Hit Restart – Hilary Goldstein

Price My Book

Even Swamp Creatures Get the Blues is almost ready for release. All that remains is a last touch of formatting and the finished cover. Because eBook publishing is so quick, it’s possible my first short story collection will be available on Kindle, Nook, and iBook by the end of the week. Expect a print version for you old schoolers available on Amazon.com at the end of July.

One decision remains and I could use your help. I need to set the price of the eBook version. And I’m looking for your honest input. Here’s some deets:

Even Swamp Creatures Get the Blues collects 15 stories, packed into 272 pages. Some will make you laugh. Some will make you sad. All will make you happy to have spend some dough to support an emerging artist. The eBook version will include exclusive commentary on the various stories, not available in the print version. Note that the print version will likely sell for $13.95.

How much would you pay for this book? Your vote will absolutely influence the price set for the eBook version.

Stay on top of the latest news about my upcoming work. Sign up for The Hilary Goldstein Express.

33 Comments

    You left IGN and because of that we never got to spoon. I think $9.99 is fair. I feel as though you owe me a great experience and I owe you greatly for said experience.

  • I definitely agree with Robin, $8.99 sounds good for the eBook. The price for the print copy you mentioned sounds good, have you managed to find yourself a snazzy cover for it yet?

    Cover art makes the world go ’round.

    • One Mr. Arthur Gies is working on it right now!

    I’m thinking that 8.99$ sounds reasonable.
    Cheaper than the print version, but still high enough to be put on sale once it’s in that situation.

  • As an avid reader of short story collections, it would be nice to know which of the included stories have appeared in other publications. Even if they’re small online journals, it helps to know what kind of stories I will be buying.

    That being said, 10 bucks is a reasonable price for a short story collection by a breakout author.

    • Sure thing, Luke.

      Seven Sins for Seven Dwarves was published in the May/June 2010 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
      The Dream Eater was published in Gargoyle #56 and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize
      Even Swamp Creatures Get the Blues appeared in Rosebud #24

      • when you put your book up on the site will it have that it was nominated for the Pushcart Prize because if so you might be able to have a foot for asking $8-$9 for it!?

        • Well, a story in it was nominated, not the whole book. Price is justified by purchases. If people buy it, the price was right.

    I’d pay $7.99, BUT that’s because I know who you are. If you want your book to sell to impulse buyers–and widen your audience–you probably should be thinking about $2.99 or $3.99. Then you can charge more for your following books.

    • Andy makes an excellent point just to start out sell low and once you are established start selling for more. Now even more reasons to get a Nook or Kindle.

    • you are right…but it also influences behavior. Having people invest a little will also urge them to actually read it.

      You have a little name recognizion and an above-average amount of ‘ambasadors’. 7,99 sounds about right. For a book that I expect to be mostly dependant of social-marketing and trial-buyers.

    Cheaper is better for the Amazon store. Since you are doing this on your own, you won’t have a huge push to get you advertised. People are much more inclined to try a book from a new author for 5 or 6 as opposed to ten. You should be thinking about the impulse buy group, which is huge on Amazon and the Nook store.

    • True. But there is an old adage: “You can’t put cheap on sale.”

    Any chance of an audio book version?

    • Definitely a plan to do an audio of one of the stories to start. We’ll see. Need to find someone good to read it!

      • You should get Nate Ahern.

      • Ohai.

        • Levi’s sultry tones would be wonderful!

        • You might be surprised what I would pay for this audiobook.

          • A billiondy dollars?

        Daemon Hatfield has an awesome voice, tone and reading ability, if he’s not too busy…

        • He is kinda busy.

        Onyett! It would be amazing.

        Or Greg. You could get some free publicity for having the audiobook with the worlds most mispronounced words.

        • Hmm… but Charles hates me.

    Couldnt be bothered converting it to english pounds, but I clicked $9.99 I think thats like £7 :/

  • I chose $10 because I couldn’t find $100.

    Anyways, good to see that we’ll get to see your post IGN work soon. Day 1 purchase for me

    • I’ll make a special pricing just for you…

    Sounds great i cant wait! I would pay 9.99$!

  • Any chance we could get a couple page preview?

    • Once it is up at Amazon, you can use their preview function to read about 10% of the book. But there are some other things to come soon!

    I’m not gonna buy this book so why are you asking me?

Leave a Reply