[Writing Post] Getting Paid What We’re Worth

Let me preface this by saying THIS IS AN EDITORIAL. This is my OPINION, and questions I’m asking myself.

I was going to do a “real life” kind of post – and it might go there. But I also want to talk about e-books some more. Because I saw something on a mailing list last week after posting that made me think.

It’s a fact that 90% of all fiction writers (and to some extent non-fiction writers) get paid crap for their work. In fact, I’ve sold several stories in the past couple of years for the same rate of pay that Oscar Wilde earned. Yes, THAT Oscar Wilde – the famous one from Victorian England. The difference? He could probably live a few days/week on 1¢/word – in 2011, not so much. I’m not whining this is the path I’ve chosen to take. I love fiction. I’ll continue to write fiction. Hopefully I’ll continue to SELL fiction. It’s just a fact of life.

What does make me go, “Hmmm”, stems from the abovementioned conversation on a mailing list. Someone was doing a survey on book buying habits of other writers. And the public responses I saw really made me think. A majority of them were pro e-book. For some that’s all they bought – as cheaply and/or free as possible. Followed by the usual bickering about some e-books being more expensive than the paper version on Amazon.

ASIDE: That’s Amazon NOT THE PUBLISHERS!!!! And definitely NOT the authors. Amazon is ticked off at the publishers for not pricing e-books the way Amazon wanted that AMAZON deliberately will set a price for print books lower at a loss to Amazon to make the publisher’s Agency Pricing Model look like they’re greedy corporate types out to bilk poor consumers. AMAZON has been doing “Loss Leader” pricing on books for YEARS AND YEARS thinking it’s going to get people to spend more on other things (and for the most part it’s worked – but it’s not going to be sustainable forever).

Now…here’s what made me go, “Hmmm”. Doesn’t it seem like if writers are buying e-books as cheaply as possible or finding them free online (and I don’t blame anyone for that – I’m a HUGE bargain hunter myself) because they’re not making enough money through their writing, are just making the problem a Catch-22? I mean, if a WRITER isn’t willing to spend more than 99¢ on an e-book, how are they ever going to expect their READERS to spend more than 99¢ on an e-book? And seriously? If you’re using the iTunes/MP3 analogy of songs cost 99¢…bull. To use an argument from an art director at Orbit – if you’re making that comparison, then a SHORT STORY or CHAPTER = SONG; BOOK=ALBUM. So, um, yeah. E-books should be between $5-$10 depending on length/format (mass market vs. trade vs. hardback). I would see chapbooks and novellas/novelettes about $3.

Because, dude, seriously? My time? My energy? My creation? My NOVEL? It’s worth more to me than $1 a pop. NO ONE can guarantee a million downloads at $1 EVER. For all the boomers, there are crashes. And if we, the writers, don’t stand up – especially the one’s who are putting their work out independently – for our own value, how will we EVER make any kind of change in this industry and finally start getting paid what we’re worth?

Tags: e-books, ebooks, epub, pricing