This Puts an Entirely Different Spin on Things

According to a Yahoo News article, analysts were expecting a bigger boost for Barnes & Noble sales as a result of the Harry Potter release. Though HP6 was the "fastest-selling book in history," many retailers were selling it at big discounts in order to compete with Amazon, which right now appears to be selling it for a little more than half price. Barnes & Noble is supposed to have sold most of its HP6s at 40% discounts.

Now, this article is primarily about how Barnes & Noble is doing. It doesn't get into why B&N, and other bookstores if I read the article correctly, were selling the book at such deep discounts. Was the book, perhaps, too pricie? Three days after the book was released a librarian was speaking with me and wondering why the book had been priced at nearly $30 when no one was charging that for it.

For quite some time now book people have been buzzing about the cost of hardcover books and even high quality paperbacks. The high cost of reading may be what's turning off many readers.