I’m an old fool. When I published my ebook on Amazon for Kindle readers I was thinking in 20th century terms. I was comparing it to a paperback book. So I considered my $7.99 price a bit of a bargain, given that most softbound books go for $9.99 or more.

What a dufus I am. In the not too distant future all ebooks will cost 99 cents, just like mine does now. (Or will by tomorrow when the change takes effect.)

What prompted my new “pricing strategy” was getting my first royalty check from Amazon. And a big promotional story for me and other local ebook authors. First, the royalty, while surprising and nice, was not that much money. Second, the big story about we ebookers generated all of two sales for me.

The reason, I now believe, is that the pricing model for ebooks is simple: cheap wins. Always. Don’t believe me? How about this writer or this one or that one?

My theory is that Kindle owners browse what’s available on Amazon, buy what they are searching for, and then make a series of impulse buys. Spending 99 cents is easy. If what you buy is lousy, no big deal.

Since I’ve decided to join the 21st century of publishing through ebooks, I better have 21st century pricing policy, too.