While e-book prices have spiked up to late 2013 over the past few weeks and now sit at another 2014 high ($8.25), it’s still somewhat jarring in this age of ultra-low-priced e-books to see a No. 1 bestseller at such a relatively high price. Have we entered a new era for e-book pricing, one in which prices are a bit higher?
It’s widely speculated in the industry that Amazon regularly prices bestselling e-books at very low prices that lose the e-tailer money to get readers in its shop to buy more profitable e-books that may not be bestsellers. Perhaps the company has tired on losing so much money on front-list titles.
Last year around the holidays, front-list bestsellers were going for all-time low prices:
Buy the new John Grisham (Penguin Random House) for $3.29 or Donna Tartt’s sensation “The Goldfinch” (Hachette) for $1.79. Buy “Gone Girl” (Penguin Random House) for $3.29 or all five Game of Thrones (Penguin Random House) books for $9.99 (a lot of pages for just ten dollars).
Is that era over? Or will we see e-book prices dip again at some point?
E-book bestsellers from the week ending 5/3:
1. “The Target (Will Robie)”, David Baldacci, Hachette, $12.74
2. “The Fault in Our Stars”, John Green, Penguin Random House, $7.40
3. “The Goldfinch: A Novel”, Donna Tartt, Hachette, $7.50
4. “Allegiant” (Divergent Series), Veronica Roth, HarperCollins, $6.99
5. “Divergent” (Divergent Series), Veronica Roth, HarperCollins, $4.99
6. “Gone Girl: A Novel”, Gillian Flynn, Penguin Random House, $8.55
7. “Insurgent” (Divergent Series), Veronica Roth, HarperCollins, $6.99
8. “Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy’s Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back”, Todd Burpo; Sonja Burpo; Lynn Vincent; Colton Burpo, HarperCollins, $7.99
9. “I Am Livia”, Phyllis T. Smith, Amazon, $4.99
10. “The Husband’s Secret”, Liane Moriarty, Penguin Random House, $5.99
See the complete list of this week’s top 25 e-book bestsellers at Digital Book World.
Jeremy Greenfield is responsible for managing all editorial content on DigitalBookWorld.com, including the DBW Expert Publishing Blog, the Digital Book Wire and editorial email and social media communications. Prior to joining Digital Book World in October 2011, Jeremy spent three years as a careers editor at FINS.com. Jeremy lives and works in New York City and is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.