Bound by desire...

Much has been written in the past few weeks about the pricing structure of ebooks. Three blogs I follow have all weighed in on the future of publishing and what it means for readers.

 Bob Mayer has a good discussion of the matter over at Write it Forward. He poses some basic questions: what is the inherent value in owning an ebook? How much would you pay for an ebook vs. a print book? Michael Stackpole comes at the topic from another angle, discussing that some readers look at print materials as souvenirs rather than separate entities. They own the ebook, now want the print book (usually signed) to show off to their friends. And Dean Wesley Smith has some rather strong (!) words for traditional publishers and authors who feel that's the only way to publish.

These three (and others) have really gotten me thinking about the short stories that are sitting on my computer pretty much doing nothing but nagging at me. The characters want their stories out there. Because they're short, they'll never make it with an outside publisher. The pieces need formatting and I'd have to get someone to design some snazzy covers, but that's do-able. So why not self-publish?

Faithful readers of the blog know that I've played with this concept before on Scribd (a failure, I'm afraid. Love the concept but the site doesn't get enough traffic. Now the Kindle...). 

The biggest question is in the pricing. And so I ask you: for a single short story (less than 2000 words) -- what is your top price? 99 cents? 49 cents? A buck-fifty? What would YOU pay for a short? PLEASE use the poll below and help a writer out!

(EDIT June 8th: POLL is closed. Hopefully the blog's formatting will now return to it's natural state...)

THANK YOU!

Play safe :)
Diana
PS. See the +1 at the top of the page? Click it to give me chops in Google Search :)
PPS. Okay, something I did goofed up my template. Bear with the whiteness until I figure it out!