Im pretty sure most people dont care about billion dollar companies fighting each other, especially when one company is trying to lower costs.

Mind you, this is a year after Apple got caught red handed trying to inflate prices by forcing Amazon to raise prices on all ebooks.

I like the $3 notion. Man, I wish my ebooks cost that little.
But when Jim Butcher's Cold Days came out, I remember comparing the eBook price to the hardcover and realizing the hardcover was cheaper. Which is BULLSHIT, and exactly the sort of reason I am on Amazon's side. Ebooks should always be at least slightly cheaper thhhan physical copies.

"Lots of worthy people work at Little, Brown. I might write my books, but my editor’s the one who makes them readable. The design department makes you want to pick them up. The publicists trick you into buying them. Then there’s the sales department, the lawyers (hooray), the audio team, on and on."

We, the consumers of books who aren't luddites, have been deciding that we don't find it "worthy" to fund this train of middlemen...in much the same way that we've grown tired of funding the middlemen in the music industry. Of the people he lists, only the editor adds anything of value for me, the paying consumer of an e-book.

I called Third Place last weekend looking for My Struggle, and got put right on hold. I gave up waiting. The people at Elliot Bay were awesome.

"I don't want to buy my books and my toilet paper and my clothing all under the same roof."

Exactly. Americans should be willing to do some driving when they shop. Go to a book store for books. If they don't have what you wanted, there's another book store a mile down the road. Then drive over to a pastry shop for croissants. Go to a shoe store for shoes. There's parking, for God's sake! Stop for gas on the way to the grocer's, then hop on the expressway and you're home in no time. As long as there aren't a lot of delivery trucks clogging up our roads, am I right?

It scares me to imagine a future where people no longer live like that.

@4,

So what makes you decide to buy and read a particular book? A sparrow alights on your shoulder and whispers a title in your ear?

@2 You aren't moved by the suffering of billion dollar companies and millionaire authors?

I for one am more than happy to pay more for eBooks so they can keep their jets and bloated salaries.

I was going to complain about Sedaris's disconnect with the actual pricing of eBooks. It costs $9.99 for an eBook of "Me Talk Pretty One Day". But, there it is. Pre-order of "Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls" for $3.99. And actually given that the trade paperbacks cost $16, the discount to $10 sounds like about the right percentage.

I'm not going to get into the fight about what things "should" cost. But I've recently made a point to start frequenting the independent booksellers in my city instead of BN and ordering online, and I just plain like it. The physical space is always more inspiring than a mall store, and the people that staff it are invariably more informed. There are always surprising things on the shelves. It's just *nice.* Whatever the arguments are about economics, I don't give a shit. I would be sad to see these places go. I see now why Paul and others are so insistent about them. They really are community treasures.

Thx for the auto play.

I like Corey Doctorow books...a lot. If you read his stuff sequentially you can spot when editors started being involved. This was a good thing. The stories didn't feel different but the occasional jarring moment of inconsistency or repetition were gone. Those editors had a good touch.

If you read the originally published vs unedited Americsn Gods there is also a definite improvement in clarity (and some loss of cool but not essential stuff). They are both worthwhile but I wouldn't have read the very long version without having read the edited version first.

A good edit is a beautiful thing and writings hard enough as it is.

By the same token: a bad editor can ruin a good book but on balance, I, for one, am glad they're there.

It has already been said, but where does Sedaris live that he thinks one of his books, or probably any book published by Little, Brown is regularly priced at $3 for an eBook?

Hell, if they were priced at $5, I would be all over Amazon for being unreasonable. But the fact is they're typically priced at as much or more than a paperback which is ridiculous.

Well I prefer the library, but I have the urge to buy a book from Amazon today.