Quote:
Originally Posted by anamardoll
I hope that when I'm a famous author, I don't throw my poorer fans under the bus in exchange for a sexy hardcover with my name on it. I'd like to think that I care more about my readers than about running my fingers over the limited edition baby seal skin version or whatever they're making the hardcover from that it costs $50.  |
$50 is just the pre-order price, unless the readers are lucky enough to get their order in before all the hordes of dealers descend on it you can at least double that figure for the reader's price.
If the aim is to have something pretty to put on shelves, it doesn't need to be a limited edition in such a small quantity to do that. Since it's all sold through pre-orders anyway, they could use the number of orders to determine the print run (and then a 10% run-on for latecomers). Doing that would also bring down the unit price, which could either increase profit or reduce the cost for readers.