From a Wall Street Journal story by Dan Gallagher headlined “Amazon Flexes Its Pricing Muscles”:

Give Amazon this much–-they know how to cushion a blow.

The tech titan’s fourth-quarter results and accompanying forecast on Thursday weren’t great on the surface—at least for those worried about the massive company’s ability to continue growing at a supercharged rate.

From a New York Times story by David Streitfeld headlined “What Happened to Amazon’s Bookstore?”:

John C. Boland was poking around the Amazon bookstore when he saw the science thriller “Hominid” for sale at dizzying prices. It was $907 from Sandy Dunes Surplus, $930 from Rocky Mountain Books and $987 from Open Range Media.

He didn’t need a copy. He wrote the novel and published it himself. List price is $15.

Mr. Boland has been selling books on Amazon since 2009. He lets the bookseller handle everything for his imprint, called Perfect Crime, including printing, billing and shipping.