Amazon Sends Mixed Signals

I'm not sure what Amazon's up to right now. First, comes the news that Amazon's Booksurge department is strong-arming several large POD publishers into joining them (at a substantial profit loss) rather than sticking with Lightning Source or other printers. This has a lot of the smaller POD publishers in a frenzy, as it could pretty much ruin our business, forcing much higher retail pricing to accommodate the required wholesale discount. Or we might just need to funnel our book buyers to online stores like Barnes & Noble as our primary distributors.

Now, though, I see that Amazon has most of my titles at a 10% discount to buyers, even with the minimal wholesale discount I offer. That's a bit strange, and seems unnecessary. But, if you've been waiting to buy a POD book, now might be the time to save a few bucks...