To drive home my point about needing a competitive cover price, I spoke with an author I'm representing today and he told me about getting a letter from Barnes and Noble's stocking division. In summation, the letter told the author his book's cover price was too high and the topic was over done.
I agree that his topic is popular but he put a unique spin on the topic which makes me think the person reviewing the title didn't even open the book but that's not here nor there. The point that is irrefutable is the cover price is too high!
This author's book is over 400 pages with a cover price of $31.95. You may be thinking that's not so bad but the book is paperback. If you were in Barnes & Noble looking at books and you see a book that is the same size for $20.00 along the same topic, which one are you going to buy?
He asked me if he should ask his publisher to lower his cover price. My response was that I will never discourage an author from asking for a more competitive cover price but not to set his hopes too high. His publisher doesn't think he'll sell many books so they are going to keep the profit margin as high as logically possible to earn money. It's harsh but true.
I am proud of this author for hiring an editor. Unfortunately, he hired a line editor but not a copy editor. While the manuscript is clean of typos, the flow of the book needs a little help. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy reading his book and since it's a reference book, I am still re-reading sections. The problem is he jumps between topics in a very distracting way.
I wish he would have read my blog before publishing!!!
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