http://bb.publishamerica.com/viewtopic.php?t=30822
I had a bookstore owner ask me an astute question that got me really thinking.
First she asked what the retail price of my book would be.
(Since I am still waiting for the cover ...
I guessed.)
"Well, most books on website like mine are $24.95 then slashed to $19.95 for the softback." She winced to my reply, to which I continued and nodded, "Yeah I know!" (I think we need something done about this PA - IMO)
"Is the book available to everyone on line at that price."
"I think so."
Then came the question that I had no answer to. "If you can get it cheaper on the web site, why would anyone sell it in their store?"
I was wandering if the before slashed price on the PA site was the retail or if it were different and if it is that, why would people sell it in their store?
Please reply. PA watchers, you can too. Thanks.
INFOCENTER REPLIES:
That bookstore should go out of business, today. With all due respect, there's nothing astute about that question. If a store can't compete with discounting stores elsewhere, online or off, they haven't done their homework, and/or they are unprepared to survive.
This debate is as old as back when guys with names like Wanamaker, Woolworth, Sears, and Penney discovered the blessings of discounts, and changed America's buying power. "It's unfair!" is what the mom and pop stores sobbed. Really? Well, get used to it. Life's hugely unfair. But in the meantime everybody else benefits from those discounts.
A bookstore that can't withstand the discounting competition from Barnes and Noble, Borders, Costco, WalMart or Amazon has no life left in it.
PublishAmerica prices its books such that it leaves a wide room for vendors to discount them. In fact, as we speak we ourselves are offering all books at a 52 percent discount, with free shipping (call 301 695 1707 if you want to benefit). Last weekend, the discount was 65 percent.
With a million books sold to bookstores to date, we can all simply agree that PublishAmerica must be doing something right!
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I Don't Think So.