Friday Favourites - Price of an E-book

Last week I had a short discussion with someone about pricing. She was a little put out by the fact authors, or publishers, list the first book in a series really cheaply then tack on a few extra dollars for the subsequent books.

I have done this with my Time Spirit Trilogy. From a marketing stand point, it's a clever move. Get people hooked then earn a little more. 

It's got me thinking though, what do you think is a fair price for a digital book?

I am quite cheap, so I tend to not hesitate about spending anything less that $5 on an author I trust. I'll only risk $1-$2 on an author I've never heard of and I get really annoyed about having to spend $10 - $20 on a traditionally published e-book.

Am I in the wrong though?

I used to spend $20 - $30 (NZD) on paperback books, so why do I want e-books to be so cheap?

As an author, I work my butt off to produce work that is good quality. I want to guarantee my readers a good experience so I spend my own funds on having my books edited. I also have to put a little money into marketing, so from my viewpoint, charging $3.99 for a book seems fair. 

Let's not mention an hourly wage, because it would be very low. Writing is a privilege for me, so if I can make enough money from one book to write and publish my next book, I'm a happy girl.

Don't get me wrong, my ultimate goal is to be able to write full time and support myself, but only time and hard work will bring that about :)

What's your favourite price?

If you could pick the price for an e-book, what would choose?