Dennis:
Am reminded of some discussions I had here a while back regarding the purpose and efficacy of the publisher. Obviously, printing and physically distributing a text is not the only cost, so the issue of pricing is murky.
It would be great if you could encourage some of your publishing pals to contribute or peruse these fora. That might give them more evidence of the (possibly) changing landscape of bookselling.
I know that I would feel better about ranting if I knew that someone was listening, and was willing to interact. Feel that the notion of transparency could help publishers out here; would prefer collaboration over contention.
Must be honest, that I never before was much of a book buyer, for all my bibliophilic posturing. Partly because of my tastes, location, and temperament, I mostly frequently the public library or used bookstores. When I started buying more first-run texts, railed and balked at $25.00 for a hardcover fiction book. Tried to allay this cost by starting a communal lending library, or something akin to
book crossing http://www.bookcrossing.com , but with friends.
$5.00 is a good price for books, and I would go as high as $10.00 for a text I
absolutely craved.
Hey! How about a referral program? If I send my friend a link from a publisher's website that results in a purchase, I get a kickback via paypal or account with the publisher?