Interesting. My sense is that when people are buying paper books for their friends, then the content is new to each of the friends, and it's fair to charge another $15 each time as well as the $4 for the paper. But if I want a spare copy for myself, or maybe a replacement, then it seems fair to only pay $4 for the paper.

Hey Derek!
Contents of my book: $15
Delivery of all digital formats: FREE
Paper? Just cover its cost: $4 each (+ postage)

Makes perfect sense. As usual, you are exceedingly REASONABLE!

(Wish you were still in charge of CD Baby.)

Love, Iasos

Sounds fair and makes sense, Derek, the way you're doing it.

Makes perfect sense. Creative thinking and problem resolution. Of course, those are dangerous concepts.

I would allow the purchaser a limited amount of $4. copies. He could be going into business with your one $15 +$4. book. I agree with the free ebook but not audio. Audio has another cost especially if you are not the narrator.

Yes, but ... here's the thing: our ideas come to us for free. I never paid a nickel for an idea. The right thing to do, it seems to me, is to pass along our creative work, to the greatest extent possible, absolutely for free. I'm a composer. I send free PDFS and mp3s of my scores to anybody who wants to discover my life's work. Same with my books though I do enclose a letter asking them to consider contributing some amount to the funding of my forthcoming CD. Sometimes I designate a charity for the profits from my books. But the great thing is to give it away. We can all find other ways to pay the bills. Artists ought not turn their art into a commodity for sale. They ought to just give it away. And even then, money flows back to you, without your even asking for it. Rick Sowash www.sowash.com

Some industries unfortunately still try to milk as much out of a consumer by charging separate pricing for different current and future formats.
E.g. a music consumer may have paid for each an 8-Track, Cassette, Vinyl, CD, and Digital Download of the same album.

As always, Derek: thoughtful, practical and brilliant. May you set the new standard: wouldn't be the first time. ;-)

I'm working on a book now and am going to apply these principles for sure. Thanks, Derek!

derek,

i think that's a very good strategy. although it does stand to reason that the content is new to each person who receives a copy from a friend, we both know the power of word of mouth. if you have anything else for them to buy from you then they are much more likely to do so. Perhaps you add a suggestion in the intro that if you'd received your copy secondhand and would like to make a contribution to the artist...

in any event, the joy of creation is its own payment. the perks of sharing it with others helps us to feel our connection to the collective. the business of art is another creation entirely. what we end up doing is what we end up becoming. and if we want a specific relationship with the world around us, and a world based on the precepts of that relationship (such as a free society, or one based on love, or a money-hungry-get-all-you-can-and-fuck-everybody-else world) then we simply treat the world as we wish it to be. We all contribute to the collective sense of value by what we value. There is a simple power in treating reality as a raw material that we shape by our actions and beliefs.

But then, you know all that already, don't you?

Keep on truckin'.

It's an interesting DTC approach, but it only works if you are the only one selling the product...

One of the benefits of selling through retailers like Amazon is that they make it easy to stumble onto products that I didn't know I needed.

Growing your audience without a large marketing budget or partner is challenging.

I love to hear you preach... but I'm already a member of your choir... :)

TOTALLY unfair. ;) As far as I am concerned, your work has been priceless. I cannot even count the number of times I have applied “Hell yes, or no” to my own business and relationships and mentoring. I have taught more people about that phrase and it’s impact on their life than almost any others story I retell. And I’m just talking about that one phrase, not even all the contents of the book(s). Thank you, for me and on behalf of everyone who has met me.

IDK 🤷🏻‍♀️ What happens when copies of your book are sold by people who received it as a gift and they undercut you ? Ack.

Great thoughts as usual Derek. Thank you for sharing them.

I have wanted to get multiple copies to share so this makes great sense.
I love the feel of the paper and the font and being able to share it this way with more is the answer.

Hell Yeah or No is the only book in my huge library that faces out. I want it to face out for more people.
Making it accessible this way in the end will give me the chance to spread what I love about your ideas and it inspires me to do exactly the same and copy you when my book comes out and with my music,
Buy the vinyl, get the download. Seems only fair.
You are my inspiration, and I want my patients and friends and all others to experience it on my budget.
Lovingly,
Leesa

You’re ahead of the curve and on to something. I bought 3 copies of the book, listened to the audiobook multiple times, and this was a big reason why.

Your method is genius in so many ways: it’s priced right, it’s customer focused, it builds loyalty, and it exponentially grows reach (people will buy more, give them out, and provide word of mouth as raving fans). Really hoping this catches on!

Do I smell the beginnings of Book Baby :)

Derek, please wave your magic wand so this becomes the norm! I have come across this issue so many times, thank you for putting this in writing and action. :)

Also agree about audio books having an additional cost so in this case, perhaps a bundle cost for an 'all inclusive' package that includes all formats; all digital, 1st paper, 2nd paper & audio book.

Much gratitude and appreciation.
E

Derek,

As usual, you come up with an idea that just makes sense. The logic is not only reasonable but smart because this pricing strategy benefits everyone and encourages more consumption of your content. Well done mate!

Cheers,
Doug

Yes, please address #1 from Charles.
Thank you for everything!

These comments are great. Interesting perspectives and concerns.

...

I like it. A signature Sivers move. I've never enjoyed paying multiple times for the same content, in a different format. This would seem mostly appropriate for books.

It also gives you a reasonable option for replacing your own paper copy if/when you give it away, or lose it.

The sales/distro of the contents is the last phase, I presume, after considering costs of writing, editing, design, conversion, recording and production of all formats, then promotions -- which could likely get to be quite expensive.

I may be overthinking this, but for new or unknown authors, they'd likely have to take a more traditional publishing route, at least for their first book, or two... And how does one recupe the costs of production/converting to future formats?

Great article to make ya think.

That kind of policy will make people happy to support the writer.

Hey Derek!

Personally, with any book I get - I usually only ever get a paperback or hard copy that I can mark up and put on the shelf. I'd be more interested in a nice discount to buy like 10 books to share, as I do that more often than getting a free audio book, ebook etc.

Hope you're well my friend!


Benjamin.

Yep, innovative and customer friendly as always.

I bought the books for myself, and ten extra copies to give away on my blog ^-^

ooooooh this is very nice!

What if you went even simpler?

All formats (including first paper book): $19 + Shipping
Subsequent Paper Books: $4 each + Shipping

Don't want the paper book? Check "Donate my paper book" and nix the shipping (but still get all digital goodies).

I love this idea!
If copying does become a problem, the licence for the content could come with a token (likely an NFT) to unlock the digital content on readers. If readers don’t or won’t support that type of solution, it would be a pretty easy software to write.

I am a visual artist best known for her books. Book pricing for a visual artist is a completely other subject than publishing printed text.

To be an art object, the book has to be printed on paper. The paper has to be opaque, so that the art is not marred by a shadow of the illustration on the opposite side of the page. The color reproduction has to allign closely with the artist's intentions as the designer of the work. The book's size and dimensions are important, too, since it frames the artworks within it. These considerations make printing expensive. Most people will not pay large sums for a paperback book, but they might for a hardbound book of artwork. Can one publish a book of 4-color illustrations and price it low enough to sell as a paperback book? How about if one plans to sell the book wholesale to booksellers?

These are the sorts of things I think about when I read the phrase "Considerate book pricing."

A random idea for how it could be presented to customers:

1) Own a copy of the words $15

2) Obtain a copy of the words:
- in one or more of these formats: EPUB, MP3, Kindle, M4B, PDF, HTML — FREE
- paperback - paper & printing costs — $4 each
- hardback - paper & printing costs — $4 each

I wish your kind of thinking permeated the marketplace but alas...

For example, I own a car, a pickup truck and a motorcycle. Since there is only one of me (the universe is interesting that way) I can only drive one vehicle at a time. Yet my insurance provider treats each vehicle independently.

To make matters even more frustrating, I'm in Canada where the country is covered with snow for at least 4 months of the year; so neither my motorcycle nor my roadster are suitable winter transportation. The difference between parking insurance vs driving isn't worth the hassle of changing status... and they don't allow parking insurance for motorcycles regardless.

I do like the idea of the 1st copy costing more. But if you are sending print books to friends / family /etc the ideas are spreading and as a content creator you should reap some reward, so maybe split the difference and charge $10 for each additional book so its reasonable for the buyer but still provides a benefit for the creator.

Love it. I was guessing your pricing was something like that. I was when I ordered the newest book, that I could also order previous books for $4 each. I was able to give some friends copies of books I thought they would relate too.

Whatever you charge, Derek, your content is priceless.

Sorry to be the only one who doesn't get it, but if I buy a paper book for $19, does that mean I then have access to all the other formats?

Thanks, Susan

I love the policy, having “discovered” it several days ago when I downloaded your three books in all formats. And I received the hard cover version of “How To Live” today.

The smell of the inked paper. The feel of the linen cover.

Oh my..

This is a wonderful model and I've enjoyed every book-buying experience from your store. While I never really understood the free mp3 download card that often comes with a vinyl record, I appreciate the opportunity it affords. I am an avid book collector and it blows my mind that if I want the kindle version of the book to take with me when I travel I am often charged more than the original paper version I originally purchased. Per usual, you're light years ahead of the crowd. Appreciate you, Derek!

I loved that you did this. And I'd happily something similar for my first/next book. But how complicated is this to do for a not-so-tech-savvy person??

For marketing reasons and to better communicate the intent, I'd suggest a base price for the content and charge for EACH delivery method (with options for bundles at a discount). Even if it's $1 or $0.25 for digital delivery, this recognizes that delivery DOES cost money (developing the infrastructure, bandwidth and storage costs, etc...).

So instead of $15 for the content and free downloads, how about $14 and $1 for downloads? etc...

Here's where your own system might get stuck; if you insist on the customer buying a physical copy, with the other formats being add-ons, then world-wide postage adds a component that could become a barrier (that is less likely to be an issue if you sold via a mass retailer).

Makes sense. Curious on your thoughts for Audio books. While you don’t have the extra cost of paper, you have the extra cost of recording the book in audio (whether your narrate it or you pay someone else to do it). I guess that cost is marginal if you sell enough copies and diminishes with every copy you sell a lot faster (after some point) then the cost of print.
The $4 cost for a paper copy for all the friends you want to gift a book to is very generous and I appreciated it as a customer. The downside is a potential vector of abuse. Let’s say you wrote an insanely popular book. I purchase one copy of it digitally, order 10000 paper copies for $4 each. Then decide I don’t want to gift it and instead sell it on say eBay for $10 per copy, which is a cheaper price point obviously for someone else that would like to buy your book (they would only pay $10 instead of $15).

It's not an idea that can go main stream . But the mentality behind it is so nice and admirable .

I think it's something that only certain writers with certain character and mindset may choose to do.

It makes total sense, Derek.

Always look up to your unconventional way of doing things, which reflects a great deal of clear thinking.

Call me off topic, but some things need to be said.

Derek, I got your hardcopy book and then—guess what? I don't even know if I downloaded the various digital things.
Call me old fashioned, but the other stuff is not relevant in my life.

My car, when not in "radio silence" mode, is for music, and mayyyybe for nonfiction. NEVER fiction, because how can I be involved in a fiction-dream state, and still be watching the road properly? I don't want to drive while shouting to the character, "No, don't open that door!"

I don't "distract and drive" either. I hate to be turning a corner just when a real (or fictional) lady yells over the speaker, "Sean, we're pregnant!"

Speaking of road trips, when I cross the plains to Edmonton and park, the first place I go to is an antique book store (on Whyte avenue) Lately I have been buying beautiful "folio books" each in it's own in hard slip cover. Meant to be displayed, like art. Maybe such buying is foolish, because where will I put them all?

As for Alice at #26, who speaks of art and art books, I treasure having a number of big books with classic pictures that I can peruse and put back. Like with a poetry book. My favourite artist is Renoir because of his people and colours.

I like pretty content, like that symbolically turquoise cover and the words therein. Meanwhile all other forms of delivery, and the pricing talk, are like algebra class: my eyes glaze over.

Interesting that the email for this article comes as I’m considering my pricing for my latest guitar instructional course book. I definitely like your pricing method since first being introduced to it when I bought your book “Your Music and People.” But what if you don’t have a major audience/following like yourself? Would Amazon and other publishing distributors be the way to go until you build your fan base?

I just thought of this: how can I get the various formats for “Anything You Want” since I purchased the paperback years ago?

I love the pricing model. It incentivizes people to go digital too.

I like it! 👍🏽

The idea is good. But only one paper copy to the suggested price (4 dollars). Friends are new customers and new receivers of your hard work and therefore full price for more copies.

Great Idea.

I see an argument saying that when you buy a next paper copy and gift it, the content is new to the person receiving.

That's correct, but with paper I can even lend my book to a friend. In this scenario, the price for content is "zero". I only will lend the book if the price is too high. When the price is considerate, I will generously buy and gift to my friends.

RV.

You’re a great person, Derek, and a force for good. Many times reading an article of yours gets my creativity going but also changes my outlook for the better.

Your passion shines through your writing and your work. I wish you continued success and I’m grateful to have come across your work. Thank you.

How many copies of $15 you need to recover your overhead - your time, effort and expense - you have put in to write this book?

Does break-even matter to you? Why it is $15 not more or less.

Things I like about this article; the subject matter at hand, they ways it's explained and the fact that it challenges an existing system. I for one would like to buy books in paper and audio always, maybe even with QCR codes to pick up where I left off.

Thanks for writing in general, and specifically this.

I love the idea of having multiple mediums to access the same content, and $15 feels like a steal! I never mind paying full price to gift books to friends.

Thank You for the kindness and thoughtfulness. I can’t find any other word to say it. Whenever possible, we should always give back instead of just received. Your pricing reflects that kindness.

Common sense, smart sales as always. which is why I pay attention to what you do. Kudos, cheers, Bravo, follows etc

I've had similar thoughts for streaming services for a while. I don't like the fact that essentially you have to pay many subscriptions if you want to have a good catalogue of movies/series to watch. And you're probably getting access to the popular ones in multiple platforms. To make things worse, when they decide to remove the niche content that you love, you can't do anything about it. What I would like, instead, is that you buy the rights for a movie, and then you can watch that movie in any streaming service (the one you like the most), just paying for the streaming costs, not the content. You'd also own the rights forever. I think it's stupid that I have the DVD of a movie at home and I need to pay a subscription if I want to watch it online.

It may sound ambitious, but with today's technology this is totally doable; in particular using distributed technologies — streaming services shouldn't have to keep a copy of all movies ever in their servers. The problem with lackluster catalogues is not a technological one.

With books though, it's not *that* bad (yet), because at least once you buy it you theoretically have it forever (even online). One worry I'd have with the way you sell paperbooks is reselling, I'm not sure all those people who bought 500 copies are going to give them away to friends... So some people are getting them without paying for the rights to the content. But I guess you don't care about that :).

Need I say anything? I’m just into “27 Statements”, I prefer handheld, finding it to be one of your best efforts in any form. Was already thinking of getting copies for a number of family and friends. You do have a knack for spotting market opportunities.
Thanks brother!

Derek, thank you for sharing your thoughts!
I absolutely like your idea as well as the way you think.
You inspired me to think about value when you are talking about cost, thats priceless!

Fair and reasonable! Thank you.

Such a refreshing idea. Thank you!

i just received the 2 books: How to Live & Hell Yeah Or No

first time getting digital formats first after paying.

now i get why you're doing it this way.

awesome. totally agree. this should be with all written content.

btw i have used the pdf & html at different times with different devices in different locations, so yes it does work for me very well.

love it.

BUT it only seems fair for you to receive profits on the extra 20 books that are bought and given to friends. Otherwise, the only people that are benefiting from your book being spread like wildfire to others by gifters are the publishing companies. That said, it's a very efficient form of marketing for others that will potentially love the book to have access to it through word-of-mouth, and you don't want those gifters to bear a heavy burden for sharing/marketing your good work.

So, what about something like:

All digital formats: $15
First paper book: $19
Paper books after you’ve bought the contents: $6 each

Interesting and reasonable, yet not perfect (and can't be perfect for everyone). For instance, gifting the physical book is not just gifting the paper, you are also gifting the content as well. And the ideas may have different value to different people, shouldn't it be priced differently following the similar logic. And what if I never read the book after bought it, do I get the money back? In a ideal world, the book should be distributed close to the direct cost, and the readers pay what ever they think it worth the price after reading it... The problem is that we don't live in an ideal world, therefore I would say nice try and let's see how it goes.

I like the idea 🤗

Hey Derek!

Re: the different formats - that’s amazing. It should be like that, and yet, it’s easy to take it for granted when you give us all these delivery options. Why is that?

I think content for friends/clients, etc. should be priced separately. New user, new content (to them).

But I also understand the value of having someone gifting 500 copies (or even 5 copies) - this is largely possible due to this pricing scheme.

How about a compromise?

If it’s for you, $4. If it’s a gift, $8.

Another option could be to leave it up to us, the buyers. $4 minimum, pay whatever you want after that.
I think that us, your followers, truly value your work, and if we can, we’d love to pay what we believe a fair price is.

Hope this helps! And thanks again for all your work!

Excellent and fair (consumer wise) idea!chapeau, Derek!

The solution makes sense to you as well as your readers like me!
But, it is because you are in control.
How about not tech writers?
The Amazons of the world constantly exploit them.
Do you have any solutions for them?

I never thought about this pricing principle. WHen I bought your book because I wanted a cardcopy and I knew it was extremely valuable so I just bought it. It was a surprise for me that I did not need to pay the audio and also easy for me to share with other people. e.g. my partner likes listening so I shared with him. He looves the book and your personality. To respond to the reader who mentions "because you are in control " I think it is because you spent years to share useful content , which gives you the flexibility of the pricing. For starters, perhaps, focusing more on sharing free content first, then they will earn the "creativity" and "flexibility".

"With so many different devices now, it seems fair that if you buy the contents of a book, it should include all formats of delivery. EPUB, MP3, Kindle, M4B, PDF, HTML, or whatever new formats may come in the future."

Right on point. It would be great if the books bought on iPad I could consume on a Kindle. Because the other way around is possible, as the Kindle App is available on the iPad/iPhone. Oh, well ...

Agree with the principle and THANK YOU for this! It makes so much sense to buy the book and get it in different formats.

However, the split doesn't seem quite right nor honours the value creation or other costs involved.

I'd split it as
1. Content: the words in a book.
2. Production: paper, digital, video, ... = media that facilitates how the words get into the brain.
3. Delivery: how to get the content packaged in meaningful ways I can enjoy (1 & 2)

It doesn't make sense to pay for different digital formats, assuming the production covers all of them.
But I want to get a wonderful paper book or pleasant to listen audio book — like your paper version and audio books. I think it's fair to contribute for great content and production. If they are put together in the content bucket fine, but it is fair to honour the craft behind both parts.

The delivery is relative, one should pay for posting and environmental impact in shipping things around.
The content should be more valued that it is today. Perhaps that's the reason there are so many books and deals to buy in bulk.

I'd rather have less books, less environmental impact but much better ones, like your books ;-)
Thanks for all the effort you put in crafting your content.


All in all, I want to buy the content and get it in all media. I think it's important to keep the value of the content, e.g., 15$. If you charge 15$ or 4$ on second purchases, that's just a discount. But let's not "say" the content values less (costs less) if one buys multiple copies.

Value, costs and discounts (subsidising) are all different things.

Best,
Adler

But the postage is a little expensive, 4$ for the book (+11$ postage) to France in my case..

I think it's a great idea and there is no reason why the online retailers can't do the same. Amazon isn't far off. When you buy a Kindle copy that has whisperync (which I love!) you can buy the audio version for a lot cheaper. I also find that the ebook version of most books are a lot cheaper than the paperback copy anyway, so I think in general this is already happening. I'll often buy the ebook/kindle version with the audio, and then if I love it, I will order the paperback, knowing this is going to cost me more in terms of the book and the postage.

I'm also passionate about supporting authors. They don't earn much, especially when they go through traditional publishers, so I would want to ensure that they are being adequately compensated for their knowledge and creativity.

Love the pricing, really fair and I pay happy for great content as yours. Thanks 🙌

Hi Derek

I like the idea and having your own store and control of your intellectual property allows you to do this.

Unfortunately publishing houses seem to need to squeeze every dollar from their signed artist's output so it might have limited appeal.

If an artist sees their output as their legacy, it is the wider exposure of that art that really matters, once their financial needs are met.

Your books are such a legacy, making the accessible with this strategy seems the perfect approach.

It rewards you for your efforts, allows you to share your wisdom in an accessible form.

It also demonstrates that artists and writers can operate on a more equitable business model (providing the marketing is good)

This approach might offer a business opportunity for someone able to market artist's material with your model and so build an artists portal for minimal additional costs (CD Baby like approach)

Love the concept

Best Wishes

Oz

Totally agree on the fact your should access a book you’ve bought on all formats and platforms. This might be achieved in the (close?) future using NFT/Blockchain to ensure Identity/Ownership?

Regarding the paper copy at 4$, I think it’s a great initiative from you. But I don’t see well the (financial) benefits for the author as I might offer it to a friend who would have bought it anyways. Back to the “ownership” aspect, then it’d mean my friend wouldn’t have access on all formats/platforms, because he just has one of my
copies. If he really like it he might purchase the “ownership” afterwards… and money would get back to the author.

I like the price model as much as I love the books. Great stuff 🤗

The intention is great, but some of that got lost in translation in the shopping cart process.

My experience, as a non US buyer, was to have 11$ slapped at the end of the process. It felt like one of these Instagram purchase experiences where you're forced into "Premium Delivery", something that hides hidden margin, with a bumped up total on the last screen, if not inside the PayPal confirmation.

While it's obvious that Derek wouldn't do something of the sort, the truth remains that I stopped my purchase because of it, and had to talk myself into it for a day before committing to the transaction.

It's a tricky one. One option worth trying would be to ask for the country of delivery upfront, then to
a) go through an Options/Extra model
b) add hover text in the shopping card to explain the process

This way, no "last screen" surprise.
Also, an idea could be to scale the price of book + shipping based on quantity.

====================
Example of screen flow:

Screen 1:
Your country of delivery (country picklist)
Your postcode of delivery (some carriers ask for this)


Screen 2:
** Your purchase - What you get

Book content - all digital formats - 15$
** You get the book for life in all digital formats:
-- Written: HTML, ePUB, etc...
-- Audio: MP£ etc...

Non-signed physical copy, including at cost shipping:
- 1-10 copies: $4.00 per book + fixed $11.00
- 11-50 copies: $3.80 per book + fixed $30.00
- 51+: $4.00 + fixed $80 (calculated based on country)

Non-signed physical copy, including at cost shipping:
(Same as above)

Order summary: (** MUST be on the same screen)
Digital content -- $15
Physical copy - non signed
Physical copy - signed
At cost physical shipping
==================
TOTAL = $xxx.xx

Screen 3:
** Address informaiton
(shipping and billing addresses and info)

Screen 4:
** Order summary and confirmation
(Order detail)
(Total)
(Delivery and billing address - 2 columns)

** PAY $xxx.xx (That bit was very good)

Love the model and love the way you share your workings out with us all.

Seems to me that the push back against the concept comes from two places:

1. The belief that 'others' could profit from your work. i.e sell your $4 for $5 and make a mark up.

2. That the gift of a $4 book from one person to another would deprive you of $11 if that person who was gifted the book was going to go and buy their own.

Both of which are rooted in a place of scarcity. Which is precisely where publishing has come from for well over 500yrs.

IP&C law desperately needs overhauling to incorporate the new way ideas and knowledge are shared today. Currently these laws and the internally coherent commercial practices around them manufacture scarcity and support a form of ownership that doesn't really exist anymore.

The only real push back(and it isn't actually one) is that it takes someone of a certain financial security to take the risk of creating and sharing IP in this way.

For most this is too risky, too scary or to utopian. The cognitive shrouds of cynicism on human nature and assumptions of market forces based on whats happened before step into the void and justify the 'way the world works'.

Thanks again, it's inspiring.

J

Hi Derek,

Cool idea! I'm wondering whether it fits to put the mp3 in the same category. On the one hand you only need to create it once and can then duplicate it indefinitely. On the other hand creating an mp3 on top of the plain text could be a lot of extra effort (no idea how this compares to the effort of creating an epub). In a weird comparison, the words of most songs are available for free, but the mp3 usually costs money. Of course the words are only a small part of the "contents" of a song. If the mp3 of a book is generated using a text-to-speech program it seems completely fair to put it in the same category as the epub. If someone is recording the mp3 and putting a lot of effort into making it sound compelling and pleasant, it might be closer to a performance by an artist. This artistic performance, similar to a recording of a song, could have a different aspect to its value next to the words themselves.

Maybe there should be a place in our minds next to favored authors and musicians for book narrators...

Cheers,
Simon

One last thing: have the signed and non-signed copies at the same price came across as inconsiderate to me.

The signature is time and attention, it's worth something, certainly to the reader (member of the 1,000 fans army). And, as we know: people like to pay.

I'd add $1-2.00, and maybe say that the proceeds of signed copies goes to a charity or something along the lines of that.

A killer idea... to kill some ideas!

Well, in some specific context, it's a really great idea and it can be very efficient.

It can work well, for instance, if the author does not intend to make money directly from the book, but indirectly, from an increase in notoriety, or simply if she doesn't care about the money at all.
It especially makes sense when the recipients of the gifts are unlikely to buy the book themselves.

Now, let's take a different situation. I'll use an example I know particularly well: chess books.

Chess is probably the game with the greatest number of books devoted to it. Hundreds of chess books are released every year. Of course, only a small portion of them are beginner books explaining the rules of the game and basic concepts. Most of the books are advanced manuals on specific topics like some particular opening, or endgame, etc.

Now, please consider this:
- writing such books require a great deal of time and creative effort
- most of the authors are not only willing to pass their ideas on, but aim at making some money from their books (writing and giving lessons are natural ways to make a living for aging professional players who struggle to make money in tournaments)
- the public for these books is fairly limited
- chess players meet regularly in clubs and tounaments, thus it's a kind of "village" community, where almost everybody knows almost everybody.

What's actually happening in this context?
Well, in case their book is reasonably successful, authors will make a few thousands dollars in the traditional publishing system (which usually works best for them).

What would happen with your pricing system?
Well, one guy would buy the book for $15 or $19, would perhaps have a bunch of $4 books printed for his friends or, more liklely, share the ebook with all the members of his club plus a handful of friends from other clubs, who would themselves share it.
As a result, the book would soon have many more readers (or, at least, "owners") than in the traditional system, but the author would hardly make any money.
Considering the effort involved in writing such books, the number of authors (thus books, thus shared ideas) would soon decline sharply. As a result, more ideas would be forgotten. Since new ideas are often generated through the digestion, clash, etc., of older ideas, the number of new ideas would also likely decrease.
I wonder who would benefit from that.

Sure, the economics of chess books don't reflect the economics of all books.
But I'm sure there are many other kinds of books for which your system would simply not work. Which does not mean, of course, that there's no room for your system where it does work.

Derek, thanks for sharing your idea. I expect to see more of your pricing model in the future. In case I write a book, perhaps I'll apply it myself. But I don't expect to see your model become really popular (and I'm not sure I really wish to see it become really popular!), despite the fact that it efficiently addresses the unfairness you have rightly pointed: it does not feel right to pay the same book several times just to acces it in different formats.

I like it.

Moin moin Derek,
I share your thoughts and I think, that your approach is very fair and lovely. - Thanks.
Personally I really prefer reading a fine print copy. Depending on the book, I sometimes invest in a premium print. (Especially if the letters are bigger - my eyesight decreased a bit and smaller typing makes me tired).

Nice greetings from Hamburg,
Yours Frank

Hey Derek,

Can I just buy paperback copies, like before? I disdain reading books electronically, and I like to buy your books and hand them out...

Brendan

Hi Derek,

Cool idea, but I feel it dilutes the value of the author's work.

Let me explain.

When I sacrifice for something, I value it.

If I know it only cost $4.... less than coffee - it's basically worthless.

I have no issue paying the full price and receiving the digital version for a discount afterwards.

I prefer audio books, and buy the content in multiple formats willingly and without remorse. I like that I am supporting the author. I buy physical copies because they're more difficult to censor or delete, and they form some the legacy I will leave here when my time has passed.

If your work is valuable (it is), please price it accordingly.

If you really want to give it at the cheapest price, add a Request Discount button linked to an automatic approval page.

You should never Artificially reduce or inflate the value of your work, nor dilute it, as that presents an unstable impression to your readers regarding the value you are offering.

Thank you for continuously challenging thought. Much appreciated!

-Stu.

Now I know how Derek decides its price for their books. its really intresting.

You know what springs immediately to mind? The old narrative of re-releases in music, rehashed compilations (virtually the same stuff, just a different order) and monetising back catalogues ;) underlying narrative....let's extract as much value from this content we own.

What I love about the way you work Derek is you're focus on GIVING as much value as you can whilst ensuring your model supports and enables your ability to deliver. Good work bro! great model

I love the idea and the fact that you implemented it successfully.

On its own it's prone to arbitrage but then context also matters. Majority of the people who buy your books are true fans, so they want to give you money, and they won't abuse the scheme.

The idea is really nice. But how many people order a second or more copies alongside a digital copy? How can we measure this as buying behavior? Such data is not available, as the model did not exist before. Also, digital copies of publications are distributed free of charge on different sharing sites. I think the prices you mentioned should be adjusted according to the conditions of each country. In other words, the purchasing power of $15 in America is not the same as elsewhere. This means that a price can be set in each country in its own local currency.

I like the idea. However I have some remarks and questions:
-is digital really free? I mean storage will never be free.
- what if I share digital content? Will the creater of the content be honored?
-What if I buy multiple books at once to give away for other people? Do I still have to pay only once for the content?
These questions are in the interest of the content creator. Too much is illegally shared where the creator doesn't receive the earning he/she deserves.
PS: I couldn't submit mycomment with the Tor browser. I copied my thoughts to the firefox browser.

Ciao Derek,

I love your creative process,
it makes me think about something I've given for granted.
For sure this system can help the content creator to spread the message, but what if someone aggregate clients interested in buying your book and the group make a cumulative order to your shop? you'll sell your content to a fraction of the price you consider fair...

greetings from Italy!
Luca

Nothing limits me to additionally donate as much as I wish for the content, right?

As long as there's no additional option I would also use this to pay a green premium on the paper version or has that already been considered?

That's amazing, Derek! As a book author I will try the same myself. THanks!

The contents of some books is priceless. The contents of some books is useless. How to price that?

Derek's books are in the first category and I'd happily pay more than $15 for the contents. But I know that because I've read his blog and other books. With a new for me author it's a gamble.

Sorry if this has already come up, but how would pricing work if you wanted to give copies of audio/pdf formats only to friends as gifts?

Hi Derek! I think it's a great idea if you think of the individual user. But the example you gave about the same person or corporation buying 500 copies at production cost, for me just sounds like someone taking advantage of your good will and not paying for the contents (maybe limit the extra copies one person can buy at production cost). As always your posts and thoughts generate a lot of debate and interesting ideas! Best regards!

This is considerate pricing, but I wouldn’t consider it inconsiderate for someone to charge for the labor of converting formats. Especially to audiobook.

Love it. It’s like everything you do. Looks simple once done but not very intuitive. Thanks!

Radiohead tried a similar approach with music and then abandoned it for reasons unknown to me(maybe distribution issues?) But in your case, the best reward is the ability to do more. If this model allows you to do that, more power to you. I know that this legion of fans and I have received and passed along more value than we have paid for; and this builds a "trust bank" that no money could buy. Keep up the good work!

Love Jared Rogers’ iteration of your format and the donate the book option. And concur with others here about gifted content for friends: new content new purchase. Thanks as ever for shaking the money tree for our consideration as consumers and creators!

Separate pricing for content and delivery is how our electric bill is structured here in Maine. Central Maine Power charges us for delivery (they own the power lines) but we can choose from among several suppliers - wind, hydro, photo-voltaic - that feed into the grid.

The first thing I thought when I saw your store was how reasonable the pricing was. The intention was immediately clear--people shouldn't have to pay for the same content in different formats. As for extending this idea to price of the physical book, that just being considerate.

your website is amazing and this is great also

Great approach Derek.

Brilliant! Fairness in a world of unfairness.

Difficult question. As I have purchased a couple of your books and was familiar with your sales idea, I thought about that strategy a couple of months ago when I released my first ebook on vocal training – as I found it a generous idea and your thoughts behind it great (as usual). However, as I am not a computer wizard nor someone who likes to deal with the sales process, I went through an online publisher. With them I did not have the option. They have a certain price limit for ebooks as well as printed copies, otherwise they won´t put them up for sale. And there might be a reason for it. Somebody named Artem mentioned it before, and I realized, he could be right: There might be people taking advantage by selling hard copies for 10 dollars, which would still be cheaper than buying directly from you.
Another comment that was made earlier “ideas and creative work should be for free” made me think. As I am an artist myself and like to get paid (even for creative stuff), I completely disagree. But that is because I grew up in the old days when it was natural to pay for music and books. I realize, however, this mentally of “everything should be free” (at least on the internet) has become the norm. So it is a difficult choice: Do I go with “putting it up for free” or not?
Well known authors usually never put up their stuff for free. Only the ones who see it as a way of advertising and getting known.
Regardless of all off this, I guess it is a personal choice of what is more important to someone and what is the motivation: Making money? Getting thoughts out? Getting recognition? According to what one thinks will bring the most money or most gratification, he/she can set either a higher price on the creative work or on the articles they sell.

"With so many different devices now, it seems fair that if you buy the contents of a book, it should include all formats of delivery." I agree Derek! And this could only happen with your own digital store. It gives the conscious creative mind the ability to set their price accordingly to their mission objective.

Amazing, love it

That makes perfect sense

I don't agree with you. You created the content, think about all the hours you spent on it. Every reader should pay to read this content at least once.
You're right to charge a fee for the content and an extra fee for a hard copy because it has a cost. But if the same buyer buys several copies, he must pay for each copy. This buyer may give them as gifts but he may also resell them. I think it is unfair that this person has the opportunity to make a profit while you do not. And that is for your own work. In fact, it's a bit the same problem with used books. It's amazing to have created an object (a book) and have it sold several times. I find it unfair that this object generates a profit for the bookseller first and a second time for another seller. And that, without the creator being paid each time.

Logged in today to pick up the newest book, and LOVED that a record of my previous purchases was sitting right there with an opportunity to buy more hard copies (of a book I bought a year ago) for $4.

Along with the price structure, decoupling when I choose formats, after paying for the base content, is awesome.

Makes sense….and dollars.

Great idea, but as others have said, scope to buy cheap hard copies and sell them at a profit, or to pass on electronic copies. Whatever book or music I buy or download, I would like the creators to get a fair share of the price. But in the real world some people want to make as much money as possible, maybe the same people who want to pay as little as possible for things. Failure to value things properly is one reason why the world is in such a mess.

noice!

i had already bought the digital version of your last book. i wanted to get the hard copy. but i’ll be travelling again soon and getting rid of 40 books. plus shipping takes forever to get to suriname, south america, where i’m currently at. if it arrives at all.

cool to see the reasoning behind your pricing. ツ

cherries 🍒
ramiro

Hi Derek!

Of course, this is truly considerate pricing. I understand that "paper costs money" and similarly, when you deliver via audio, isn't there a small cost of recording equipment, studio rental time, and I'm sure the cost of cute announcements between the chapters? I suppose that cost can still be added to the $15 Contents price and it's not the same as the cost of paper. Okay... I'm back to, yes, your considerate pricing is the way EVERYONE should go! Thank you for sharing your insights!

I have been waiting for the book world to do this for so long and applaud you for doing this. Books are, at the heart, one of the most intimate forms of conversation we can have another. Their requirements on the attention of writer to write it and reader to read it are immense. So it seems that the most important thing we can do is to help share their ideas with the world. Your pricing strategy encourages the ideas of the books to be shared and spread, in addition to providing a more fair business model that respects and prices for the IP and buyer.

I'd rather just buy a hardcover or paperback. I have no use for an ebook, and no way to read one.

I do not own a kindle or e-ink reader, and I avoid screens when I'm not working. I've started to love paper books again in the past couple of years.

Is there an option to only buy a paperback / hardcover at a lower price?

Or? $18 across the board? Or $20? Whatever. We are not paying for the contents, but how those contents might change our thinking… our direction for the better, which the worth of how it might affect us over our lifetime is far more valuable than the cost of any book.

I loved how you did this. Would love to see some of the resources you used for delivery of content to purchasers. You probably programmed it yourself. :) But for the rest of us non-programmers, any pointers are appreciated!

Seems like a smart and considerate move until someone buys a few hundred copies at $4 apiece and then lists them on Amazon for $18 and free prime shipping and you start selling less of your own work. This may or may not actually happen in real life but it definitely could if the numbers work out in their favor. I think it's fair to charge the full $19 for any additional copies or perhaps give them a quantity discount.

Love this! Thanks for not only being clever about this but also implementing it.

This is why it bothers me when a vinyl version of an album doesn't come with a download code. I appreciate your philosophy on this.

Cool idea!

You mean you're not ripping people off?

What a business concept.

Imagine that.

I appreciate the care and thought that went into your concept of considerate book pricing. I wish more booksellers would use this system.

Digital free... why?
Who is paying to format it? If it is just the same in Kindle as in PDF (eg. printed book) then probably your electronic version sucks - sorry.
Are you really going to deliver me your book in Kindle version 5.5 in 10+ years time? Who will wait this 10 years to take my free order? Who will build your automated bookstore in a virtual world into which the Internet will morph by then?

I really don't like that you think the work of people who help you to deliver your content digitally is worth nothing. :-(
Nobody has helped me deliver my content digitally. I made the EPUB and the PDF by hand, coded them myself, then converted the EPUB to Mobi for people with a Kindle. I happily host my own site at my own expense. Adding ebook downloads to that ads no expense at all. — Derek

Love it. It just makes sense and is one of the many many reasons why I buy any Sivers books on release. <3

Perfect. Appreciated too.
Own sense is that world-wide eg a kid's pocket-money ought to get them thingS. Not 0.01% towards one thing.
Have long believed there's no market for eg pricey HIV vaccines in Africa, vaccine/med manufacture & inbalance are even more critical now.
But for art? Content? Sadly the world is split, so I've tried to keep things free until they're a polished product (eg making how-to videos, and people anywhere are equal, they can play/record from sites)
Creative pricing? Wonderful! Thinking seriously about/revisiting.
PS Loved YM&OP, starting Hell Yeah or No. As a person with ME/CFS (we've very limited free 'run-time' across remainder of our lives) it strikes painfully close to home. Especially for this reason though, it's a real treat! Thanks!

Love this. I already got your latest book and some extras as gifts. Just trying to figure out how to stick them in stockings.

I love your model. I have gifted some of your more recent books to others because of it. I'd love to have this model for "Anything You Want", which is the book I gift most often, but alas, the publishers are probably already unhappy with you for making that content free online. They're not going to work with you to let you give away their residual income on this one.

Definitely the right idea. There should be a premium for the paper version, since it can be considered a collectible, a souvenir of sorts. I normally buy digital books, and if I really like them I go ahead and buy the printed version later. It never seemed fair to me to pay full price for a paper book when I've already paid for the digital version. Your system would solve that problem.

Makes perfect cents!

I like the thinking behind this model, but as some others have said, I think it breaks down with bulk orders. The price of the book should incorporate the value the ideas present to a single person or family unit. One person ordering 20 additional hard copies of your book is almost certainly not keeping them for themselves; they are giving (or selling) them to other people.

For instance, here is a simple hack of your model. A group of 100 people (say, in an online book club or something) hear about your book and would, given no other options, each individually buy a copy of your book, sending you $19 each, for a total of $1900, which is $1500 for you after subtracting the $4 material and shipping cost per book. But instead, they now have the option for a single person in the group to buy all 100 copies themselves at a total cost of $415, which is only $15 for you after subtracting the materials/shipping. That hardly seems fair, nor in the spirit of your model.

Just re-sharing my email in public for everyone else.

I didn't buy the print books because of the steep international postage to India plus the customs uncertainty over Covid19.

I will visit the USA whenever this is over. I love Utah and the Grand Canyon

After buying your digital books, I was about to ask if I could order the hard copies for the incremental $4 price at that time? But as always you've thought that through! 👍🏻
Jesus you're a Rockstar! 🙊🙏🏻

What I love is that you design for honest people and not the hacks mentioned in Dan's note. You embody a trusting honest kind way of living in the world and that is so beautiful and rare!

Stay amazing!

I care very much about content creators getting paid. And paid well!
Your plan is easy to understand.
The idea for "20 paper copies" make sense. I wonder if it's enough compensation? Do you expect a promotion value -- an avenue to new readers you wouldn't have reached otherwise? Then it makes sense. But another creator might need more money for those paperbooks.
If I were giving the books as gifts, I might want to give the paper copy AND the digital formats. It's more likely the recipient will use it. Of course, I would need to think about my gift budget.

I agree! The creator should be paid for the content <3

Derek, I think you remember when you and I met years ago at the Future of Music Conference in D.C. where you received a standing ovation from the audience (mostly musicians) when you took the stage for a panel. I'll never forget the clueless lawyer seated next to me saying, "who the hell is THAT?"

You have a large following because you've always been a giver, unlike most industry people who seem to be takers. Your sales model described here rewards those who are like you--givers. Some commenters have already made good points, so I won't reproduce those here. Suffice it to say that since the model does reward your followers directly, it's a model that makes sense for you personally even though it may not work for others.

It's a great and noble experiment even if it has to be altered in the future. Go for it!

I like your pricing because you thought about it deeply and arrived at what seemed logical to you after serious consideration. Whether or not your logic is unassailable or universally agreed upon is less important to me. I care about the care that went into the pricing.

I support the idea. And while buying a book of yours for myself personally, I didn’t have to understand your reasoning behind the price policy in order to appreciate it. I guess that would have been different if I bought more copies right away.
But it *does* make it more appealing to buy more paper copies to give to friends, which might be an overall net positive for the popularity of the book. Win-win :)

I can't tell you how many times I have thought about this conundrum that doesn't need to be a conundrum, and here you go, figuring out a creative solution and applying it in real life.

Thank you for your amazing ability to think AND implement those thoughts. You continue to amaze me.

Hi Derek.
What a thoughtful and provocative idea.
I hope others follow.
Monika

Gee ! A Smart idea .......I'm not sure , that I understand exactly , what all of that verbiage means , to which , I found myself , swimming in thought , but with your keen mind .....it wouldn't surprise me , if it became the new mode of publishing .

Thanks for including me , into your entrusted readers

I like paper books. I have a hard time reading lots of text on the screen. I also have given up on self-publishing. I hope you will have better luck at it.

I like this. Where are you printing your paper books so cheaply though?

Masterful and considerate context for the way we will receive content from you and how it can benefit us and others we want to have it.

That's the fairest solution I've ever heard.

Love good creative thinking...
How would it be to invert it ? The writer could decide how much money they need and after making that sum it would be free or perhaps an increasing share of proceeds would go to a charity of the writers [or readers ?] choosing.... Perhaps even one related to the material written.

Characteristically clear and original thinking. ☺ But I agree with other commenters: the content cost should be per person, not per purchase.

Imagine a professor recommending a book to a class. Under your pricing each student only pays $4 for the content if the professor's already bought the book and they're willing to forgo digital formats.

In fact, if someone's buying multiple paper copies of the same book it's almost guaranteed that the content is going to be novel for the readers of the paper copies, with the rare exception of someone buying multiple paper copies for themselves, for different locations presumably.

Also, in your particular case the paper copies were a limited edition, so by discounting the marginal cost of paper copies you were incentivizing people to buy more than they otherwise would which stops people from buying paper copies at all if they sell out, even if they paid for the content.

Great format and I wish all authors would allow for multiple format "knowledge acquisition." I am listening to an Audible book now that I'd love to capsulize with some notes, but I find it easier to mark up a Kindle version and share into a "knowledge base." Having both formats available I could listen for brain absorption particularly of "resonating" points and have written text to make notes and use for references and for applying to writings or journals. Amazon should offer both formats for one price as you do!! Thank you Derek!

Don’t forget the Free Little Library distribution network 🤣

Maybe provide a way for book donors to get back $1 to incentivize future FLL book purchase and donation and also put in a PayPal QR for you to get $1 if the next person likes it.

One thing I loved when I picked up "How To Live" was the fact you made it available in an open format (specifically epub). I'm always a bit disappointed when authors only make the ebook version of their book available only in a proprietary format like Kindle.

I like it.

What should be common sense, seems radical. Thank you for your clarity and simplicity.

Good point of view I like the idea.

Hahahah, I love this :)

What a wonderful and powerful concept!

The book pricing ($15 for content and $4 for paper) makes a lot sense. I think it's very clever and reasonable, though audiobook could be in a separate category like paper. Actually, on the website it says"$15 (ebook + audio)", for those who don't need audio, is it possible that they might misinterpret as if they are paying for the audiobook as well instead of thinking $15 is actually for the whole content in every format? cause many would automatically think audiobook is usually not for free.

As someone who's in China, being able to buy a book directly from the author means that I don't have to wait for the book to be out on Chinese platforms or spending a lot of time online deciding which retailer is more trustworthy. I appreciate the convenience and simplicity.

As long as there's somewhere to download, you can never stop people from buying one copy and spreading it for free to friends or online like piratebay. However I think the style of "How to Live" makes it very appealing for readers to actually wanting to own a hardcopy.

For books I want to use as references, I prefer having both electronic and paper versions. Electronic because they are portable when I am travelling, but paper when I am in my office doing research (so much easier to bookmark and find things). The current pricing models are very irritating when it comes to this. Why do they not offer more bundles? Buy the content, electronic delivery, and physical paper version...

Your store recognizes that I own a couple of your books, but however it happened (maybe another email address? [email protected]?) you don't have records of my owning multiple copies of ALL your books. Currently contemplating How To Live.
I never mind paying whatever a creator asks for in terms of valuing their work. It's a blessing indeed to be able to do this.

Thank you Derek- really appreciate the explanation and creativity!! Wonderful business acumen.

I agree with idea about giving e-copies with a print book. But audiobook includes extra work and costs just like a paper book. I would offer it at a discount for those who own the book. As far as giving away additional copies of the book at such a discount, I don't think that makes sense, since other people are consuming the content.

Gets u Thinkin' ...
& Answers / discussions
do as Well ...
Thx...

Generous considering all your input. Not only the writing and distilling, but also the years of learning. Thank you.

Yes!!! I've thought this since I first got my Audible account. After listening to an audiobook (especially nonfiction for study), I often find a want the hard copy and resent having to pay full price. From your keyboard to Amazon/Audible's eyes, or someone else that can make it happen on a mass scale.

I agree with comment #1 from Charles

In favor:
- I agree with the distinction between “content” and “delivery”.
- I have long advocated having the ebook for free when you buy the paper, given its negligible costs.
- It also annoys me to pay for the audio copy, but as someone else noted, the audio version involves extra resources and talent (even if you're the narrator yourself). I think Amazon is going in the right direction here when they offer a discount for the Audible/Kindle combo.

Against:
- When used “en masse”, the pay-the-paper concept enters into the territory of new readership - after all, a new person reading your book is a new “customer” of your content. It makes sense that the author may grant the reader the privilege to “share” his ownership of the content only within a certain limit.
- In other industries (think music) they would make you pay for every time you access the content if they could, so paying full price for one copy of the book and reading it multiple times would already be regarded as a perk - as compared to a universe where you would have to pay royalties to re-read.

As a side note: In my country, when you buy any digital storage device you pay a tax meant to cover the “loss” you inflict on the artists when you use that storage to make backup copies of your legally acquired content (mainly music and movies, though it also applies to books, conceptually). Derek, could you please go talk to the Portuguese law-makers? :)

Derek,
It makes sense.
I always prefer hard cover as I tend to keep books I buy for later reference. $4.00 for a hard cover is tremendously generous.
I’m afraid you may get taken advantage of on a large volume of 20 or more books shipping under a single name?
Analysis of the ratio of content to paper should give you the perfect sweet spot.
Your end game is value, integrity and trust. So I am sure whatever you finalize in offer will be well received when presented with context.
Enjoying your work.
Cheers to continued success ( as you define it).
Ray from the Bay

Love your consideration and care Derek....leading new ways.

I am working on simple, social responsibility and access....

And, I really like the solution offered by: Jared Rogers

And, I really appreciate including your "peeps" (readers, stakeholders) to "create a movement". You are true to your values. Thanks for leading & modelling.

Make sense. Thank you

Love the decoupling and appreciate the thoughtfulness. Model makes sense and feels simple. A full body hell yes!

Genius model, Derek. Seems like a little more work up front setting up tracking systems and explaining the model, but well worth it. I love the idea and am going to consider doing something similar.

Sounds great! It also works because I suppose you produce them yourself, so there's no other people that need to take their cut as I suppose it is for Amazon or some similar business.

Cheers!

Completely agree with you on considerate book pricing!
While the thought might not occur naturally to many of us, another challenge is the different types of publishing and book platforms.
You selling off of your site would help track who has bought the book, though it would increase efforts in coordinating shipments, festive offers, etc.

And unlike traditional publishing, where the publisher directly or indirectly handles all channels; with self- and partnered publishing, the author might find themselves listing their book on some platforms themselves, which makes it near impossible to track the paperback customer and offer them the other formats for free.

The book StrengthFinder 2.0 did something interesting. Though I don't know if it was easy/ inexpensive to do. Each book had a code in it that allowed you to take the test online, and get your results. So essentially, a book could only be used by one person (a one-time test).

Either way, thank you for the wonderful thought. I hope authors take inspiration from you and follow that rule. If I write any more books, I surely hope to.

I find this idea very interesting. The thing I rub up against is that this may sound very doable for someone who has their income streams stable but not so much for someone starting out.

I 100% agree with the different formats which should be included in one purchase. However, I would also argue that the person gifting the book is gifting the content and with that should be charged as such.

Someone took the time to write the content, they should be compensated, if you take your pricing model to the extreme (on the negative end) it would mean that one person would pay $15 and then gifts the MP3 and eBook versions to all of the other people who would like to have them.

I understand that not everybody would do this, may would pay full price anyways —and I have my moments where I am very positive about giving away information for free and trusting that people would donate or pay for a book later on to support the creators.

At the end, I would give people the option, in your online store, to pay full price (or maybe a "pay what you want") for the followup copies of your books-content.

Cheers

Hi D,

I like your implementation of your store, so minimal yet it functions just as well, if not better (in my opinion), than the known e-commerce sites. Can you share the technical side of this, here or through email? I hope nothing "too proprietary" under the hood.

- Oo
Thanks! The code will be open source at Sourcehut. — Derek

Interesting concept, Derek ... as an author myself, though, I'm not so sure that it makes entire sense to me (am I a publication dinosaur?) ... It's true that there may be the same content in different formats, but producing each format is a whole involved process each on its own ... so I don't see people as just paying for content, but also all the hoops that you need to jump through to create all of these different 'experiences' through the same content ... I like the idea of being compensated fairly (and generously) for my creativity, time, research, talent and expertise ... I do agree with you, though, that let's say someone purchases a hard copy of a title, that they should be able to access digital formats at a reduced price ... yes, that makes sense to me ... not so sure about PDFs ... people can do all kinds of stuff with those if they want to (maybe even re-sell them? ... same for audio) ... I agree with folks who pointed out that every time the same content comes before new eyes, then it's a brand new experience and that should be reflected in the cost ... you have given me some food for thought, though ... much appreciated and all the best!

Beautiful.

After listening to a recent Tim Ferriss Podcast with Chris Dixon and Naval Ravikant I am SO EXCITED to see how one of my favorite Artists, Derek Sivers will integrate and play with web 3.0!!!!

Great concept, practical and innovative, like anything there is often resistance to anything new. No doubt, this model or a variation of it will become common place soon.

I use DocBook for book authoring. What do you use? HTMLBook? Thanks.

I totally agree with you. Thank you for being considerate and appreciative of people that support your writing (which supports them)!

I always thought, when purchasing a book that it would be nice to have it in a listening or digital form as well (included in the original purchase). If not for free as you suggest, at least at a greatly reduced price. Thanks so much!

Artists should absolutely be paid for the work they do. Ideas are not free, but have a huge opportunity cost. The value of ideas and art would diminish if everyone could and did have the same ideas, but we do not, thankfully.

Good points, but I think there are some additional angles to consider. When you buy a paperback book, do you expect it to last 5 years of use, 10 years? If I bought a book today, I would not expect a future format to be supported, the next mp3 equivalent.

Also, while you are paying for content, you do not own that content. You essentially have a license for that content, in that format. So, licensing the content makes sense, with a future format adding expense or not.

While I see the point of a free download, hosting the files, paying for internet, etc., those are not free, so I wouldn't dismiss a cost for electronic versions. I also am amazed that a book only costs 4 dollars. What printer do you use to get such a deal?