Coverage of Tony Blair's autobiography was all over the TV yesterday. You could see it on sale in what was obviously a Waterstone's. Imagine my surprise when I saw the sticker "half price".
Now here is a hotly anticipated book. It cost a massive advance. It has been widely reported that Tony B's revenue from this book will be going to charity, so why are they selling it at half price? Talk about making the public suspicious of a book that is sold at full price. And how about all that lost revenue to the charity? I'm not going to buy the argument that more copies are going to be sold at half price. Not for this book. All the sellers (supermarkets and Amazon included) should have agreed amongst themselves not to sell it below the rrp.
No wonder the publishing industry is wallowing about not knowing how to save itself.
2 comments:
Are people going to buy it and read it - or buy it and not read it - or not even buy it? Perhaps they are already concerned about the latter?
I think this is a good point (esp re the charities -- is their cut ringfenced in any way or do they have to take the hit?) but surely this is the fault of the booksellers not the publishing industry?
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