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Comment by wccrawford | Hacker News Reader

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.

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I think the 99c price point provides a lower level of risk, especially when the book is in the charts. You don't know whether or not you'll like the book. At $12.99 you may as well go to a bookshop not to buy the book but to try a few pages. At $2.99 you might be put off by the book's price because you don't know the author, but the risk is fairly low. At 99c the book is going to cost less than a newspaper.

If all books were 99c I'd definitely jump. At that point you're seriously disrupting print media to the point where future generations would refer to this period as a dark age.

Amazon offers samples of books before you buy (usually the first chapter, or more if it is short) and that kind of solves the try a few pages problem.

I think most people just are more willing to fork over 99 cents for a mediocre book rather than 8 dollars for a decent one.

I have a kindle but sadly prices aren't set for my market (the used papberback shopper).

While you are probably right, I find it sad that people would rather read lots of mediocre books than a few good ones. But maybe I just value my time more than most people.

I don't have time to read mediocre books. I've found myself buying a number of ebooks and putting them aside, at several price points. I think I am more wary of the sub $9 ebooks, which may not make sense, but there you are.

Exactly. A book that I can read and enjoy is worth $10 or $20 minimum. A book I can look up for a familiar reference, maybe a bit less than that. A book that I will dismiss soon after starting it isn't worth the space it takes.

All these books under $5 are, from my point of view, priced so you take a chance on something you don't know. Not for me. However, if a book I know I will use (and therefore worth North of $20) happens to be priced at $5, then so much the better.

Maybe for speed readers that's the case. IMO though, life is too short to read mediocre books if there are better ones you could be reading (same is true of mediocre music and movies).

I have actually used the samples both to choose unknown books and ignore popular books. They are quite useful.

But even with that, the unknown book still felt like a risk at the $8 it was priced at. (It turned out to be really good until just before the end, then it went downhill fast. I didn't buy the sequel.)

Had the book been $3 I'd have been perfectly happy and probably bought the sequel as well. At $.99 it would have been a sure thing.

You don't know whether or not you'll like the book.

Under EU Distance Selling Directive, you can return the book for a full refund within 7 days for any reason, even if you changed your mind.

USA Amazon sites seem to honour this and allow you to get a refund within 7 days.

I'm not sure if Amazon's policy of 70% royalties for 2.99+ books will make any difference. Expectations are dramatically lowered (and reviews are inversely related) for 99 cent books compared to 3-dollar books.

I was amazed to read the overflowing positive reviews of a 99 cent book that was so poorly edited and written that I had to stop reading it. The reviews lauded the author's ability to entertain at such a low price. I'm not sure how many authors can give up such positive reviews (fueled by low expectations).

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