Like any first-time author, I had been eagerly looking forward to my book finally coming to market. I’ve been working on it over a span of three years, so knowing that it was finally going to be available to the public has been an ongoing source of pride.
But instead of feeling pride and pleasure in my accomplishment, I feel shame and embarrassment.
Why?
The publisher has priced the book at ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN DOLLARS.
It’s just sillly. My book is a collection of case studies by user-centered design practitioners, tied together with introduction and concluding chapters where I discuss the organizational factors that help and hinder the creation of usable, useful products. Of course *I* think it’s a good book…but for frak’s sake it’s only 226 pages and 11 chapters long. I created the damn book and I DON’T EVEN THINK IT’S WORTH ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN DOLLARS.
I can’t imagine anyone else does either.
The fact is that the publisher has virtually ensured failure because they’ve priced the work far beyond what any reasonable person in our field is willing to pay.
You’re probably wondering whether I brought this up with them. In fact I did raise my concerns in August when I first noticed that the price was going to be set at $99.95. (Don’t ask me what caused the price to jack up 15 dollars; I haven’t a clue.)
In my discussion with the marketing head, he indicated that they typically set the price of their new works somewhat high, and gradually reduce them in response to market conditions. Since I am not a marketer, I figured that they must know what they’re doing.
But now that the book is actually available, it’s clear to me that this strategy will not be successful. As you probably know, many publishers and retailers provide notificaitions when books of potential interest become available. Several people have written to me over the past few weeks expressing various degrees of shock and chagrin at the price of Usability Success Stories. (You have no idea how crappy it feels to write back to these folks explaining that yes, I agree that it’s crazy, and no, I can’t do anything about it.)
The fact is the book is competing against works that are typically priced in the 30 to 50-dollar range. Who in their right mind would buy Usability Success Stories for $115 when they could buy the updated Cost-Justifying Usability for $59.00, Observing the User Experience for $34.00, Designing Interfaces for $32.00, or Designing for Interaction for $26.50?
