我最终能有所收获。可我连经典都还没读完，很难想象去读当代小说。花 1 美元买本当代小说，感觉像是花钱请人占用我生命中的 20 个小时，还不如削木头。
niels_olson查看英文原文
I have been watching this ebook phenomenon with amazement. I bought 1 e-book: Learning Python. I bought it through almost every store, to see where it works best. Online, offline, laptop, tablet, desktop, phone. My favorite setup: ePub from O'Reilly (no digital restrictions management) on Stanza (not a slave to one store) on the iPad (works offline). I spent a ton of money on that book, but I found out what works best for me. And I stand to gain something at the end of reading that book. I can't imagine reading contemporary novels when I haven't finished the classics yet. $1 for a contemporary novel seems like I'm paying someone to take 20 hours off my life. It's like whittling, only worse.
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