Digital Pricing - What's fair?
I started a thread about this on my facebook and twitter, but wanted to open it up to the group and get everyone's feedback / input. How much should one charge for digital comics? Single issues, graphic novels, etc.
In looking at Comixology, it seems like most books are either $.99 or $1.99, with a few larger format (ie: 48+ page) books running at $2.99-$3.99.
Since Comixology and iVerse have opened themselves to accepting indie books (after a lengthy review process), wanted to see if anyone had any luck with certain price points, or noticed any trends or industry averages. Or, share you opinion - how much should digital copies cost?
In looking at Comixology, it seems like most books are either $.99 or $1.99, with a few larger format (ie: 48+ page) books running at $2.99-$3.99.
Since Comixology and iVerse have opened themselves to accepting indie books (after a lengthy review process), wanted to see if anyone had any luck with certain price points, or noticed any trends or industry averages. Or, share you opinion - how much should digital copies cost?
Comments
Plus, I think people will tend to think (rightly or wrongly) that digital should be noticeably cheaper than print, and the more you can get away with making the digital copy closer to a cheaper price, the more impulse buys you'll potentially have.
A caveat: this is my uninformed opinion by someone who doesn't have to (yet) make a living or profit off this stuff, so take my "go as cheap as possible" advice with a healthy grain of salt.
Instead the focus seems to be almost entirely on the cost of production (and by "production", I mostly mean printing and distribution ... the notion that creators need to be paid escapes them). They tolerated price increases in the 1990s that were explained by higher printing costs (read: "our print runs are a fraction of what they used to be"), and now when you take the printing out of the equation altogether, they apparently expect prices to drop to 1990 levels.
Now, this might not be the case for someone who is doing sales directly from their website. Becky, for instance, does a lot of self pubbed mini comics and such, and so her income could be wildly different than mine. But for me, Comixology is wildly, worryingly dominant.
But if money is necessary, I would say .99 cents because as a consumer it doesn't hurt my wallet and if you have cover that strikes my fancy, I would at least check out the 1st issue and see what its about.