I am a big fan of Anthony Bourdain, I have seen most of the episodes of his TV show(s). I also have read many of his books. His breakout book was KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL. It is a wonderful book and continues to sell and sell.
I was browsing through the Kindle store and noticed the eBook was discounted to $1.99 and was #1! Yes a decade old book had hit the top of the charts at the largest eBook retailer in the world. I then checked B&N nook and noticed the price was also $1.99. But the eBook clocked in at #125. Still a respectable number (especially since his other titles are in the #3,000 range). So pricing does work. But add in some promotion on Amazon, and it propelled the book to the top.
I decided to check the other eBook retailers. Kobo has it for sale at $3.49. Sony Reader store for $3.99. Google eBooks for $8.61. Apple does not have it on sale.
Actually Apple only has one Bourdain eBook on sale. The one from HarperCollins. The other six are from Bloomsbury and not available in the Apple iBookstore.
Just one of the bizarre things that are happening in the emerging eBook universe. The top two in terms of market share, Amazon Kindle and B&N nook (combined 85-90%) are at $1.99. The rest of the world is selling at 2x – 4x higher. One doesn’t even sell it at all.
There is a reason why two companies dominate eBook sales. This is just a small sample of that.
