In today's economy most of us are on budgets that are beyond tight. Never have we needed hope, optimism and a belief in the future more. And never could we afford it less.
Traditionally published romances average around $7.99 and new releases by some publishers top the $12 mark. If you're trying to make a house payment and keep your lights on - how can you justify spending that money for a book? Most of us can't these days. We simply can't.
Yet you can pick up many indie romances for as little as 99 cents. I published The Duke of Eden on Amazon as a serial before I finished the full. There are 3 parts of the serial up at Amazon. Each sells for 99 cents and the full sells for $2.99. It's easier to pick up the book in 1 installment, but if your budget won't allow it, then pick it up a piece at a time. Most writers who sell serial stuff only put out little chunks, a chapter or so at a time, making the whole book much more expensive than just buying a regular novel.
I didn't do that. I put out big chunks of Duke and only charged 99 cents for each. And when I published the full for $2.99, I left the serial up, even though it costs me higher priced sales of the full. Why? Because I get it. I'm with you. I understand. I'm in the same place you are with my budget and I refuse - I absolutely refuse- to unpublish the lower priced option.
Many folks haven't tried indie romance. Somehow, they consider indie work to be inferior and unworthy. Or that's what they've heard, anyway. Well, in today's economy when traditional publishers don't consider your bottom line, maybe this is the best time to give indie romance a shot. Lord knows, the news is full of gloom and doom. Creditors are calling, nasty letters come in the mail and many of us are paying bills in chunks.
More than ever, people need regular doses of the kind of hope, optimism and happy endings that they get from romance novels. Remember the old commercials that talked about "Miller time?" Well - it's INDIE TIME.
Most indie romance sells for $2.99 or less. You can pick up A Faerie Fated Forever for free at almost every ebook site on the planet right now. Don't let the high prices charged by traditional publishers deprive you of the hope and optimism that helps fuel you to keep on keeping on until it gets better. And it will. We all know it will.
By the time things improve, I hope that indie romance has become your first choice. Indie authors are doing some of the best, most creative, most cutting edge work out there. Once you go indie, you may not want to go back.
And why should you?