Amazon pricing some Penguin hardcovers at ~$10 during pricing battle

Venture Beat reports that Amazon is hanging tough with the last of the Big 5 publishers bent on the Apple Agency model, which allows the large publishers their heart's desire to set higher pricing for bestselling e-books and uniform pricing for the customers at all e-bookstores, even if this nets the publishers less than they would have received for the lower-priced e-books under the earlier traditional wholesaler arrangement.  Their focus is not to allow their newer e-books to be "devalued" in that they feel the $9.99 pricing lowers the perceived value of books in general.

  While the other 4 in the Big 5 group have completed agreements with Amazon, it seems Penguin and Amazon are currently at an impasse in the negotiations on ebook pricing and availability.  Neither company is commenting on this.  Venture Beat's Anthony Ha writes:

' Details of the agreements haven’t yet been disclosed, but Penguin has refused to sign on.  It was the lone holdout.  As a result, Amazon had to stop selling the publisher’s e-books as of April 1.  The retailer appears to be retaliating, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal — not by removing books, but by dramatically lowering the prices on hardcovers.  Amazon is taking the loss of revenue, but the [Wall Street] Journal says publishers hate those price cuts, because they lower the value of the book in the eye of the consumer.

  For example, the hardcover of Roger Lowenstein’s The End of Wall Street” has a full price of $27.95, and Barnes & Noble’s website is selling it for $15.37.  On Amazon, it’s $9.99.  Or there’s Annie Lamott’s Imperfect Birds — $25.95 full price, $18.68 on Barnes and Noble, $9.99 on Amazon. '

So, if you're interested in getting any Penguin or Penguin Riverhead (Annie Lamott et al) hardcover books at the lower prices, now's the time.
  Be aware that only a few of their hardcovers are priced as low as $9.99 though.

Again, here are links to hardcovers for just Penguin and Penguin Riverhead.

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