Question about cheap/free ebooks.

[swandy]

I read my ebooks on an iPad and have iBooks and the Nook and Kindle apps.

I was always under the impression that because of the "agency model" that aside from self-published books - meaning anything from a "normal" publisher not like Amazon Digital or Pubit - that all ebook prices were supposed to be the same.

Each website (iBooks, B&N and Amazon) have various books listed cheaply - either free or $3.99 or less. I would have assumed all the books would be the same, but there are different books on the various sites.

Any idea of why? Just curious.

Steve

[keriflur]

All six of the big six publishers are on the agency model, and there are a few smaller houses on the model too, but there are a lot of publishers that are still using the traditional model to sell ebooks.  The two biggest that I personally know of are Harlequin and Scholastic, but there are a lot.  So, that's why there are some books that the retailers can sell at a discount.

[sirwillard]

Another factor is the delay all online sellers have in changing prices on their website. It's not uncommon for a book to be seen free on Amazon to show up free on B&N the next day, all due to policies and procedures surrounding pricing changes. For the most part, though, the books you see promoted/discounted/free are not books from one of the Agency publishers, just like keriflur said.