Uganda, where a book can cost a month’s salary – In Uganda, a book can cost the equivalent of a week’s worth of food (more than $40 or almost £30), complicating attempts to “stop reading being regarded as a purely middle-class luxury,” especially for children, whose literacy is key to future economic ... more >
Last week’s post on digital book prices for commercial fiction engendered a lot of great responses, reflecting some really passionate opinions on how books are priced and how readers make their purchasing decisions. Judging from that completely anecdotal, self-selecting, limited sample, it seems like $12.99 is out of reach for ... more >
So now that Hachette and Amazon have settled their epic feud, and we’re seeing the results of publisher negotiations with the retailer, we seem to be witnessing the revenge of traditional publishers when it comes to digital book pricing. Last week I enthusiastically searched at Amazon for two books I ... more >
I posted this in January 2011 but in light of last week’s discussion, I thought it was timely to repost. Last week we determined that ebook pricing was not based on the cost of ebooks, but rather the most that publishers thought readers would pay for ebooks in this market. What ... more >
When I first started buying my own books some twenty plus years ago, I had very little money. My favorite authors were starting to come out in hardcover (Julie Garwood, for example) and unless I wanted to wait to be the 80th person at the library to read the book, ... more >
Amazon increases free shipping minimum order to $35, pushes Prime membership as an alternative – Right before the holidays too! Engadget reported that for the first time in a decade, you have to order $35 worth of stuff in order to qualify for free shipping unless, of course, you have ... more >