Author Topic: Amazon’s $23,698,655.93 book about flies  (Read 374 times)

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Offline bijou

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Amazon’s $23,698,655.93 book about flies
« on: April 24, 2011, 01:47:42 PM »
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A few weeks ago a postdoc in my lab logged on to Amazon to buy the lab an extra copy of Peter Lawrence’s The Making of a Fly – a classic work in developmental biology that we – and most other Drosophila developmental biologists – consult regularly. The book, published in 1992, is out of print. But Amazon listed 17 copies for sale: 15 used from $35.54, and 2 new from $1,730,045.91 (+$3.99 shipping).

I sent a screen capture to the author  - who was appropriate amused and intrigued. But I doubt even he would argue the book is worth THAT much.

At first I thought it was a joke – a graduate student with too much time on their hands. But there were TWO new copies for sale, each be offered for well over a million dollars. And the two sellers seemed not only legit, but fairly big time (over 8,000 and 125,000 ratings in the last year respectively). The prices looked random – suggesting they were set by a computer. But how did they get so out of whack?

Amazingly, when I reloaded the page the next day, both priced had gone UP! Each was now nearly $2.8 million. And whereas previously the prices were $400,000 apart, they were now within $5,000 of each other. Now I was intrigued, and I started to follow the page incessantly. By the end of the day the higher priced copy had gone up again. This time to $3,536,675.57. And now a pattern was emerging. ...
http://www.michaeleisen.org/blog/?p=358



Offline Freeper

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Re: Amazon’s $23,698,655.93 book about flies
« Reply #1 on: April 24, 2011, 02:34:40 PM »
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$1,730,045.91 (+$3.99 shipping).

If it weren't for that $3.99 for shipping I could afford it.  :lmao:
I may not lock my doors while sitting at a red light and a black man is near, but I sure as hell grab on tight to my wallet when any democrats are close by.

Offline vesta111

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Re: Amazon’s $23,698,655.93 book about flies
« Reply #2 on: April 26, 2011, 03:25:36 PM »
If it weren't for that $3.99 for shipping I could afford it.  :lmao:

Darn now you have given me an idea, at my age I can safely do this, town records back 300 years on the life of a sea port and the prostitutes that have all ways hung out on the water front.  I can imagine the current old time family's being exposed either in the industry or actually descended from the working girls.

I can write a book about the area crime and hookers up to today, name names and spend time in nursing homes talking to the very old about scandals in the town. Closer to our time.

I can afford to have perhaps 500 books printed by a vanity press, put a $40.00 price on the paper back, get the local paper to put out a mention of it and find a way to get the book into stores.

Won't cost much to put out fliers with a list of local names to say, if your family lived here 60+ years ago they may be mentioned in my book-----Are you a Son of a GUN ????

Then I sit back and wait until the books are all sold out.   I will take all money  gained from the selling and spend some time on line to gather the family names mentioned in my book that may have moved out of State 2+ generation ago.    You know just how big the genelogy business is.    Spam the hell out of this, going out across the country. 

As they may be trying to track their family they will become curious about family that came from the north east and traveled west into unknown land.  Problem will be for them to find the book as I only had 500 printed.    So I have another 200 printed for $80.00 a book, On and on until I can see the book sold on EBay for $100.   Then I flood the market, have 6 thousand printed with a price of $35.00 and watch the uproar.

A win-win position, I get all the royalties, the press just prints the books for a set price.   I have this copy righted have no agent to pay,  Can work from home filling orders and spend very little to advertise all over the world.

What a racket this is, I can then offer that a new book with more information of the family's and new ones is in the works.    All I have to do is to place the information I had no room to place in my first book into it and head for the news paper files from the 1800's or the days of rum running.

Back to the 500 printed books, and progress up a way as I did with the first.

Darn if I were 20 years younger with the computer, I would seriously think about this. 

I am too old now to think about making a boodle of money, it would be fun but at my age fun is wakening up alive in the morning and having a good poop.   
       

Offline Texacon

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Re: Amazon’s $23,698,655.93 book about flies
« Reply #3 on: April 26, 2011, 03:54:04 PM »
LOL  That was a good read!

KC
  Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day.  Set a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life.

*Stolen

Offline Ballygrl

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Re: Amazon’s $23,698,655.93 book about flies
« Reply #4 on: April 26, 2011, 05:14:48 PM »
I just went there and it says this now:

1 new from $976.98 6 used from $158.90
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"The nation that couldn’t be conquered by foreign enemies has been conquered by its elected officials" odawg Free Republic in reference to the GOP Elites who are no difference than the Democrats