Tim Godfray, chief executive of the Booksellers Association (BA), has slammed the “crazy” levels of discounts being used by retailers to flog the latest Harry Potter book. Godfray said the book industry had been “considerably weakened by this deep discounting”, reports the Bookseller. The strong comments follow a day of extraordinary developments after Potter publisher Bloomsbury forced supermarket chain Asda to apologise for accusing it of “holding children to ransom” by raising the price of the final Potter book. After withdrawing its supply of the book, the chain apologised unreservedly and withdrew the comments.
However, Godfray admitted that the BA could not interfere. “The publisher sets a Recommended Retail Price and it is up to the individual retailer to decide on the selling price.” Which means that statements like these, while they attract media attention here and elsewhere, don’t really amount to much…