Thursday, December 09, 2010

The Season of Economy

No doubt many of you will be wanting to buy copies of The Dog of the North for friends and family; and Amazon.co.uk has taken unscrupulous advantage of this by increasing the price of the paperback from £5.99 to £7.19.  As a service to prospective readers, therefore, I have researched those online retailers who now undercut Amazon.  In the UK the book can be acquired most cheaply at the always competitive Book Depository for £5.98 with free postage.  I suspect that German retailer Hitmeister, charging £26.73 plus postage, will probably not be selling out.  German readers will also find the UK Book Depository site the cheapest, retailing at EUR7.15.  For US readers, postage is again free from Book Depository, with the book selling for $9.43.  (Amazon.com, by contrast, charges $11.66 plus postage).

For those of you with Kindles, this edition is usually the cheapest.  Now you can all get back to your Christmas shopping!

6 comments:

Frances Garrood said...

This has just happened to me, too. I've never quite understood the rationale behind Amazon pricing. And the silly thing is that £7.19 looks so much more than £5.99, when actually it isn't You'd think that if they had to do it, they'd make the new price £6.99. Good news about the Book Depository, though. Oh, and congrats on the Kindle edition!

Tim Stretton said...

I suspect there's some sort of formula working away in the background which does it all automatically. But that extra 20p will cost them (and me!) sales, and more revenue than if they'd plumped for £6.99. The cover price is only £7.99 so it's hardly a compelling discount!

C. N. Nevets said...

As long as it doesn't impact your cut too much (and one assumes it doesn't at those margins, given how small an author's own percentage is), I definitely appreciate the tip on Book Depository.

Sedulo said...

There is a good documentary out there entitled "Fighting Ali". It is terrific to see many of the boxers who fought Ali and also get fascinating feedback about how they think/thought of him. Also, what an excellent overview of how he affected their careers and boxing in general. Very cool film. It is on DVD.

Sedulo said...

Sorry, I meant this comment to be on the earlier post in November!

Tim Stretton said...

Thanks Sedulo. Will have to look that one up. Ali's life has so many fascinating resonances.