Chaos Magnet

Vengeance is Mine, Penny Book Seller!

When we're amongst ourselves, a frequent topic among computer book authors -- and, I suspect, most other types of authors -- is the fact that Amazon canabalizes sales of new books (for which we receive royalties) with prominent links to used books (for which we do not). One author recently found a way to make himself feel just a little better about it. I'm reprinting this, with his permission, from a private mailing list. (Update: After I posted this, he also posted it to his blog.)

I try not to mope about Amazon.Com selling used books on new book pages, even though I suspect that it's eating our lunch in these penny-pinching times.

However, my ears steam a bit when I see one of my out of print books selling for pennies. At a price that nominal, some Amazon Marketplace seller is killing other sales, making the book appear worthless, and won't even earn $1.

I was preparing a book donation for a library and realized something: Amazon will ship books anywhere, so these penny sellers are the world's cheapest book shipment service.

Tonight, I bought one of my books for $0.23 plus $3.49 shipping and handling. The penny seller will receive $0.23 plus a standard shipping credit of $2.26, $1.84 of which will be spent on media mail's two-pound rate. Her profit will be 65 cents minus packaging costs and labor.

I hope they appreciate the book at the public library in Ketchikan, Alaska, as much as I enjoyed buying it.

Rogers Cadenhead

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