Next month a new Israeli law (Law for the Protection of Literature and Authors in Israel) will take effect which aims to protect the income of authors. Israel is a book crazy country. And to cash in on this, the large bookstore chains have taken to offering books for sale in bundles or in “buy one get one free” deals which translate to impossibly low prices for books while hurting the royalties of authors. In addition, the killer prices have skewed the market often ignoring quality books in favor of those that store owners see as a sure thing. Time will tell if lawmakers have been able to help Israeli authors and literature against what often seems to be the heartless industry of book selling.
I’m not sure how this helps the authors. Can you elaborate?
Check out the link – takes you to a page with details
Publishers now have to be extremely careful what list prices they set for their titles. Seems some had been raising them in anticipation of bundling or discounts.
I think consumers generally know the price range of books and there exists a range of “acceptability.” There can be wide fluctuation within the range based on book size and genre, even the publishing house. Sellers might find alternative ways to add value to purchases (gift cards, cash back, one and three-day runs where books are discounted set amounts) and work on making the stores more of a destination for browsers to browse and linger.