Are Publishers April Foolish?

If you've been reading other book blogs lately, whether written by readers, resellers or authors, you can't help but know that that April 1 has been designated as the change-over date for ebook resellers to cease to resell books and instead act as commissioned sales agents for five of the biggest publishers in the business. It's hard to see how anyone wins in this scenario (although some resellers will make more, percentage wise in the short term) - retail prices are expected to rise (although some prices may decline, if publishers keep their promise to lower ebook list prices to close to 1/2 the hardback price), so consumers will pay more. Authors will get less per book, as they are paid based upon the suggested retail price, not the selling price, the publishers will get less (70% of the new, lower prices) and book sales may decline (even without the $9.99 boycott movement, there are proven psychological barriers when sale prices add an extra digit and some author experiments on the low end brought substantially increased revenue as prices dropped). The resellers don't win long term, as they will no longer be able to offer sales pricing or discount/reward programs (at least, according to the blogs from several of the smaller booksellers), leaving perhaps only the range of platforms where you can read the ebook and the management of your bookshelf as their distinguishing factors when making a sale. Even the temporary increase in profit per book may be negated if sales drop (although it might be hard to do worse than losing money on the majority of sales, as Amazon has been doing; then again, they did it on shipping for many years to get customer share).

If there are books you know you'd like to read that are newly out in hardback and are on the $9.99 Kindle books book list, I'd go ahead and order them today. But otherwise, I would not panic, as the more popular books will drop into paperback prices (or at least, they will according to the publishers, who have been known to keep a book in trade paperback instead of traditional or mass market size, just for the higher prices) at some point. I did, however, pick up two books today, that I might have waited on otherwise (but only for a short while, as I have all the previous books in the series), which I've included below. One is a good deal as a pre-order and the other is at that magic $9.99 price today and I didn't want to chance having to wait until it came out in paperback (and I'm paying well over paperback prices for both, something the publishers should consider more - I think their inflated hardback prices have greatly contributed to the decline in reading).

We'll just have to keep track of our wishlists a bit better, so that we find mainstream books that drop to paperback prices. In the meantime, my Kindle has hundreds of unread books on it, most of them obtained free or at minimal cost, due to author sales and promotions, so I shouldn't run out anytime soon. If I do, there are several independent publishing houses that are not participating in the agency model, along with Random House (so far), as well as hundreds of independent authors, some of whose writing rivals or exceeds what is often on the best-sellers lists.

Silver Borne ($9.99), by Patricia Briggs

Book Description
When mechanic and shapeshifter Mercy Thompson attempts to return a powerful Fae book she'd previously borrowed in an act of desperation, she finds the bookstore locked up and closed down.

It seems the book contains secret knowledge-and the Fae will do just about anything to keep it out of the wrong hands. And if that doesn't take enough of Mercy's attention, her friend Samuel is struggling with his wolf side-leaving Mercy to cover for him, lest his own father declare Sam's life forfeit.

All in all, Mercy has had better days. And if she isn't careful, she might not have many more to live...

Black Magic Sanction ($8.65 pre-order), by Kim Harrison

Book Description
In New York Times bestselling author Kim Harrison's most complex and nuanced adventure yet, bounty hunter and witch Rachel Morgan fights a deadly battle—mind, body, and soul

Rachel Morgan has fought and hunted vampires, werewolves, banshees, demons, and other supernatural dangers as both witch and bounty hunter—and lived to tell the tale. But she's never faced off against her own kind . . . until now. Denounced and shunned for dealing with demons and black magic, her best hope is life imprisonment—at worst, a forced lobotomy and genetic slavery. Only her enemies are strong enough to help her win her freedom, but trust comes hard when it hinges on the unscrupulous tycoon Trent Kalamack, the demon Algaliarept, and an ex-boyfriend turned thief.

It takes a witch to catch a witch, but survival bears a heavy price.

If you've read thru the comments on my post about "free samples", you already know that we are unanimous in our opinion of them. So, for the most part I'll ignore them completely. But, there will always be an exception and I'm including one today, simply because the sample is available today (and you can now permanently delete them), while the book itself is not. The full book is on pre-order for $9.99 and I have no idea if it will be affected by the pricing changes taking place tomorrow. On the off chance it is and you (or your kids) are a Rick Riordan fan, you may want to take a peek at the sample of the first in his newest series and place a pre-order for the full book today. I'm still behind on the Lightning Thief series, but picked up the first four while they are under $5 each, so haven't decided on getting this one (or the last in the other series).

The Kane Chronicles, Book One: The Red Pyramid Chapter Sneak Peek! ($0.00), by Rick Riordan. Full book is a pre-order: The Kane Chronicles, Book One: The Red Pyramid ($9.99)

Book Description
Since their mother’s death, Carter and Sadie have become near strangers. While Sadie has lived with her grandparents in London, her brother has traveled the world with their father, the brilliant Egyptologist, Dr. Julius Kane.

One night, Dr. Kane brings the siblings together for a "research experiment" at the British Museum, where he hopes to set things right for his family. Instead, he unleashes the Egyptian god Set, who banishes him to oblivion and forces the children to flee for their lives.

Soon, Sadie and Carter discover that the gods of Egypt are waking, and the worst of them--Set--has his sights on the Kanes. To stop him, the siblings embark on a dangerous journey across the globe--a quest that brings them ever closer to the truth about their family, and their links to a secret order that has existed since the time of the pharaohs.