This is one of those things that gets a fair number of people riled up (post). The Kindle
version of Stephen Levy's bestseller, "In The Plex", is now costlier than the Hardcover version. Amazon lists the Hardcover edition of the book as its #1 bestseller in its Business & Investing Books Bargain section.Hardcover edition price: $10.40
Kindle Edition price: $12.99
Amazon is smart to list the Kindle price as a publisher-set price, but still, the fact that a Hardcover edition is 25% costlier than the ebook version does not seem fair. If it is ok to discount the hardcover print edition by this amount, why shouldn't the ebook version be available for even less? Yes, there are fixed costs with respect to the print edition that have to be recovered, and freeing up warehouse space by discounting the book does free up cash, but still...
And this is the case with other bargain bestsellers.
Sample #3 on the bestseller list for Business & Investing Books Bargain books: How We Decide
, by Jonah Lehrer. The paperback edition is listed at a very attractive $5.98, while the ebook Kindle edition is priced at $8.16, 36% more than the paperback version.Hardcover edition price: $5.98
Kindle Edition price: $8.16
In The Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives
How We Decide
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| In The Plex - Hardcover vs. Kindle edition |
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| How We Decide - by Jonah Lehrer |
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| Amazon's Business & Investing › Bargain books page |
© 2011, Abhinav Agarwal. All rights reserved.
