Amazon yanks 'Priceless' book, in a move not without humor, then somebody blinks!

You have to possess a sense of humor sometimes when you attempt to follow the ins and outs, ups and downs of modern publishing. As The New York Times was reporting (exclusively) that Amazon had pulled a publisher’s books from its offerings, the publisher was promoting a book about fair pricing.

“Amazon.com has pulled books from Macmillan, one of the largest publishers in the United States, in a dispute over the pricing on e-books on the site,” reported the Times. “The publisher’s books can be purchased only from third parties on Amazon.com.”

The report indicated Amazon “was expressing its strong disagreement by temporarily removing Macmillan books.” The person quoted did not want to be quoted by name because of the sensitivity of the matter, said the Times.

Macmillan and others publishers have asked Amazon to raise the price of e-books to around $15 from $9.99.

Farrar, Straus & Giroux is one of Macmillan’s many imprints and has been touting a non-fiction work entitled “Priceless” by the bestselling author William Poundstone. According to the promotion, “Priceless” reveals the hidden psychology of value. ”Priceless” should prove indispensable to anyone who negotiates, claims the promotion.

From Macmillan’s lead promotion piece: “Priceless is an instructive and entertaining romp through the hits of recent research on decision making, which will leave you amused, smarter, and wondering about what money and prices really mean.” —Daniel Kahneman, professor emeritus, Princeton University, and winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics

Examiner found “Priceless” had indeed been pulled, but it was available through Amazon from 33 other listed sellers. The Farrar, Straus & Giroux list price of $26.99 was, according to a quick tabulation, about a dollar cheaper than the average of 32 other sellers, at $27.93. Some prices were as low as $14.10. The 33rd seller? That one was asking a whopping $155.75, indicating he might have read “Priceless” and taken to heart the promotion that said “’Priceless’ should prove indispensable to anyone who negotiates.”

Then, as February began, Amazon issued a statement: "Macmillan, one of the 'big six' publishers, has clearly communicated to us that, regardless of our viewpoint, they are committed to switching to an agency model and charging $12.99 to $14.99 for e-book versions of bestsellers and most hardcover releases.

"We have expressed our strong disagreement and the seriousness of our disagreement by temporarily ceasing the sale of all Macmillan titles. We want you to know that ultimately, however, we will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan's terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles, and we will want to offer them to you even at prices we believe are needlessly high for e-books. Amazon customers will at that point decide for themselves whether they believe it's reasonable to pay $14.99 for a bestselling e-book. We don't believe that all of the major publishers will take the same route as Macmillan. And we know for sure that many independent presses and self-published authors will see this as an opportunity to provide attractively priced e-books as an alternative."

In general, the publishing world appeared to (laughingly) embrace a concensus: "The other guy blinked." But just who had blinked remained unresolved. You could still buy a copy of "Priceless" for $155.75, or $14.10, take your choice!