You have seen that at amazon.com other readers and even professional re-sellers can offer used or collectible copies of the books listed as new at the same spot in the online bookstore. That means a potential loss of the chance of a sale which would count toward the royalty earning of the autor. Sell-through of new books can make or break a conventional writer's career with the publisher of the book. Yet, at least, the writer's book also is available in normal bookstores.

{This situation cannot be compared with books being sold in used-books stores or with book swapping and libraries because the websurfer goes to the online bookstore with the potential interest in buying a new book.)

Now, look at authors who publish their books as print-on-demand books...as I did. My books must be special ordered in bookstores. You won't find them. You also won't look for them online unless you know they exist in the first place. (Therefore, POD authors must work very hard to promote.)

My books can be purchased directly from Infinity Publishing - buybooksontheweb.com - the POD publisher I chose for the second editions of my books. There the book you order will be printed when your order is received. Now, I was very happy when amazon.com created pages for my books on their website and offered them to customers.

Still, you wouldn't find any of these books unless you knew you have to do a search for my name in the book section. Moreover, POD books are listed under 'hard to find or out-of-print books.' That is so misleading that some unscrupulous book dealers demand incredibly high prices...thinking that the customer will presume the book is hard to find and out of print. POD books are hard to find while you browse online bookstores, but they are not hard to buy...you order, and they will be printed. amazon.com keeps one or two copies of my books in their warehouses, so they can ship within 24 hours of your order. When these copies are sold, amazon re-stocks. So, even an occasional 'out-of-stock notice' at the website isn't really valid as the book will be back in stock shortly.

None of this is news, so why am I writing this article? I had found out that bn.com followed in amazon's footsteps and now also allowed secondary sellers to offer my books at odd prices where you would buy them as new for the regular list price. It gets confusing. For example, you could purchase Theo's Ghost for the regular list price at bn.com, which was $15.95. That was the price set by the publisher and - even if you special order from a normal bookstore - you should never have to pay more.

 Some years ago someone tried to order Theo's Ghost at a bookstore in Florida and was asked to pay $40.00. An outrageous price taken out of thin air! Today (see note below) , you could also order Theo's Ghost for only $7.95 from Alibris, a sub-seller at bn.com (and elsewhere)... a very good copy, they say. (I don't know where they get this book from.) You could also order Theo's Ghost at bn.com from a dealer called BooksAnywhere, Inc., for the wonderful price of $26.25...nearly double the list price....like new, they say. You are free to take advantage of these sub-selling deals...as long as you don't over-pay. I will always be grateful if someone cares to buy my books and reads them...it's the only way to become known even.

Please, beware, however, of misrepresentation. POD books are neither rare nor out of print, and their list price is firm. It is contained in the bar code on the back cover. Decades ago it was illegal to re-sell any book at all. Whatever happened to change that? At the very least it ought to be illegal for sellers to invent their own pricing for books currently still available new in print. Thank you for your interest.

**Please note: I wrote this article first in the early 2000s...the first editions of my historical novels have been officially out of print since 2005; however, the crux of the matter is still valid.**.

 Best regards

 Gina