Quote:
Originally Posted by stonetools
You should understand that publishers are selling, for example, every copy of GRRM's latest that they can print at $18.81 hard cover and every e-book they can download at $14.99. They have been selling every copy of Unbroken in both formats at those "unsustainable " prices all year long. Maybe they aren't as clueless about prices as you think, because there is zero evidence that they are losing customers selling at those prices.
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Yes, most publishers have a couple of blockbuster authors with guaranteed to release bestsellers at hardcover prices, and GRRM's one of them (with a TV series based on the series doesn't hurt, either). These authors are the ones that keep the publishers in the black, and subsidize the other authors whose books didn't quite click and the sales didn't make up for the author's advance.
I see that Gollancz appears to be attempting to collar the 1960s-2000 SF backlist, and they're pricing the ebooks mostly at $5.33 or $8.66. I don't know why they chose those prices, but I think they may find that the $8.66 price is too high. I think most of the appeal to this backlist is from people who read these authors long ago, and while they might buy one or two favorite books, at these prices they won't buy them all.