Kids/Teens Book Club discussion

I saw a post recently (on another forum) by someone who steadfastly believed that if a book was priced low then there must be something dodgy about it! See my Goodreads article/blog about this:

http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...

not always, you can find real gems in used bookstores and the like! and some of the stuff that they chur out and slap high prices on are the stupid angels and vampires crap anyway....

not necessarily. I just saw on a local bookstore the other day that they put john green books on for sale. $5 a piece. It was probably because not many people are interested in it but that doesnt mean they arent good. it's john green. so i plan on stopping down there in the near future and get my hands on a couple of books.

My point exactly guys - it just took me by surprise that someone would automatically bypass a book that was priced low through making an assumption that it would be bad. I've paid out a lot of money for some books that have turned out to be weak and full of errors and I've also paid a tiny amount for a book and found that it has been great and very professionally created!

I've also seen a lot of good books with excellent promotional prices for the ebooks of debut authors - I think that as competition in the market increases with the development of ereaders, the higher price tags (mainly attached historically for print publishing and promotional costs of making a book) will start to disappear.

Recently, I've gone in the other direction - I've been irritated to be offered an ebook for the same price or more than the printed edition, because I know the production costs are minimal - plus there are so many good value ebooks - why would I pay more for an equally good book?

Absolutely Melanie. Obviously, indie authors are able to put their own price on their books and I'm sometimes shocked to see just how high a price some put on, particularly if they are new and it is their first or second book. You would think that, with such low production costs as you mentioned, new authors would be keen to keep their prices low so that readers can afford to get to read and know their stuff. However, some price their books even higher than established authors, which is kind of odd to me! And, like you said, why would you pay more for a Kindle edition than a paperback? Yet, some still price their eBooks higher than many print books!

Not at all!!! That's like saying if you grow up in a poor neighborhood you're not worth anything. Even though people still believe that, but that theory has been proved wrong so many times. No the price doesn't mean the book is crappy. If a book costs $15 that doesn't mean it's going to be a 5 star across the board. There's a dozen reason why books are priced the way they are and those reasons have nothing to do with the quality of the work!!

I've grown to have an ideal price range for books. I don't tend to buy 99c books unless they're by authors I know through blogs and social media. I rarely download free books (again unless it's a friend's promotion, but then I usually prefer to wait until it's full price to show my support). I'll happily pay $2.99 for smaller books and I will pay up to $7.99 for books that are by established authors (but I'd have to really want it) any more and I'd rather buy the paperback or hardcover.

I think it's fine. I like having books but i always go to a second-hand book store so i dont pay that much. And i raid the clearance section where the books are a dollar.I've found some of my avoritye books in that swection. So, no some of the best books were probably once 99 cents. And Katrina, yeah i got a John Green book for 2$ at a Garden Ridge before. It was a fantastic book.An Abundance of Katherines was the book.

I think the samples that Amazon provides give a pretty good idea of quality - although of course you don't really know what a book is like until you've read it.
I wouldn't automatically think a 99c book must be poor quality, but it would make me wonder why the author is selling their hard work so cheap!

Reno wrote: "I saw a post recently (on another forum) by someone who steadfastly believed that if a book was priced low then there must be something dodgy about it! See my Goodreads article/blog about this:

ht..."

No I have found very good books for very little. I believe that part of the reason some people think that low priced books are not worth anything (as far a reading for enjoyment) is because they are normally reference books or biographies (not that they are bad it's just most people don't read them).

Not true! The authors with little publicity are the ones with lower priced books!

i would say no but i would be happy if it was but i feel like that would make me think it wouldnt be very good if that makes sense

It's great to see so many people willing to pay a little bit more than $0.99 to show their support for an author. I think the whole 99 thing was a blip at the beginning of the ebook boom, thanks to writers like John Locke. Not to knock his writing, I haven't read one, but he seemed to have the right price at the right time. That time is passed, I think. People are willing to pay a little bit more and for that they expect a little bit more in terms of quality. That said, Irene, I've found some great reads for cheap or free. But think at this time, 99cents raises more red flags than it does hook buyers. As an author of kids books, I'm happy about that. :)

Liam wrote: "It's great to see so many people willing to pay a little bit more than $0.99 to show their support for an author. I think the whole 99 thing was a blip at the beginning of the ebook boom, thanks to..."

True and I find that some are cheap or even free and very good and some are complete rubbish and cost a good deal. It just depends and I always am careful when I see the words Free or only 99cents as there is normally some fine print and nothing is truly free (material things anyways).

I think it depends on why the books are cheap. Short stories are 99c and that's the right price for them. Others are at that price for a short time as a promotion for a series, or to get more readers for a new author,some are that cheap because no one will read them otherwise. As a reader it's not easy to sort out which are which. The Awesome Indies site lists books that are mostly between 99c and $3.99 but have been vetoed by publishing industry professionals as being top quality. So it's a good place to go if you want to avoid poor quality. It has links to the kindle store. http://awesomeindies.wordpress.com

This question is like asking if expensive books are good books. It's unanswerable, except to say that some are, some aren't. Suffice it to say that I've bought cheap books and loved them as often as I've bought expensive books and hated them.

Yes, the question itself cannot really be answered but the point of the article is - would you assume that because a book was cheap that it was low quality (as the readers in the discussion mentioned in the article did). Some people have openly admitted that they will not buy books priced below a certain amount because they assume that the quality must be low as well

Reno wrote: "Yes, the question itself cannot really be answered but the point of the article is - would you assume that because a book was cheap that it was low quality (as the readers in the discussion mention..."

i wouldn't assume that at all as i just am glad to not have to spend too much. More expensive books to me mean that they have more of a hype about them but i would say no, not at all.

You can check out books for free from the Library, so how much you have to spend in order to read a book I think says nothing about the quality of the book and more about the supply and demand. I am thankful we live in a time when we can preview free samples of books and make more educated purchases. I recently read A Boy Called Duct Tape after seeing a great review on a blog. It was one of the best Middle Grade fiction books I've read. The fact that it was 99 cents actually helped my decision to buy, but after reading it I would have gladly paid 7.99 to do so.

The price of a book is not a reflection on the quality at all. Let's all be honest, shall we? You could write the most wonderful book in the world, that countless people will love, and you might not eve be able to give it away for free. How can anyone know the true value a d benefit of a book if they don't even know about it? There is NOTHING more difficult that promoting a book. A Reality Show star can put their name on a book and sell a 100,000 copies at $12.00 each. What does that mean in reference to the quality of the book? Nothing. But people found out about it .

Most authors discover that it is easier to draw blood out of a running tiger than it is to get people to review their book.

i dont think the price of a book counts for how good it is. For example if a book shop was having a HUGE sale this dosent mean all the books in the shop go bad like old milk.

Nowadays I don't think the price of the book reflects the quality. Thousands of capable authors--both established and new--are trying to sell their books to readers. With that kind of competition, they need to figure out what pricing works and naturally, many will low-ball it at 99cents or even give it away. If a book interests you and costs 99 cents, read the sample before you dismiss it. It might be great read.

I have a friend in the UK who reads kindle books all the time. She no longer looks at free and cheap books because so many of them aren't good. She expects to pay aorund £3.99 (6 dollars) for a book worth reading. However, as an author of teen books, I think anything you can do to help people learn about your books is worth it as there is so little review or comment space in magazines and newspapers these days. I'm giving away the first book in my series as global giveaway with prizes to entice people in to the series. I would love to know how other people get their books publicised. Please do download if you're interested in teen action adventure www.hattorihachi.com All feedback welcome. Thanks!

D.C. wrote: "The price of a book is not a reflection on the quality at all. Let's all be honest, shall we? You could write the most wonderful book in the world, that countless people will love, and you might no..."

Well said. Low pricing is a way to encourage readers for many authors. I, however, prefer to keep my books at a price that reflects the time I've put into them. My short books are cheap (99c), my longer ones are more expensive (the longest is $4.99)
Since you can read the first part of a book and read reviews you should have a reasonable idea of the quality before you download. But beware, some reviews can't be trusted.

I wrote a post on how to recognise the useful ones http://tahlianewland.com/2012/08/20/h...

I actually don't care if they are cheap. In my mind, the less expensive they are, the more I can get. I wen tot the lifeline bookfest earlier in the year and I got these massive leather bound classics (about 12 of them) for only $2 a piece. Even if I don't like the story, I'm keeping them anyway, because a leather bound book is so hard to come by and to have books like Great Expectations and Moby Dick as one is even better

I actually think it is better because you can get it cheaper!

No! On the Kindle, I have been able to get a multitude of wonderful books for free. Actually, most of the classics like Jane Austen and Charles Dickens are free on there. I don't really care about the price, but if it is too high I won't read the book because I can't get it in the first place! If it is cheaper or free, wunderbar!
However, if I were an author I don't think I would be able to price my books very low, because writing books is HARD. I would like some gratification for the work.

Pricing a book is so difficult. I have three books priced at $0.99, $2.99 & $5.99. I have also given one of my books away in hopes that it would increase sales of my other books (it did work) As an author, I never know what is the right price. I just hope to gain as many readers as possible and slowly but surely that is working. My newest book, Gold Medal Threat, was highly endorsed - it's for middle grades and teens and it's receiving great reviews. I keep wondering whether I should reduce the price - and then I think about the tremendous amount of work that I put into it. I wish I knew the RIGHT price. Oh well! I hope you think the price is right.

Please, I buy dollar store books

No i wouldnt let the price stop me from atleast reading the back. Plus i really like great deals on books so that i can expand my bookcase faster :D

Noo are you series?!?!
All the 120 Ebooks that I have are not only cheap but free eg the duff, insurgent, sarah dessan books, the elite.......
And when I when to this bookstore called allbooks4less they had divergent, wonders,divergent,grave mercy....
For only 5 dollars

i dont think that a cheap book is poor quality some books or authors arent as famous as others so their books arent as high in price

No not all usually they're really good books that don't have the hype for no reason

I don't assume that a cheap book must be bad, though I have to admit that cheap books often have sucky covers, wich makes me go to the pricier section anyway. And I know I shouldn't do this; BUT I COMPLETELY JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER. It's a full package deal for me.

Noooooooooo. That's all I have to say on the topic.

Sometimes a book is put on sale to generate more sales. It doesn't mean it's necessarily bad though. Each book should be judged on it own merits. I find I'm less likely to read a book if its cover looks unprofessional more so than because of the price.

Not at all! You can find real gems in the back of book shops for cheap ;) I don't know if this exactly counts but I bought a box set of the 3 Lord of the Ring books + The Hobbit just for $14.99 (Huge bargain) and then I have the Divergent box set series that I bought for probably $39.99 and the LOTR+The Hobbit is 10x better than the Divergent series.

Not at all! I picked up The Da Vinci Codefor something ridiculous like $4. It still remains one of my favourite books to this day!

Not necessarily! It can be cheap because it is not brand new. You can find real bargains with pre-owned books!

Not at all! I find brand new books at the Goodwill book store and the Salvation Army for $2!! Why buy something for $20 when you can get it for $2...Respect!

I've spent my life reading great books that are second hand - so cheap. But do they count? Full price they were expensive first time around.
Full disclosure here, Ive just self published for the first time and I'm finding the whole pricing thing very tricky. I'm beginning to realise that to grow a book you have to price it low and even give it away to get the thing moving. (And I'm also realising that I should have done a lot more research before putting the book on Amazon because the whole marketing circus is a big thing.)
That said I've read some great books indie and traditional on Kindle - I don't have unlimited. I'm always checking for Amazon deals.
I'm with Cecilia - why pay more?

I get loads of books second hand from my local library for 50p each on average some are only 20p. Recently there was a brand new hardback copy of inheritence (Christopher paolini) on the shelf for under £1

I also once got a good quality edition of dragon flight (1980s ish) for free because otherwise they were going to throw it away. can't believe people would pass a cheap book by based on price.

I read any book free, $.99 or otherwise. A price has no reflection on how good the book is at all in my opinion. I have read some great ebooks that are totally free. But i am a subscriber to kindle unlimited here in canada. I have to be as i can burn thru 3 books a week if not 4 on a good week and that can add up. Saying that i have found some amazing authors thru there so everyone should give it a try :)