Publishers, Control Your Prices | Brave New World: Book Pricing Madness?
Not sure what can be done about this nor indeed what will be done when more of the chain stores close and the supermarkets begin to supply EVEN more of the mass market titles. Maybe £1 is the new $9.99. Maybe it’s the price publishers need to accept to sell books into supermarkets, or maybe, as Martyn throws in at the end, it IS just sales madness. Whatever it is, we should worry about our ability and need to control the readers (and buyers) perceptions of value when it comes to books.
We wonder how anyone can compete with discounts so blazen and so deep. These prices are probably below those in the bargain market and equal to the Wordsworth classic prices. Forget whether these were bought in for clearance or are just being sold at a loss, the consumer perception is the only thing that matters and that it says books are cheap and the place to get them is the supermarket.
