When the Siren Calls 99c in July
But 99c is enough to grab top quality fiction that will entertain us for 12 hours or so, and that we can enjoy time and again for the rest of our life. How good a deal is that? For about the price of a trashy tabloid newspaper, we can enjoy the magic of story, we can be transported off to times, places and events where we can lose ourselves in tales about heroes we can identify with, who triumph against the odds and who change and grow in the process. It’s why one of our earliest needs and fondest memories is captured in the question, “please Dad/Mum, tell me a story.”
Think for a second what goes into a good book. In my case, if you will allow me to include my books in that category, is often years of creative effort: an idea is nurtured, a plot is developed, a manuscript is crafted, a draft is painstakingly edited and reviewed, until finally, after perhaps two years of focused work, it is considered ready for release, ready for the court of public opinion, where some will love it, some will hate it but, hopefully, every reader will appreciate the passion and dedication of the author.
Or at least that is what should happen ! Unfortunately, it’s not always the case, and well intended authors, tempted by the new possibilities of the digital world, by the facility to crash out 70,000 words on a laptop in a race to the finish line, and then to upload those words to the ethernet in minutes, can damage the whole brand of the ebook.
A sensual thriller for 99c
Okay, I agree it’s not the end of the world if we invest 99c in a book that we then find we don’t like. But it is irritating if spelling, grammatical and stylistic failings – the errors that can only exist because of a lack of professional editing – get in the way of our enjoyment of the story. But the good news is we need never have that bad experience, we just need to source our ebooks via reputable channels where people who are passionate about books ensure every book they feature is reviewed and evaluated by a professional that they trust. And here I’m going to mention two particularly super sources, BookBub and Awesome Indies.
BookBub is a commercial operation. BookBub likes books at 99c because at that price thousands of readers, often tens of thousands of readers, will buy them. (And some authors have sold over a million ebooks at 99c.) Authors pay to have their book featured on the BookBub site, but I know more authors that have had their book submission turned down by BookBub than I know who have had their book accepted. There are many reasons for this, including quality reasons. A submission needs, amongst other things, to have a track record of positive reviews. So if you want to browse a great selection of books, get yourself over to BookBub now and grab a bargain at 99c.
Despite their best efforts, the folks at BookBub cannot read every book that is submitted to them. If they did that, they wouldn’t be able to offer the service to authors at the price they do (the service is free to readers). So, like the rest of us, BookBub sometimes fall victim to schill reviews on Amazon (it is estimated that around 30% of all reviews on Amazon are “fake”). Which brings me to the not-for-profit Awesome Indies, my absolute top recommendation for books where the quality is guaranteed, where you won’t find any rogue books that have slipped through the net. And this is because Awesome Indies has a professional reviewer read every book before they feature it. So, while Awesome Indies cannot offer the depth and breadth of selection that BookBub does, every book they feature ticks the quality box, guaranteed.
So, is 99c the sweet spot for ebooks? If you’re an aspiring author, I believe so. It’s the price at which you have a realistic possibility of selling tens of thousands of books. If you’re an avid reader, 99c is also a smart price to buy. 99c offers quality and choice without the drawbacks you often find with ‘free’ books; you can of course pay more for your ebooks, but unless it’s from an author you follow or for some other specific reason, why would you do that?
Awesome Indies Approved
If you like to browse the web for eBooks, keep your eye out for the Awesome Indies AIA logo, it’s your guarantee of ”quality independent fiction for the discerning reader.” So click onto Awesome Indies now and replenish your library with the best fiction that is out there.