# I could just scream! (price hike)



## austenfiend (Nov 17, 2009)

Ugghh, I am ALWAYS a day late and a dollar short!  While reading about everyone doing some buying in case the prices went up, I justified not doing it because I have a ton of books to read anyway.  Well, there is a specific author that I know I want her books and she, of course, is prolific.  Just for the heck of it I checked one of her Kindle books today and it went up almost $2!  It is now the same price as a paperback - needless to say I see myself starting to use the library again.  This whole pricing thing has left a really bad taste in my mouth and I feel like I'm being held hostage.  Sorry, just had to vent....


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## chipotle (Jan 1, 2010)

I read on the Dear Author web site that Hachette, Simon & Schuster, St. Martin's Press,
and HarperCollins are pricing all their ebooks the same price as the mass market paperback
($7.99) and Penguin is pricing their ebooks at $6.99 or a dollar cheaper than the MMPB.

I looked at my 7 page Kindle wishlist yesterday and every agency model ebook was either
the price of the MMPB or more expensive. sigh


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## Jane917 (Dec 29, 2009)

I just noticed that nearly ALL of the Kindle books on the bestseller list are no longer available. Could this be due to the price changes?


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

Jane917 said:


> I just noticed that nearly ALL of the Kindle books on the bestseller list are no longer available. Could this be due to the price changes?


No. I think it was because somebody accidentally priced a bunch of books for free during the changeover and when it was noticed this morning, they pulled those books. It was a LOT of books.

As for the pricing, I'm trying to be patient and see if prices settle in a few weeks. I've been watching the prices the past several days and they're all over the place.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

luvmy4brats said:


> No. I think it was because somebody accidentally priced a bunch of books for free during the changeover and when it was noticed this morning, they pulled those books. It was a LOT of books.
> 
> As for the pricing, I'm trying to be patient and see if prices settle in a few weeks. I've been watching the prices the past several days and they're all over the place.


Wait, there were a whole lotta books priced for free accidentally? I'm sorry I missed it!


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## KindleChickie (Oct 24, 2009)

luvmy4brats said:


> No. I think it was because somebody accidentally priced a bunch of books for free during the changeover and when it was noticed this morning, they pulled those books. It was a LOT of books.
> 
> As for the pricing, I'm trying to be patient and see if prices settle in a few weeks. I've been watching the prices the past several days and they're all over the place.


And you didnt come and yell it thru the rooftops that there were free best sellers? Naughty girl.


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## VictoriaP (Mar 1, 2009)

chipotle said:


> I read on the Dear Author web site that Hachette, Simon & Schuster, St. Martin's Press,
> and HarperCollins are pricing all their ebooks the same price as the mass market paperback
> ($7.99) and Penguin is pricing their ebooks at $6.99 or a dollar cheaper than the MMPB.
> 
> ...


If you have a link for that post, I'd like to see it. I cannot find anything that lists how Penguin plans to model their ebook pricing, including on that site--and it's not yet appearing on Amazon since they haven't come to agreement. All the ones I'm trying to pull on Barnes & Noble today are coming up as invalid, which suggests they're changing the listings.


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## Jane917 (Dec 29, 2009)

Why wouldn't the new competition from the iPad make the prices go down, rather than up?


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

KindleChickie said:


> And you didnt come and yell it thru the rooftops that there were free best sellers? Naughty girl.


Somebody posted them on the Free Book thread. 10 of the 13 Series of Unfortunate Events were part of it.


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

Jane917 said:


> Why wouldn't the new competition from the iPad make the prices go down, rather than up?


It's because of the new Agency Model pricing that went into affect this weekend. The publishers now set the price instead of Amazon.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

Jane917 said:


> Why wouldn't the new competition from the iPad make the prices go down, rather than up?


You're thinking rationally! Unfortunately competition doesn't always lead to lower prices (look at health insurance!) and certainly nothing about this Amazon vs. Apple war has been rational.

And all these competing retailers agreeing with publishers how prices should be set really strikes my non-legally-educated mind as very much legally shifty, but so far no lawsuits have been filed to my knowledge. Let's contact our Senators and insist they launch a Congressional investigation into this whole mess for price-fixing! (I only half-jest.)


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## chipotle (Jan 1, 2010)

Oh sorry - just forget what I said earlier. She was just talking about the 
price of the books she looked up in the iBooks app store. I read it to mean 
that all those publisher's books would be priced similarly. Obviously I need more 
caffeine today!

It is about halfway through her post here about how the iPad won't be a Kindle killer:

http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2010/04/04/10-hours-with-the-ipad/


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## VictoriaP (Mar 1, 2009)

chipotle said:


> Oh sorry - just forget what I said earlier. She was just talking about the
> price of the books she looked up in the iBooks app store. I read it to mean
> that all those publisher's books would be priced similarly. Obviously I need more
> caffeine today!
> ...


I emphathize with your need for more caffeine. I'm so sluggish today. LOL

Thanks for the link, I'll dig around in it. If Penguin's books are posted that way on the iBook app, I'm willing to bet too that they'll be that way on Amazon. That would bump the current pricing from $6.39, which isn't ideal, but if they really are a dollar off the paperback, I'll take that as a win.


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## Silver (Dec 30, 2008)

I'm screaming with you! Lots of books on my Wish List that I really do want, but was putting off until I read more of those which I already have. Now I'm checking and they've just about all gone up in price. My total bad!



luvmy4brats said:


> No. I think it was because somebody accidentally priced a bunch of books for free during the changeover and when it was noticed this morning, they pulled those books. It was a LOT of books.


On the other hand, I was congratulating myself all over the place for getting 10 free Lemony Snickets and one free Agatha Christie. What a smart shopper I am. Duh. It never occurred to me that it was an Amazon "whoopsie". Uh, I don't have to give them back do I?


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

Silver said:


> Uh, I don't have to give them back do I?


I seriously doubt it. I can't remember hearing anybody ever having books removed because they were bought during a pricing error. It's happened before. This one was a big one though. (I downloaded 22 total free books...all except one are currently unavailable on Kindle.


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## VictoriaP (Mar 1, 2009)

Silver said:


> Uh, I don't have to give them back do I?


I doubt it too. But just in case--I downloaded copies to my computer. My thought is that they **might** remove them from our archives as they do with pirated books that have slipped through the system.

Along with the pricing issues, the unavailabilty problem that people are having with books they've purchased over at Fictionwise made me do some serious thinking about the fact that I haven't been diligent about archiving my books (or anything else, LOL), so I set up an archive for both my Amazon purchases and for things from Baen, etc. Now I'm keeping a copy on my laptop, a copy on our backup drive, and one on a flash drive that comes with me.


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## Pushka (Oct 30, 2009)

It will be a long time before kindle books match the price if paperbacks in Australia. Best sellers start at $32USD and on a sale maybe $24USD. You can see why Aussies are still buying books. Yesterday I bought the latest Jodie Picoult on kindle for $12.99. The book was $28usd in my bookstore.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

luvmy4brats said:


> Somebody posted them on the Free Book thread. 10 of the 13 Series of Unfortunate Events were part of it.


This should have been a whole separate thread, in capitals, bold, and italics, and in every forum!


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## Forster (Mar 9, 2009)

Jane917 said:


> Why wouldn't the new competition from the iPad make the prices go down, rather than up?


Because Apple made sure there was no competition. Apple couldn't or didn't want to compete with Amazon on book pricing so we got Agency pricing or one price fits all. No more we as publishers sell the book to you the retailer at a wholesale price and then you the bookseller sell it for however much you want.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

DYB said:


> ...And all these competing retailers agreeing with publishers how prices should be set really strikes my non-legally-educated mind as very much legally shifty, but so far no lawsuits have been filed to my knowledge....


Except that this "agency model" thing is not the same as the publisher selling to the retailer (Amazon) at whatever wholesale price the publisher chooses, and then the retailer selling at whatever price (and resulting profit or loss) they choose. Instead the publisher is essentially taking over the retail role, selling direct to the customer, and simply providing a fixed percentage of their chosen retail price to Amazon for providing the distribution service. This takes Amazon out of the picture in these cases with any respect to choosing the actual retail price.

As to the legality/illegality of everything that has led us to this juncture, I have no idea, though I'm sure Amazon can afford some good lawyers if there were anything here they felt was worth the litigation. There certainly is a certain aroma of price fixing going on amongst the publishers, and the exclusivity contracts Apple was demanding to prevent anyone underselling their ebooks seems shady to me, but since Walmart has been getting away with that for years, I guess that's not considered illegal (or at least not adjudicated as such to date).


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## OmnivoreInk (Mar 5, 2009)

Wow. Just reading through these posts now... had no idea the publishers would be this stupid. Frankly, if its a choice between an eboook and a paper book at the same price, I'll take the paper book. Unless I'm really impatient to read it, and sometimes not even t hen.

Cutting off nose to spite face is right!


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## VictoriaP (Mar 1, 2009)

OmnivoreInk said:


> Wow. Just reading through these posts now... had no idea the publishers would be this stupid. Frankly, if its a choice between an eboook and a paper book at the same price, I'll take the paper book. Unless I'm really impatient to read it, and sometimes not even t hen.
> 
> Cutting off nose to spite face is right!


Unfortunately, if you buy the print edition at the same price, you're the one doing the nose cutting.  You're telling the publishers, "You're right, ebooks aren't worth the trouble, I'll buy your hardcovers/paperbacks anyway." Which is EXACTLY what they're hoping you do.

If you are willing to buy the DTB, then please consider picking one up used or getting it from the library, and then letting the publisher know you did so. That way, you're not validating their decision to overcharge for ebooks, and they're not only not making money from you, they're told that they've actually lost out on a sale by their way of doing business.


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## Trophywife007 (Aug 31, 2009)

Excellent point, VictoriaP.  

Actually, if a paperback costs the same as an ebook, I'd rather have the ebook (even though I do believe it should be cheaper) because I'd prefer not to have to store a physical copy.  My house won't fit any more bookshelves in it!


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## austenfiend (Nov 17, 2009)

Excellent point VictoriaP:

I have written to two of the publishers that a lot of the books that I read come from with just this information.  If the e-book price is the same as a paperback, I will either be checking the book out of the library or getting it from the used book store.  After all, I'm trying to make a point - "I'm mad as h*ll and I'm not going to take it anymore".  This shouldn't be too difficult for me to do, since most of the books that I read aren't new releases, and it's not as if I don't already have hundreds of books on my Kindle as it is.


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## scottnicholson (Jan 31, 2010)

I believe this is a temporary struggle and publishers are acting irrationally and thinking short term. Authors will soon be controlling their content more and more, and prices will naturally lower--there is already a little pricing competition going on between the big publishers. This is all a big experiment to observe consumer behavior and they will move in the direction that makes them the most money.

For my part, I will stick to cheap e-books. I don't think an e-book should cost more than $5 unless it is a complex technical manual or something with a ton of indexing.

Scott Nicholson


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## Basilius (Feb 20, 2010)

I received an interesting email from Amazon late last week.

A book I had on preorder (_WWW: Watch_ by Robert J Sawyer) was due to release on Kindle tomorrow. (April 6.) The ebook release is apparently not going to happen, and they cancelled my preorder. Instead they offered a huge discount on the hardcover. It lists for $24.95 and they're selling it for $9.99. I'll probably pass and wait for a reasonably priced ebook. (The precursor to the book - _WWW: Wake_ - just got nominated for the Hugo, btw.)

In a separate issue related to this thread, China Mieville's _The City & The City_ was also just nominated for the Hugo. It's currently available for the Kindle for over $14 (Hardcover lists for $26). The paperback (list $15) is due out on the 27th. Let's see if this particular publisher (Ace) follows through on the promise to reduce ebook prices as different print versions come available. Many publishers have been very poor at this over the years.


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## MariaESchneider (Aug 1, 2009)

Someone else posted about getting a similar letter.  Apparently some publishers aren't sure when they will release their ebooks now so the pre-order option is mute.  Penguin, I believe, was one who doesn't have a new Amazon agreement and so there seems to be particular troubles with that imprint.

What a load of horse manure.  They've had months to figure out a strategy.  It is not as though ebooks were invented yesterday.

M


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## J.L. Penn (Mar 17, 2010)

I am seeing lots of posting in various places about all this price hike stuff and I've gotta say that while I feel for the Kindle owners b/c I really do feel like it's unfair to them, I am hoping this will at least be a blessing to indie authors.  Since we're unaffected by the price hike, hopefully more people will start checking out our wares b/c they're priced more reasonably.  I've already seen one post on the Amazon Kindle FB page that suggested exactly that (from a reader).

But in regard to the price hike on the traditionally published stuff ... I think what the publishers are failing to take into acct is that people are paying quite a premium to buy the devices to read those books.  Of course, since they see not a dime from the sale of those devices, I can see why they're thumbing their noses at that little fact.  Amazon's clearly stuck between a rock and a hard place here.  Amazon should have sufficient clout to push back on the publishers, but then they lose a ton of sales by having their own boycott.  On the other hand, Amazon's customers are justifiably upset, so what's a book selling behemoth to do?  Beats me.  Should be interesting to see where things shake out.

My suggestion: Send the message by reading the cheaper stuff (i.e. indie authors)!  

-Jenn


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## DenverRalphy (Mar 24, 2010)

With the price increase of ebooks, there should also have been granted the same rights you'd have had you purchased a DTB.  If they're going to charge as much as a DTB, then you should be able to lend, trade, give away, or sell your copy.

It would be nice if after you've finished reading your ebook, Amazon had a method in which you could have the book taken out of your archives and submitted for reselling, lending, etc.


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## AppleHeart (Apr 10, 2009)

Has anyone notice that there is now a sales tax being tacked on to purchases of e-books? I've never paid any sales tax before (10/2008 to 4/3/2010) and today, while lurking on the April books reccomended by members posts, I decided to get Neil Gaiman's FRAGILE THINGS (@ .99 + .07 = 1.06) and two Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody books (@ 1.99 + .14 = 2.13) on bill/statement/receipt from Amazon.com.

Am I to infer by this that from now on, sales tax will be added to the e-books I'm purchasing or is this sales tax a mandatory additon by all the publishing houses?

The above books are from HarperCollins Publishers and Hachette Book Group. I guess I'll have to wait to get the Kindle versions of _*all*_ my favorite DTBs. Good thing that I've already completed some of my favorites. Heck, if worse comes to worst, I can, _maybe_, re-read the ones I've already read PK (prior to Kindle), if I have to!

Thank goodness I have a huge Kindle TBR (most Indie authors and very little trad-pubbed authors) and a library card. I will be able to out-wait what ever is going on between Amazon and the Publishing houses.

GO INDIE!

Pax,

ebc, who's building 2 baskets that will be raffled off at TTP in July, and all the books are from new-to-me-Indie-Authors....


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

AppleHeart said:


> Has anyone notice that there is now a sales tax being tacked on to purchases of e-books?


Yes. Read this thread:

http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,22488.msg419330/topicseen.html#new


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