The Book Works

As you may have heard, Amazon.com, WalMart.com, and Target.com have engaged in a price war in the pre-sale of new hardcover bestsellers, including books from John Grisham, Stephen King and James Patterson. These books typically retail for between $25 and $35. All three competitors are selling these and other titles for between $8.98 and $9.00.
The American Booksellers Association Board of Directors sent a letter to the Department of Justice requesting that it investigate practices by Amazon, Wal-Mart and Target "that it believes constitute illegal predatory pricing that is damaging to the book industry and harmful to consumers."
By selling each of these titles below the cost these retailers pay to the publishers, they are devaluing the very concept of the book. 

"We would find these practices questionable were they taking place in the market for widgets. That they are taking place in the market for books is catastrophic. If left unchecked, these predatory pricing policies will devastate not only the book industry, but our collective ability to maintain a society where the widest range of ideas are always made available to the public, and will allow the few remaining mega booksellers to raise prices to consumers unchecked."

Read the full letter.

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NPR's Weekend Edition braved the land of the literary undead for its report on the zombie invasion of bookstores. Listen to the story.