That may promote literacy in the short term but it will force more book retailers into liquidation. This price war takes away the oxygen of economic survival from the smaller businesses, making it difficult to remain viable. The same can be said for small shops overshadowed by supermarket monsters.'
The devastation of the independent bookstore in this country can be partly blamed on a similar phenomenon, where huge selling authors are available from Costco, Walmart & other discounters at below wholesale prices, cutting everyone else out of the loop.
It's even impacted the pocket book sales of used bookstores, where the traditional rate of half off the cover price doesn't stack up well with big box discounts of 30 to 45% off brand new titles.
It's easier in the short term for big corporate publishers to sell pallets of books to big corporate discounters than sell 10 or 15 copies to a thousand small bookshops, but it's killing off the ecosystem that supports their business.
Costco is never going to build an author. Walmart is never going to convince anyone to try someone new. All they do is sell megatons of books by people who's careers have been developed by readers buying from bookstores.
It's a bit like the PPV conundrum facing boxing.
The short term money is hard for the publishers to pass up, but that short term solution is pulling up their business by the roots.
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