Indie Authors/Writers Advice

I usually don't write two post's in a day, but I had to champion something that has bothered me since I started self publishing my ebooks. Now Kristine Kathryn Rusch has light years more experience than I and explains what I have written about earlier this year perfectly. I've linked her blog here Writers will work for cheap . Did all that make sense? At first I bought into the idea of giving my ebooks away for free in order to gain a following and sure I saw downloads by the dozens, but guess what? NO MONEY! Hey stupid! (Me yelling at me). Let's try .99$ surely people will love that price, and many did. But my happy smile at sales quickly became a frown when I saw my royalty checks.  Then through the help of bloggers and professional writers I decided to set my prices at what I thought my writing was worth for the amount of words written. I also took into account what the market was doing. Even though I don't sell as many copies I do appreciate my royalty checks a little more when they arrive. I've often been annoyed at the .99$ ebook. Sure there are ebooks that deserve that price, but I've seen full length novels of 80K-over 100K words for that price as well.  Aside from all the facts and realities Kathryn Rusch explains I cannot understand why an author under control of his/her own ebook would set that price. It only confuses the consumer into expecting feature length novels for .99$ and that not only hurts the seller, but all other authors trying to make more money. In a tight economy .99$ looks pretty good for cheap entertainment. I know, I know, if your writing is good enough it will sell even if the price is higher. Of course that's true, but advertising and marketing is hard enough without the .99centers undermining your price. I don't think this is the case as much with Kindle, or B&N, as it is in the Smashwords ebook store. I'm not going to tell you what to set your price, but research the facts and listen to advice and make an informed decision. Above all don't undersell yourself and keep writing.