Continuing in my publisher price breakdown, we’ve reviewed the absolute mess that loveyoudivine pricing is so there is definitely a buyer beware over there. But what about a more popular press and well known amongst many readers – here I’m choosing Dreamspinner Press as the next on the block about pricing.
Dreamspinner’s website doesn’t list actual word count and I’ve found this to be standard among publishers. However, I do have a source when I come to a stumbling block about, well most things gay and annoying. So they’ve been dubbed “cupid’s cocktease” for my amusement and ease of always referring to the same helpful individual. Anyway, the Cocktease mentioned the greatness of Fictionwise which lists books by list cost and word count. So fabulous!
Here’s the breakdown:
Daydreams are all $1.49.
Nap Sized Dreams are all $2.99.
Novellas are either $3.99 or $4.99.
Novella Plus are $5.99.
Novels are all $6.99.
DSP breaks down their books by this:
Day Dreams are 0 to 7500 words.
Nap Sized Dreams are 7500 to 15000 words.
Novellas are 15000 to 40000 words.
Novels are 40000 words and up.
Novellas:
15500 to 23500 words are all $3.99.
23600 to 38200 are $3.99 or $4.99.
Books over 48000 words are $5.99 or $6.99
*the one exception to this is a 50,000 word book for $4.99
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=1065
Interestingly enough what I also found was that FW prices differed from DSP prices on their website. Sometimes higher and sometimes lower. Hence the difference in pricing listed above. Here are some examples:
24177 for $4.99 FW / $3.99 DSP
http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b87774/Saving-Trevor/Steve-Sampson/?si=0
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=1058
25122 for $4.99 FW / $3.99 DSP
http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b93318/Come-Back-to-Me/Lisa-Marie-Davis/?si=0
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=1064
59242 for $5.99 FW / $6.99 DSP
http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b90848/Slight-Details/Eric-Arvin/?si=0
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=963
62283 for $5.99 FW / $6.99 DSP
http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b89051/Sparks-Fly/Clare-London/?si=0
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=971
73846 for $5.99 FW / $6.99 DSP
http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b85483/Alliance-in-Blood/Ariel-Tachna/?si=0
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=966
82375 for $5.99 FW / $6.99 DSP
http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b87267/Caught-Running/Madeleine-Urban/?si=0
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=960
86895 for $5.99 FW / $6.99 DSP
http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b88475/The-Gold-Warrior/Clare-London/?si=0
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=964
246670 for $8.99 DSP and FW
http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b88465/The-Archer/Abigail-Roux/?si=0
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=965
So what I found was an actual consistency at least as far as the DSP website is concerned about pricing but you may be better off comparing the publisher’s cost with some of the other e-tailers for the cheaper book.
The breakdown in cost per word (as best as I could manage with the information offered):
You pay significantly LESS per word for longer books. You pay more than 3x that for shorter stories. This is also just an internal comparison.
Compared to loveyoudivine – DSP is cheaper for 0-5000 words but slightly more expensive for for over 5000 words (remember LYD pricing) and the novella size for both sites has comparable prices.
BOTTOMLINE:
Are you getting your money’s worth out of Dreamspinner?
Well they are mostly consistent, which is a big point. Whether you think you’re getting your money’s worth or not, you most likely can be confident the next book is similar in price. However, does that still mean the book is worth your buck?
$6.99 for 50,000 – 90,000 doesn’t seem like a bargain to me. Well the 90k perhaps, but not the 50k end.
For $7.99 I can buy Tim LaHaye’s Babylon Rising: The Edge of Darkness in ebook or print for the same price, which is listed as 448 pages – and off topic was a good book. Although the word count isn’t listed, I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s more than 100k words.
PS. I own the above in paperback and paid $7.99. Do we even want to get into the $12 trade paperbacks POD from e-publishers? That’s an easy choice – totally not worth your money.
As always, what do you think?
three am 
I don’t know about for pricing, but I know that for submissions, 60,000 is the minimum word count for a novel.
oo thank you!
I prefer to buy ebooks from places like Fictionwise, Amazon, or ARe. The first week a book is out at FW, it’s 15% off, so it’s usually cheaper than buying directly from the publisher. Plus, FW has great sales (like 50% off all multiformat books) every once in a while. ARe doesn’t have as many sales, but they do have the buy 10 get 1 free deal. Also with FW your books remain on your bookshelf, and you can download them in multiple formats. I’ve also found Amazon often has cheaper prices for their Kindle books than the same book at the publisher’s site.
I personally will never buy from FW. I hate their DRM bullshit I’ve encountered. I prefer ARe 100% of the time. ARe keeps all books on your bookshelf for re-download as well and I’ve never EVER once run into printing problems or downloading problems like there is on FW. Be careful when buying from FW, several things are DRM and printing disabled.
I didn’t realize that was an issue with FW, probably because I’ve only bought m/m books there to transfer to my Kindle. Thanks for letting me know– I’ll be careful when I buy stuff from them in the future.
That said… and yes, you’re right about some of the FW issues, Kassa… it can be a handy resource just because they DO list word count for each book.
I find that seeing what I’m getting, as far as length, in simple numbers rather than “novels are 50K words and up” really helps me decide whether I’m willing to pay however much for a story.
I mean, I’ll pay 6 bucks for a book that’s 80K words… but not for one that’s 35K.
I rarely buy at FW, but I usually have the site open while browsing other sites, just so I can see what kind of bang I’ll be getting for my buck. So to speak. 😛
~Tis
I think 50k up novels for $5.95 or $6.95 is pretty standard from what I’m seeing. If that’s acceptable – well that’s up to each individual you know?
But it’s important to check around. I usually buy from ARe and it’s tough because you want to read the book so you pay the price that it’s offered. But the whole thing is fascinating to me, thus the breakdown.
Oh, don’t get me wrong! I love that you’re doing this. It’s fascinating, really.
I mean, I’ve noticed that some publishers have radically different pricing than others (and let’s not get started on distributor sites charging whatever they feel like, because that’s a whole other peeve for me).
It’s interesting to see it all laid out the way you’re doing. 🙂 Thanks for that!
~T