Thursday, July 16, 2020

An ode to my Kindle

I spent this past week considering my digital footprint. Often, it feels like I live two lives, one as an author, the other as an educator. My educator’s digital footprint, if I’m being honest, is probably more sound than my author’s, and that’s something I spent this past week working on.

I launched my new website, finally got around to straightening out my Twitter account (it’s been hacked twice, and my password was deemed irretrievable, so I had to start over). Has anyone out there tried to contact Twitter’s customer service? Don’t.

But I digress. Among all this, I took a look at my Kindle offerings. I have the good fortune of owning my Kindle titles, so I can set the prices, something I’ve been considering and reconsidering the past few weeks. How much should an ebook cost? What’s a price that encourages sales? I read this article, but didn’t learn a lot.

As a consumer, I hesitate to “buy” a book that’s free. I’ve heard people say they won’t buy one that’s “too cheap,” assuming the worst about the title’s quality. Fair? Who knows. But perception continues to be reality.

So I’m curious, Type M readers, what’s an enticing Kindle price?

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All of this leads me to another topic –– the benefits of a Kindle.

As a life-long lover of books, I enjoy the smell of books, the feel of pages turning, the weight of a physical book on my palm. As a dyslexic, the new dyslexic-friendly font, Dyslexie, on my Kindle is life-changing. I recently told a friend: “This is how you’ve been reading since we were kids.” Reading has never been easy, per se. It’s always been enjoyable, a large part of my life, but the new font allows me to read faster than ever. It’s made my Kindle a large part of my life.

3 comments:

  1. I find the price of Kindles to be around 15%-20% higher than they should be for me to consider buying one. Since Amazon will then have the option of selling you titles to read on your Kindle, they should make them more attractive price-wise. I'm certain their profit margins could handle it. In the long run, it might well fatten up their bottom line.

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  2. I didn't know there was a dyslexia friendly font. Very interesting. I read about half of my books on my Paperwhite and about half as "real" books. I check out a lot of ebooks out of the library. For books I buy, if they're under $5, I'll consider buying. Over that price, it's a hard sell for me.

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  3. I agree with Sybil. $5 is a very attractive price. Nevertheless, if it's a book I really want--a classic or a book I've loved in the past, I will go higher.

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