Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham
But surely Amazon are under no obligation to discount at all?
|
I don’t think they’re under any obligation to discount them. If Amazon are using the ‘sale or return’ system for conventional books they will be buying those books at a fixed price—usually 50% of the publishers RRP. The discount they apply will be somewhere between 50-100% of the RRP but even then they’re under no obligation to even sell them at the RRP if they think they can get a higher price.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham
The same author complaining about the rise in the price (still less than the publisher recommended) surely benefited from the earlier increased sales that he believes were a direct result of Amazon taking a hit and discounting harder.
|
Certainly the author would have been given a bonus in the sales of the book the more Amazon discounted them. Theoretically, more people would be prepared to buy a book at a lower price than they perhaps might have done at a higher price.
However, what I think the author is complaining about is that now Amazon have rid themselves of most of their competitors they’re hiking the prices on books which is likely to produce fewer sales, even if it produces a higher profit margin for Amazon.
The key point here is I think that the author did mention that he was less concerned about the royalty payments dropping and more concerned about fewer books being sold because they were now at a higher price.
No point writing a book if no-one is going to buy and read it because it’s priced at too high a price—the author clearly wants people to buy and read his book. Perhaps expanding readership audience in readiness for a sequel is more important to him?