As a self-publisher, I’ve been a big proponent of putting my ebooks in as many of the major markets as possible. Since there are already so many places where we can’t appear (such as all those thousands of physical bookstores), I wouldn’t want to leave money on the table (or miss reaching potential new fans) by ignoring a venue that’s a) easy to get books into (i.e. by checking a “distribute” box on Smashwords) or b) capable of moving a noticeable number of books (so it’s worth the effort to upload individual titles on my own). My first book, The Emperor’s Edge, even shows up in places that aren’t technically bookstores, such as Wattpad and Scribd.
So, you wonder, am I in Google Play?
I’m not. And the reason is that, as of now, other authors are reporting that Google Play arbitrarily lowers the prices of their ebooks. Aside from that being irritating, it’ll actually get you in trouble with Amazon (if your ebook is listed for a lower price somewhere else, their bots will find out, and you’ll get an email about how it’s against their ToS for you to sell books for less somewhere else).
Here are a couple of recent reports on Google Play’s pricing issue, and other user-unfriendliness, from other authors:
Google Play: an Experiment (a write-up by fellow indie author, and my beta reader, Kendra Highley)
Why I Had to Delete My Book from Google Play Books (a Kboards forum thread with lots of commentary)
In the forum thread, one author mentioned that she had made special editions just for Google Play (i.e. two-book boxed sets) that Amazon wouldn’t price match, since those editions weren’t offered on Amazon. That’s something I’ll keep in mind for the future, but I’m not sure GP is enough of a marketplace yet (i.e. that I would sell enough books there) to be worth the effort.
For those of you who have tried it, what are your thoughts?
Update: For those who think you can just guess how much Google will discount your book, you may want to read this recent Kboards thread (GP just randomly made the author’s book free, causing her to lose $400 a day when Amazon price-matched).
I’m on Google Play, but I have nothing to lose with Amazon. I don’t sell very well there anyway (on Amazon, that is), unless I advertise, and that’s a whole special brand of crazy.
The other retailers are not responsive to the price-matching crazies, so it basically doesn’t worry me. If Google Play wants to give my book away and still pay me royalties, they’re more than welcome to do so.
I realise I’m lucky, but my income is so spread out that I have a pretty good shield against these sorts of tricks.
Thanks for commenting, Patty. I know you were in that original forum thread. Do you sell many books on GP? Do you raise your price there, knowing they’ll discount?
This is what I did – raise the price on Google Play such that their discounted price would equal the price I wanted the book to be on Amazon and elsewhere.
Amazon had been price-matching Google Play to the lower price; I emailed them to let them know about the price change, and within a day it had all sorted out correctly.
That said, I’ve sold a tiny fraction of the number of books I sell on Amazon on Google Play. From a financial perspective there’s no reason to be there (for me); for now I’m keeping the book listed there simply because I have it listed on all the major retailers.
Hi Lindsay,
I’m a long time fan of your blog and your books. Your advice and insights about self-publishing is very helpful to an aspiring indie writer like me. I have read a number of your books, and I particularly love your Flash Gold series. I’m so glad you’re releasing a new book in that series soon.
Anyway, my husband, Richard Dela Cruz, has published one novella. At the time we uploaded it to Google Play, the interface still seemed experimental and it wasn’t clear whether the file actually took. We only found out that it was on sale there when we got paid for three copies. Since then, it looks like the interface has improved greatly and is more user-friendly. Also, Google Play appears to pay you every month you have a sale. It doesn’t have a minimum amount like Nook Press, which requires at least $10 in sales. (The first payment we got from Google Play was $1.52).
Richard’s book is priced at .99, and at that price level, I don’t think Google Play discounts your book. I have read that most writers do what G.S. Jennsen did. They just raise the price so that the discounted price will be equal to your desired price. There’s a very interesting discussion about Google Play on Kindle boards. Here is the link:
http://www.kboards.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=ofh726fb1ok91nnare6cd90gg6&topic=161589.0
That’s my limited experience on Google Play, but I think it’s worth it to have your books there, esp. now that Google has entered the tablet market with its Nexus 7.
Thanks for sharing, Justice. It’s interesting to hear that some people actually are making money with GP. I don’t even know what e-reader is linked to that store. Google’s smartphone, I suppose.
I have the Nexus 7 – it’s a 7-inch tablet/e-reader and it is linked to Google Play.
Thanks, Justice. I’ve never even seen one! Too much of an Apple group, I guess. 😉
I wouldn’t abandon Google because of discounting. Simply adjust your price. I put my 2.99 books at 3.99 on Google, and others I raise about 1.50. It works out fine, and I’m selling more on Google than Kobo, though that isn’t much.
Thanks for the thoughts, Giacomo. I suppose there’s a bit of obstinacy in me too, making me not want to work with a retailer that is lowering the price I choose without asking, but I suppose I would just deal with it if it were Amazon. 😛
I am on Google Play and have been for about three months. I adjusted prices so that the discounted price would match what I have on Amazon, so that hasn’t been a problem.
I sell very little anywhere, but I have sold nothing at all on Google Play. I’m hoping for better when I have more books in a different genre, but that’s a ways off.
I do have a few titles on Google Play, although I haven’t sold anything yet. To account for their discounting, I adjusted the price. Plus, I have two titles that are slightly different than what I have up on Amazon, so they aren’t likely to cause issues with price-matching. Although they aren’t much a player yet doesn’t mean they won’t be in the future, especially as people buy more tablets for their e-reading than an ereader. I must admit that their dashboard is confusing and can take some time to get used to it.
When I decided to go all in with Amazon, I ‘thought’ I had unpublished with GB. I mean, come on, I had no trouble unpubbing with Smashwords, Kobo, Nook Press, et al.
But no.
Months later I got an angry email from Amazon stating, rightly, I was still for sale on GB. Grr.
Could it have been my error? Sure. Did I wrongly think when I pulled my book from GB (from one menu) that I would need to run a scavenger hunt through all their nested menus for a loophole? YES.
Amazon used to showcase my book, Not Just For Breakfast Anymore, about every ninety days.
Now? Nothing.
I can’t recommend GB any less.
Yep–their dashboard makes it relatively impossible to know if the right edition is loaded and if your book has been removed from the bookstore. And they had so many little “extra steps” that just loading my book there made me crazy. Others may have had a better experience, but I just didn’t love the interface or how user unfriendly it was.
Is something wrong with my computer? Did I sleep in Winkle’s hotel? How are you posting in November and December of 2014?
June 12th, 2014. Whoever designed the blog theme wasn’t in the U.S., apparently. This is how the rest of the world writes their dates. 😛
The rest of the world apologizes, but you Americans must really have everything your way, now, don’t ya? 😛
Just in case you won’t notice on your own: your titles take all four top spots in steampunk fiction category! Congrats! 😀
Hehe, thanks. I better go take a screenshot. 😛 Encrypted is only there because I ran a 99-cent sale, but whatever works to take over the world, eh? Or at least one tiny category on Amazon!
Something I have considered is breaking my eBook into a few pieces and selling them separately on Google Play at the appropriate fraction of the full price. It would solve the Amazon price-match problem, and smaller pieces seem like they would read and download better on a phone. An added benefit would be the possibility of increased sales brought on by selling the first one-third (for example) on Google Play, and then the whole book separately from another vendor for their non-phone reader.
I’m on google play and have been very happy with them for months, mainly because I also increased the price so their discounting habits wouldn’t affect me on Amazon. Until… I had a 99c sale on my novel and google play refused to put the price back up afterwards. I’ve taken the book down for the time being and still left all my other books up there (they’re anyway short and already at 99c).
My advice: it’s worth it, and although there’s no ereader, think of every single android phone and tablet out there! I mostly read on my phone anyway (kindle app), so it’s not a stretch to use google play for books. If they invest more in the store, it could be absolutely massive. For many months I’d sold more on play than on amazon, but in future I’ll never ever discount anything on there. As I said, I was very happy as long as I kept my pricing high. Also, I believe the trick to selling on there is to have a permafree title leading into a series so that with a bit of luck the free title ends up in a genre listing and pushes sales to the paid titles. I also like it for shorter works because they pay a flat 52% for any price.
Im just a reader.
We recently got access to Google play books here in Norway. And I was shocked! Shocked by the price. Most of the books I checked cost about 3-5 times more on Google play books than on Amazon.
So suffice to say, I wont be buying nor browsing books on Google play books.
In case someone hasn’t already linked to it, there’s a great post on Kboards about Google Play. And it has a list of prices you should enter to get the price you actually want.
http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,167655.0.html
I have a handful of sales from Google Play, almost all of them for Storm Phase 3. A result of Wattpad readers, mostly international ones I suspect, going to Google Play to buy my books.
Thank you for the link, David. Nice to know Google isn’t totally random with their price discounting!
I’m on Google Play/Books too and I noticed the price drop on my books but it was a while before I figure out where it came from. I’m not upset, and I didn’t get any nasty email from Amazon either when the price dropped.
The reason I’m there? The same reasons I’m on Smashwords. Overseas distribution channels. Have you seen all of them on Google Books? Twice that of Amazon, plus they allow for certain countries to pay in their own currency overseas. Amazon forces some countries (like Switzerland) to pay in German currency rather than the Swiss Frac. It may not sound like much, but it can add money onto the price of an object, along with the VAT it can price an ebook much more than the list price.
I think GP would irk me (my mouth dropped at that author’s post that said GP randomly decided to make her novel free), but I’ll keep an eye on it. I think Amazon will send you a nasty-gram eventually. Just wait, lol.
Pingback: Starting out as an indie author: preparing your manuscript for ebook retailers | Ruth Nestvold – Indie Adventures
Thanks for the information. I was shocked by the low pay rate (52%), and with all the other hoops and horror stories, GP doesn’t seem worth it.