Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin Howard
I merely expressed my skepticism about a Bristol book marketed by Amazon.com as "The Inside Story" which has been discounted by over 50% many months ahead of it's launch (I have pre ordered the book at $39.66 or £24).
Given the old adage "You get what you pay for", I don't see that as "unfair".
Having absolutely no knowledge of the author, that level of discounting suggest to me that either the publisher has no idea about marketing and perceived value pricing, or they don't have much confidence in the book.
I'm not suggesting that it should cost hundreds of pounds, but given the current alternatives for people seeking books on Bristols, £50 should be easily achievable. If it really does contain old photographs and information that has never been seen before, then a higher price tag may well have been justified.
I sincerely hope that the new book is very good, and that it turns out to be an absolute bargain!
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Kevin, I'm not sure you understand how Amazon does business. They take a huge commission for listing a book. In many cases books now are print-on-demand where they never actually touch the book, it gets shipped from a subsidiary printer. Then they apply a large discount from that large cut they take, meaning they make it very difficult for the traditional book store to compete since they get their margin on the list price... and they have to order it, stock it and sell it over the counter.
The discount has nothing to do with the value of the book, it's what happens when Amazon attains market dominance. In most cases after everyone has taken their cut, the author earns very little - if they write books for dollars they would better work flipping burgers for McDonalds.
Claude