check price

Here's how it normally works.

 

I browse book blogs and find something that I like.

 

I go to audible.com or amazon's kindle site and I buy it, usually for less than $10 (I have a 24 book membership with audible.)

 

I'm a self-confessed book junkie. I buy more books than I have time to read. I'm not hard to sell to.

 

Here's how it worked this time.

 

I read an article on Literary Hub, called "The Dark Side Of Office Life" that got me interested in Debbie Graber’s short story collection Kevin Kramer Starts on Monday .

It's 176 pages long, which is fine for a short story collection. I was ready to buy with one click.

 

Audible didn't have it so I went to Kindle.

 

Kindle asked me for $18.44... for a digital copy of a 176 page book.

 

Expecting an error, I checked more closely and saw Amazon would sell me the paperback for $9.92

 

In other words, Amazon want to charge me 85% MORE for the ebook than the paperback.

 

crazy kindle pricing

 

This is why I don't have a copy of "Kevin Kramer Starts On Monday".

 

What I don't understand is why on earth Amazon thinks this makes sense.

 

In May 2017 it was reported that sales of ebooks fell by 17% while physical book sales rose by 8%. All kinds of fancy reasons were given. I wonder how much is simply attributable to Amazon experimenting with how high they can push ebook prices.

 

I will NEVER pay more for an ebook than for the cheapest available new print copy.