Feb 15 2012
New Penguin Discounts
What’s this? Penguin discounting books?
- Flat Out Sexy by Erin McCarthy * $3.99 * A | BN | K | S *recommend*
- Master of the Night by Angela Knight * $3.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Bygones by Lavyrle Spencer * $3.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Wicked Nights by Nina Bangs * $4.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Killing Moon by Rebecca York * $4.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews * $4.99 * A | BN | K | S *recommend*
- Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill * $4.99 * A | BN | K | S
Send to Kindle
Feb 15, 2012 @ 22:47:44
Sadly Magic Bites is $12.99 on Kobo for Australians
Feb 15, 2012 @ 22:58:22
Hope these all sell really well, so Penguin will realize this is a good thing.
Feb 16, 2012 @ 07:45:33
@Merrian: None of them are on sale in Canada either.
Feb 16, 2012 @ 08:14:10
O_O Thank you so much, Jane! I have been meaning to try the Chicagoland Vampires series for what seems like eternity, but unwilling pay such a high price (for me) for a new author. I immediately snatched that one up.
Feb 16, 2012 @ 10:29:13
I just bought three of these. I’d considered them before, and I think I even have them on my wishlist for the library, but the reduced price got me. I really hope that sales reflect that it’s a good idea to do these type of sales.
I already own it, but I love Magic Bites and told everyone I know that it’s on sale right now. Maybe I can convert a few more people :)
Feb 16, 2012 @ 11:39:50
I own Magic Bites in paper as well, but, yes, now I will own the ebook. Penguin, are you paying attention? This is what we’ve been saying all along.
Oh, wait, B&N still shows $7.99. *sigh*
Feb 16, 2012 @ 12:19:22
Well, enjoy those deals, folks, but don’t bother putting any Penguin title on a “library wishlist.”
They no longer permit libraries to lend their e-books. Random House is now the only one of the “Big Six” publishers that allow libraries to lend their ebooks (HarperCollins theoretically does, but with such ridiculous restrictions that most libraries refuse to purchase their titles) and RH is raising the prices to libraries significantly.
So yay for the brave new future of e-books becoming a dominant format. Who cares if there is no more free library lending anymore? We’ve got discounted e-books!– for now…
Feb 16, 2012 @ 12:56:30
@hapax: I can enjoy these deals, and still be appalled at the library issue – and lobby against it. But thanks for trying to make me feel guilty.
Feb 16, 2012 @ 14:16:25
@Angela — I am not trying to make *you* “feel guilty”; why on earth should you? I’d like it very much, personally, if you felt as angry as hell; and even more if you let the publishers know it.
I would very much like PENGUIN — and the rest of the big name publishers — to feel “guilty”. But since they are unlikely to be struck by a sudden attack of conscience on their own, you bet I’m going to beat this drum every time any one of those publishers is lauded for doing a Good Thing.
Libraries and librarians have been fighting this pretty much on their own. It would be nice if those who rely on libraries and support them let the publishers know how they feel.
First Amendment and internet access activists were fighting SOPA and similar legislative maneuvers for months, even years, and nobody cared. Then Wikipedia and Twitter and Google decided to get involved, and suddenly politicians and lobbyists folded.
Publishers don’t care what the American Library Association says. But if they started getting deluged with letters and emails from customers, it might have more of an impact.
Feb 16, 2012 @ 14:51:40
Hurrah! Hopefully they’re listening to the lost sales websites.
Feb 16, 2012 @ 14:52:28
@hapax:
“So yay for the brave new future of e-books becoming a dominant format. Who cares if there is no more free library lending anymore? We’ve got discounted e-books!– for now… ”
Sure reads like “feel guilty” to me…
I’m very curious about how the Penguin-doesn’t-allow-library-lending is actually playing out. I agree, most of the big 6 are skunks when it comes to library lending. As of this morning, the Seattle Public Library still has Penguin backlist titles available to reserve and borrow as e-books. The records now state, though, that Kindle books can be borrowed via USB only. Is that the end of the story, or all these books going to disappear soon? Or will there simply be no Penguin books added to what the library has already paid for? Inquiring minds want to know…
Feb 16, 2012 @ 15:09:51
@TFQ: It’s my understanding titles the library currently holds will remain available, but no new titles can be added.
Feb 16, 2012 @ 15:29:51
Wow.
I don’t know how many times I have read in the comments after a review something like, “Well, I *would* have bought this but agency pricing is a deal breaker” or “This sounds like a great book, but I refuse to buy books from X retailer” or “What a great book. But geographical restrictions are The Evil”.
Apparently that kind of criticism is A-OK. But to say, “Yeah, nice deals from Penguin, but their policies towards libraries are putting the latter in danger” — NOTHING about “therefore don’t buy from them” — is somehow unacceptable?
Feb 16, 2012 @ 15:32:09
Sorry, Penguin, but I’m still pissed at you over the library thing. You can’t buy my love!
Feb 16, 2012 @ 15:35:19
Oddly enough I was ILL’ing something from my library when this caught my attention: Why Can’t I Find the eBook I Want?.
I’m not buying agency ebooks anyway because they’re out of my price-comfort-zone and I don’t read paper if I can help it. Net result: I don’t purchase a copy and my library doesn’t purchase a copy. That is at least two lost sales for a) price and b) lending. It’s not like I can’t live without these books, yanno? I have crocheting projects, which I can do while watching TV.
Feb 16, 2012 @ 15:37:48
Oh, and I was ILL’ing a book that’s out of print, with no (legal) ebook available. Likely a lost ebook sale there, too.
Feb 16, 2012 @ 16:56:18
@Laura: Yeah! When I saw this post, my first thought was “Whatever, you still suck …”
Feb 16, 2012 @ 17:14:28
@hapax: I’m with you on this. In the past I never checked publishers before I bought a book. Now it’s almost automatic. If It’s something I really want and a publisher I do not want to support I buy it used. I can often get a good deal on a used book on Amazon with my prime membership, many times cheaper than buying a book not warehoused by Amazon for a penny. Then I donate it so someone else won’t have to buy it.
Feb 16, 2012 @ 17:18:13
@Moriah Jovan:
Consider yourself fortunate that you still can use ILL at your library, Moriah. I worked in interlibrary loan at a library system for almost 24 years, until January 1st when my job went away. What this means to the patrons of the 42 member libraries I served is that if a book isn’t owned in any of our libraries they won’t be getting it. And by 2013 we’re likely going to have to start charging them a substantial fee to borrow the ones that ARE owned in system. Libraries everywhere are in jeopardy these days.
Feb 16, 2012 @ 17:24:11
@Loosheesh: I keep thinking of that website Fuck You, Penguin. It has nothing to do with this issue, but the name expresses my sentiments pretty well!
Feb 16, 2012 @ 17:25:02
@DianeN: Oh, that’s so sad. Yes, I’ve come to realize in the last year or so how fortunate I am with regard to libraries. I’ve got three excellent (and excellently managed) libraries at my disposal (the ones I use regularly, I should add): Mid-Continent, the Kansas City Public Library, and the Miller-Nichols Library.
Feb 16, 2012 @ 17:31:20
@Moriah Jovan: Now I’m sighing for the days when I lived in Chicagoland and could use the Newberry at will. At least Indy has a good library with tons of branches to request materials from.
Feb 16, 2012 @ 18:51:12
Until Penguin elects to supply libraries, I’m uninterested in purchasing books from them.
Feb 16, 2012 @ 19:39:33
@hapax: It wasn’t that you said anything about not buying from them because of the library issue, it was the sarcasm in the last sentence of your post that got to me and made it seem like you were trying to make people feel guilty.
For what it’s worth, I agree with you about the danger to libraries. I tend not to think about it too much because I just recently started borrowing from the library again, and with their selection so limited right now, it’s still pretty much a no-go for me. I need to remember to think about it though, because libraries are very important, and definitely needed. They filled a huge need in my life for a long time.
This still makes me cautiously hopeful though. Hopeful that they’re finally starting to listen to us.
Maybe that just makes me overly optimistic, or naive.
Feb 17, 2012 @ 10:59:09
@Angela: I see it as more of a sop. If there is a connection, it’s a condescending attempt to make people less angry by discounting a handful of titles from their vast catalog. Personally, I’m unimpressed.