Apple is capitalizing on the media circus surrounding Amazon suspending pre-orders on all of Hachettes upcoming titles. iBooks users will find 26 eBooks have been discounted to $9.99 or less, including JK Rowling’s new book The Silkworm and a book from bestselling American author James Patterson.
Pre-orders are very important to publishers as they are a major factor in propelling new books up the bestseller charts boosting the chances of creating another smash hit. When a book is debuted, all of the pre-order sales are calculated into the first days sales figures. This is why the Amazon row is especially damaging for Hachette because 60% of their US eBook sales stem from the Seattle based e-commerce giant.
Apples editors have manually edited the main iBookstore and iTunes in order to draw attention to this promotion. Maybe this deal will help sway some people to trying out the iOS ecosystem.
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.