Germany's no-discounting law
As Giovanni teaches me about European bookselling, I’ve come to appreciate how different markets have developed their own ecosystems, with different laws, cultural practices, etc.
In Germany, discounting is illegal on new books, meaning all new books are sold at face value. German publishers obviously like this, and it has a surprising amount of support from the general public, some of whom are concerned about the tyranny of the market and its potential impact on literary culture.
The New York Times’ ran an interesting story on this, and on the reaction to the recent decision in Switzerland to allow for discounting on new German books. This is further discussed on the O’Reilly Radar blog, where readers contribute first person accounts of the impacts of no-discounting laws, and speculate about broader resulting effects.
[Now Reading: Blue-Chip Black: Race, Class, and Status in the New Black Middle Class by Karyn R. Lacy]