Not that I disagree with what you’re saying, however, Jenny Bones. On the contrary, I’m on your side: I deplore the .99 cent E-book. It cheapens it, in every way.

I’m an indie author, one novel published five months ago. I originally priced the Kindle version at £4.43 ($6.91) which included VAT.

At the beginning of this month I reduced the price to under a pound/dollar, as an experiment to see if it would encourage more sales through pricing. It was a tough decision.

Aside from – or despite, even – territory rights and download fees, I cannot YET see any benefits to Kindle taking a 65% cut. I have a sense that I’m seeking a holy grail that doesn’t exist. I’ll let you know how it goes. Though I’ll say now, I do feel like I am under-valuing my creativity, it doesn’t sit well, but I’m sure I’ll change my mind if sales rocket!

I think it’s important to note that one self-published author – with some several years’ experience under his belt – has assured me that sales do get better, gradually, slowly; that he markets enthusiastically should also be noted.

Pricing is just one element of the marketing mix, after all. There’s so much more to it, as you’ve so brilliantly pointed out.

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2012/05/harlequin-fail.html 

Also, .99 can make you a decent amount of money if you’re working on the long tail. One of the reasons why .99 can be appealing, and viable to an author, is because there’s no pressure from a big publisher to sell a certain amount of volume in a short period of time. There’s no pressure to earn out your advance or to make killer sales and there’s no threat from a publisher of being cut if you only perform decently. So people can afford to keep their prices at .99 and build up sales volume and a readership overtime. You have to consider authors who aren’t putting out low quality work but can no longer publish a past series because their publisher canned them for mediocre sales. So .99 isn’t a bad option for some people. .99 makes sense to some and the important thing for any author is to make sure that decision makes sense for YOU. I’m really tired of people choosing to price at .99 because that’s what everyone’s doing, and not because it makes sense as a business model to THEIR situation. And like Jenny mentioned, if you only have ONE book, and that’s your only book, your only baby that you’re going to release into the wild, then .99 is shooting yourself before you start. Especially if an author has plans of making decent money. At this point, it’s following the herd mentality.  

As for pricing at 9.99, I might just be in the wrong genre. Because I have a hard time swallowing a 8.99 or 9.99 price tag right now as a consumer. But that’s because all the books I buy would be 6.99 as a paperback. So my sweet spot for my genre is between 4.99 and 7.99. 7.99 is the highest I’d pay for a genre fiction book and I’d only pay it as a new release. But this shows that my price point and Anne’s price point are entirely different depending on what we read and what audience that is. I’ll pay more for non-fiction. But like, Anne, I won’t pay more than the print version of a book. 

If your audience doesn’t blink at 9.99, go for it! More power to you. But if your audience thinks you’re price gouging them, you need to think about what your pricing strategy will be. But inevitably, I think what it comes down to is knowing your audience, and knowing that each author should CHOOSE the path that fits them. Not just follow the herd. Not give in to peer pressure. But make a decision as to where their career is going and stick by it. 

And I know from my own researches back in the day, and it’s worse now, you have to do a grand chunk of your own marketing anyway, unless you are one of the very top-most peeps.

At a reading last year, I heard from one of the authors, small, respected, a bunch of titles out there what they paid her per book.

It’s appalling. I’m pretty sure it’s not even minimum wage, for something that’s nowhere near minimum-wage work.

Do we want to emulate or do we want to do better than? :>

THAT’S a good Q, and one I’m currently pondering as I get my own books together, both fiction & non-fiction.