eBooks And Publisher Pricing

Over the last couple of months I have studied publisher book pricing. Typically there are three distinct prices: Hardback, Paperback (trade or mass market) and eBooks.

Logically as the cost of production decreases, the list price will too. eBooks are the least expensive to produce with paperback next and hardbacks the most expensive.

Well, as with many things in the book business; logic need not apply.

Here is a sample of current books:

Title and Author -- Hardback / Paperback/ eBooks (Publisher):

• The Road by Cormac McCarthy-- 24.95 / 14.95 / 9.95 (Vintage/Random House)
• The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls -- 25.00 / 14.00 / 9.99 (Scribner/Simon & Schuster)
• The 6th Target by James Patterson-- 27.00 / 14.99 / 9.99 (Grand Central Publishing/ Hachettte Book Group USA)
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini -- 24.95 / 16.00 / 14.00 (Riverhead Hardcover/ Penguin)
• The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards -- 24.95 / 4.00 / 14.00 (Penguin)
• Angel Falls by Nora Roberts -- 25.95 / 7.99 / 24.95 (G. P. Putnam's Sons / Penguin)
• Swapping Lives by Jane Green -- 24.95/ 14.00 / 24.95 (Plume/ Penguin)The Land of Mango
• Sunsets by Dorthea Benton Frank -- 24.95 / 7.99 / 19.95 (Harper Collins)

Now, you tell me, who does this make ANY sense?

As a bookseller I am frustrated because the publishers set the pricing and I am forced to comply if I want to stay in busines. Yes, I discount but there is only so much I can do and still stay in business.

As a consumer I am offended.

I would love to hear your comments on this.