Buy a Kindle book and a packet of crisps and still have change from a £1  ?

  

                 

            I'm the perennial bargain hunter.  Charity shops, car boot sales and pound shops send out subliminal messages specially to lure me in.  However, I was uneasy at the thought of buying a brand new book albeit on kindle for 20p.  It just seemed wrong to me.  For goodness sake Oxfam charges at least £1 for a used book and that goes to charity.  How can Kindle charge only 20p?

Now, if I owned a Kindle I sure as hell would buy it because I love Peter James’ books and as I freely admit I'm a bargain hunter, but at the back of my mind is the niggling thought that a book written by a writer of his calibre should cost more than 20p. 

Does it undervalue the whole craft of writing if, after a year of sheer hell our baby gets published and then sold for less than it costs to demolish a bag of crisps?

So:

·        Does it open up crime books to a wider market by making them more affordable?

Or

·        Does a 20p price on a kindle book adversely affect other author’s sales?

Or

·        Does it just keep the market moving? 

I'm not sure about this but, the worst case scenario for me would be that our brilliantly talented crime writers would somehow be pressurised to rush their work to churn out a greater quantity of books which I fear could ultimately affect the quality of writing?

Whilst I’m all for books being as accessible to everyone as possible I do find this a dilemma.  What do you think?

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