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(Screenshot by Michelle Starr/CNET Australia)
Did you like the Humble ebook bundle? StoryBundle did it first, and has returned with a horror ebook bundle with six titles for as little as US$1.
The Humble ebook bundle closed out this morning, qualifying as a roaring success. It sold 84,153 bundles, bringing in a total of US$1,201,961.57 — not as much as the gaming bundles bring in, but enough to demonstrate that DRM-free ebooks offered at a price that the buyer thinks is fair can really rake it in.
If you’re keen to see more deals like this, StoryBundle offers a similar service: pay what you think is fair, choose whether to donate a percentage to charity and pay above the threshold for some extra titles.
There are a few key differences, though; StoryBundle has more of a mind to help independent authors, offering primarily self-published books in its bundles. Considering that so many quality works get denied by publishers on the grounds that the marketing would be too difficult, or that the manuscript doesn’t appeal to the reviewer’s personal taste (that does happen), self-publishing has really opened up in the last few years. Its image has undergone a drastic transformation, from what was seen as an embarrassing vanity move to a legitimate way to get your title on the market.
The prices and percentages are fixed, too: a flat US$9 is the point at which you can access the bonus books (as opposed to Humble Bundle’s “pay more than the average”), and the charity option only allows you to donate 10 per cent to a choice of two charities, with the rest going to the authors and, presumably, the site. That seems fair to us.
In honour of Halloween, StoryBundle has a horror bundle up for grabs, with six books available for as little as US$1:
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Riverwatch by Joseph Nassise
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Taking on the Dead by Annie Walls
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A Latent Dark by Martin Kee
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The Drought by Patricia Fulton
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Blaze of Glory by Weston Ochse
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Vicarious by Jon F Merz.
For a US$9 minimum, you also get the following bonus titles:
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Coming of Age: Three Novellas by Douglas Clegg
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Resurrection, Inc by Kevin J Anderson.
Visit the StoryBundle website for plot synopses and book previews — and, of course, to snare the bundle for yourself.
And, yes, it’s completely DRM free:
There’s no DRM on any of our books. None. Why? For one, we don’t believe DRM actually stops people from sharing what they want to share. Second, and most importantly, we don’t believe we should be treating our customers as criminals. So go ahead and put these on your tablets, Kindles and smartphones, but if a friend wants to read the bundle, please have them buy one for themselves. With pay what you want, we believe there’s a price for everyone. Or, better yet, buy one for them as a gift! Help support indie authors!
Via dvice.com
