Interesting.........

carpetmojo · 07-12-2011, 05:46 PM

The 5th book in George R Martin's "Ice & Fire " series is out - with the hardback slashed immediately, so it would seem.
Hardback is "slashed" in UK on Amazon and W'stones from £25 to £12-50.

I get the odd decent textile reference book from "remainder" stores, and these are often sold @ 50% reduction straight from the presses - they are made to sell for this price from the start, basically.

I think it's a bit early for Martin's tome, isn't it ? Or is he not as popular in Europe as the States ?

The paperback is £7-99 (one "used" for £1,191 !) but guess what ?
The kindle edition is £11-99, a whopping .51p less than the hardback.

What a bargain......

And what an interesting pricing strategy....

tubemonkey · 07-12-2011, 07:03 PM

As the public moves more and more to digital, fewer hardcover sales will just mean price hikes for ebooks.

One way or another, publishers are going to get their money.

elcreative · 07-12-2011, 08:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carpetmojo

The 5th book in George R Martin's "Ice & Fire " series is out - with the hardback slashed immediately, so it would seem.
Hardback is "slashed" in UK on Amazon and W'stones from £25 to £12-50.

I get the odd decent textile reference book from "remainder" stores, and these are often sold @ 50% reduction straight from the presses - they are made to sell for this price from the start, basically.

I think it's a bit early for Martin's tome, isn't it ? Or is he not as popular in Europe as the States ?

The paperback is £7-99 (one "used" for £1,191 !) but guess what ?
The kindle edition is £11-99, a whopping .51p less than the hardback.

What a bargain......

And what an interesting pricing strategy....

Despite what it says, the hardback has been £12.50, if ordered in advance, since announced as coming on Waterstones and then two weeks ago listed as £12.50 on release... pricing very rarely has anything to do with popularity these days, more a case of see how many you can shift in the first week or two.

And George is just as popular in the genre buyers in the UK as the US...

Paperback should be interesting, it's not out until 27th September so that's £7.99 for advance order... the £1,191 copy is actually a bargain if you can get the seller to use the required time machine to get a newspaper from the release date as well as the book... for delivery this week!

SensualPoet · 07-13-2011, 07:47 PM

It's a very reasonable $9.99 at kobobooks in Canada ... and you can use a promo code if you have one to lower the price even more. Woo hoo! Finally a bargain for Canadians!

Or, it could be a catalog error: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/-Danc...OUw/page1.html as the price on this page says $18.79 (check out shows $9.99 as does the front page of kobobooks).

carpetmojo · 07-14-2011, 04:20 AM

[QUOTE=elcreative;1655773]Despite what it says, the hardback has been £12.50, if ordered in advance, since announced as coming on Waterstones and then two weeks ago listed as £12.50 on release... pricing very rarely has anything to do with popularity these days, more a case of see how many you can shift in the first week or two.
And George is just as popular in the genre buyers in the UK as the US...
................

QUOTE]

So - in my opinion - why demean the work by saying the "real" price is £25, but you can get it @50% off !

It smacks of those awful, sooooo boring multiplicity of sofa stores selling awful products at what is always 50/60/70% off !

In fact, I wonder if Amazon aren't breaking the UK law regarding reduced/sale prices - I see no indication that this" product", which is what it is, after all, has been on sale "at the higher price" for a month prior - or however long it is - at a verifiable place/store.

Mmmmmmmm.................

Might investigate ..............

P.S. re: the popularity stakes - much as I thought....

hannyB · 07-14-2011, 07:05 AM

Yeah. They know it would really sell a lot so the price is just right.

Fayth · 07-15-2011, 12:14 PM

I bought it for $14.99 on Kobo US as soon as I woke up Tuesday morning. I don't mind paying that price for a new release, although 9.99 is obviously better.

elcreative · 07-15-2011, 03:01 PM

If you look closely then the prices say RRP (recommended retail price) for the so-called full price and our price for the price on offer... no claim that they've sold at the full price therefore not illegal...

carpetmojo · 07-15-2011, 05:12 PM

Oh bu....bother !

ebusinesstutor · 07-16-2011, 02:05 PM

Amazon.com is showing these prices:

Hardcover - $18.81 US
Kindle - $10.35 US.
No paperback listed.

So at least there is a decent savings for the ebook version.

carpetmojo · 07-17-2011, 06:21 AM

That's an interesting shift - is it a common model in US - no paperback but an ebook ?

( 'cos that works out @ roughly [not being a currency trader] a fiver for your ebook, instead of our £11-99 ! )

Cor lumme.......

elcreative · 07-17-2011, 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carpetmojo

That's an interesting shift - is it a common model in US - no paperback but an ebook ?

( 'cos that works out @ roughly [not being a currency trader] a fiver for your ebook, instead of our £11-99 ! )

Cor lumme.......

Would still not get that cheap in the UK... eBooks are NOT VAT free unlike pbooks so any UK price is going to have 20% VAT in its price... government idiots!! And yes, I know that's an oxymoron...

Phogg · 07-17-2011, 08:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elcreative

Would still not get that cheap in the UK... eBooks are NOT VAT free unlike pbooks so any UK price is going to have 20% VAT in its price... government idiots!! And yes, I know that's an oxymoron...

Actually, its a repetative redundancy...

elcreative · 07-17-2011, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phogg

Actually, its a repetative redundancy...

Quite right although I actually meant to say tautology... but my excuse is being tired... doing everything as usual plus looking after wife with broken wrist /arm (now incorporating large amounts of assorted metalwork and screws)...

charleski · 07-17-2011, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carpetmojo

I think it's a bit early for Martin's tome, isn't it ?

It's a reflection of the way price interacts with inventory costs. If a book is a best-seller (or expected to be one, as in this case) the distribution chain is setup to move large numbers of copies rapidly, because they know that those are going to be sold. After a while, as the book drops out of the best-seller charts, it becomes catalogue stock and joins the ranks of the hundreds of thousands of books which still sell, but not in the quantities that provide economies of scale in their distribution. Finally, the publisher cuts their losses on the copies left from the last print run and dumps the book at a bargain price to clear inventory.

So the price of a book can start at £12.50, move up to £25 after a few months, then drop to a few pounds after a year or so. This is all related to the costs of inventory and distribution, so doesn't apply to ebooks.

07-12-2011, 05:46 PM	#1
carpetmojo Wizard Posts: 3,117 Karma: 9269999 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: UK Device: Sony- T3, PRS650, 350, T1/2/3, Paperwhite, Fire 8.9,Samsung Tab S 10.5	Interesting......... The 5th book in George R Martin's "Ice & Fire " series is out - with the hardback slashed immediately, so it would seem. Hardback is "slashed" in UK on Amazon and W'stones from £25 to £12-50. I get the odd decent textile reference book from "remainder" stores, and these are often sold @ 50% reduction straight from the presses - they are made to sell for this price from the start, basically. I think it's a bit early for Martin's tome, isn't it ? Or is he not as popular in Europe as the States ? The paperback is £7-99 (one "used" for £1,191 !) but guess what ? The kindle edition is £11-99, a whopping .51p less than the hardback. What a bargain...... And what an interesting pricing strategy....

07-14-2011, 04:20 AM	#5
carpetmojo Wizard Posts: 3,117 Karma: 9269999 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: UK Device: Sony- T3, PRS650, 350, T1/2/3, Paperwhite, Fire 8.9,Samsung Tab S 10.5	Yeah, but..... [QUOTE=elcreative;1655773]Despite what it says, the hardback has been £12.50, if ordered in advance, since announced as coming on Waterstones and then two weeks ago listed as £12.50 on release... pricing very rarely has anything to do with popularity these days, more a case of see how many you can shift in the first week or two. And George is just as popular in the genre buyers in the UK as the US... ................QUOTE] So - in my opinion - why demean the work by saying the "real" price is £25, but you can get it @50% off ! It smacks of those awful, sooooo boring multiplicity of sofa stores selling awful products at what is always 50/60/70% off ! In fact, I wonder if Amazon aren't breaking the UK law regarding reduced/sale prices - I see no indication that this" product", which is what it is, after all, has been on sale "at the higher price" for a month prior - or however long it is - at a verifiable place/store. Mmmmmmmm................. Might investigate .............. P.S. re: the popularity stakes - much as I thought.... Last edited by carpetmojo; 07-14-2011 at 04:21 AM. Reason: missed a bit..

07-15-2011, 05:12 PM	#9
carpetmojo Wizard Posts: 3,117 Karma: 9269999 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: UK Device: Sony- T3, PRS650, 350, T1/2/3, Paperwhite, Fire 8.9,Samsung Tab S 10.5	grrr.... Oh bu....bother !

07-17-2011, 06:21 AM	#11
carpetmojo Wizard Posts: 3,117 Karma: 9269999 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: UK Device: Sony- T3, PRS650, 350, T1/2/3, Paperwhite, Fire 8.9,Samsung Tab S 10.5	Eh ? That's an interesting shift - is it a common model in US - no paperback but an ebook ? ( 'cos that works out @ roughly [not being a currency trader] a fiver for your ebook, instead of our £11-99 ! ) Cor lumme.......

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07-12-2011, 07:03 PM	#2
tubemonkey monkey on the fringe Posts: 45,858 Karma: 158733736 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Seattle Metro Device: Moto E6, Echo Show	As the public moves more and more to digital, fewer hardcover sales will just mean price hikes for ebooks. One way or another, publishers are going to get their money.

07-13-2011, 07:47 PM	#4
SensualPoet Wizard Posts: 2,302 Karma: 2607151 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Toronto Device: Kobo Aura HD, Kindle Paperwhite, Asus ZenPad 3, Kobo Glo	It's a very reasonable $9.99 at kobobooks in Canada ... and you can use a promo code if you have one to lower the price even more. Woo hoo! Finally a bargain for Canadians! Or, it could be a catalog error: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/-Danc...OUw/page1.html as the price on this page says $18.79 (check out shows $9.99 as does the front page of kobobooks).

07-14-2011, 07:05 AM	#6
hannyB Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Los Angeles, California, USA Device: none	Yeah. They know it would really sell a lot so the price is just right.

07-15-2011, 12:14 PM	#7
Fayth Zealot Posts: 134 Karma: 1337 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: Sony PRS 350	I bought it for $14.99 on Kobo US as soon as I woke up Tuesday morning. I don't mind paying that price for a new release, although 9.99 is obviously better.

07-15-2011, 03:01 PM	#8
elcreative Wizard Posts: 2,888 Karma: 5875940 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: PRS505, 600, 350, 650, Nexus 7, Note III, iPad 4 etc	If you look closely then the prices say RRP (recommended retail price) for the so-called full price and our price for the price on offer... no claim that they've sold at the full price therefore not illegal...

07-16-2011, 02:05 PM	#10
ebusinesstutor Star Gawker Posts: 526 Karma: 6944314 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Spruce Grove, AB Canada Device: Kindle Paperwhite	Amazon.com is showing these prices: Hardcover - $18.81 US Kindle - $10.35 US. No paperback listed. So at least there is a decent savings for the ebook version.