Macmillan was the last company to settle with the US Justice Department in February, when all of the other major publishes had settled months back. We are only now seeing some online book sellers discounting book titles from Macmillan.
Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Apple iBooks are discounting ebooks and even matching each others’ promotional deals. Meanwhile, Kobo and Google books are starting to discount books, but the better deals are found with the big three. For example, the The Silver Linings Playbook has a list price of $9.99, and you can get it from Amazon, Apple, and B&N for $7.99.
When Macmillan settled with the US Justice Department in February, it could no longer restrict the discounts that major ebook sellers could charge for their titles. This allows every front-list title to be severely discounted and give customers the ability to hunt around for the best deals.
Macmillan joins Hachette, Simon & Schuster, and HarperCollins in the top publishers currently offering discounts on their ebooks. Penguin has not begun to offer deals as of yet, and most major electronic stores still have the “Price Set by Publisher” flag.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.