Puritan Books on Sale

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I would urge y'all to do your book buying business over at the Westminster Bookstore. The above titles are also just a little bit cheaper there:

https://www.wtsbooks.com/products/a...ark-jones-9781601781666?variant=9995833573423

https://www.wtsbooks.com/products/meet-the-puritans-joel-beeke-9781601780003?variant=9783365369903

With your most recent post, https://puritanboard.com/threads/support-christian-publishers-not-amazon.98992/,
I would urge people to buy directly from the publisher. :pilgrim: Plus, it is actually cheaper on our website.
 
I would urge y'all to do your book buying business over at the Westminster Bookstore. The above titles are also just a little bit cheaper there:

https://www.wtsbooks.com/products/a...ark-jones-9781601781666?variant=9995833573423

https://www.wtsbooks.com/products/meet-the-puritans-joel-beeke-9781601780003?variant=9783365369903

(I didn't see Robert's previous post about this. The short version is, ditto to what he said.)

The OP is referring to ebooks, which are cheaper than everywhere else. But they are not that much more at RHB.

As for HC, These are much cheaper from RHB than they are at WTS. $40 for the two books combined (probably a limited time special) vs $51 for just "A Puritan Theology" and then $25.08 for "Meet the Puritans" alone at WTS. RHB also has the ebooks where you should be able to download the .mobi file which has to be viewed through Kindle but it at least gives you the file and a better chance of it not going "Poof" one day. (But Amazon will see what you're reading regardless. But if you want that kind of privacy, you'd have to get rid of all Google products, maybe iOS, along with some other things.) I don't know whether or not other file types are available, but I wish all of these would be made available in PDF. (EDIT, I see that they have EPUB files available as well.)

Perhaps some of you have a particular loyalty to WTS Books and WTS in general, and I'm not going to knock that. (I'm mainly referring to people who seem to link to WTS and nothing else.) But I rarely find that they are cheaper than RHB, especially for RHB's own stuff. But that may reflect my purchasing habits. I'm sure WTS is cheaper for some things. I'd always compare those two and also maybe CVBBS before buying.

I also shop at CBD, generally for things that aren't available at the Reformed sites, but maybe for some Reformed books too every once in a while if it is part of a larger order or maybe if it is out of stock elsewhere. (I think it's just Christian Book now, having dropped the "D" to avoid association with cannabis.) I know that many knock them because they sell a bunch of garbage, something that has gotten worse through the years. But Logos sells a bunch of garbage now too, RCC, EO, SDA, Pentecostal, etc. So I don't see how you can be consistent and be a Logos customer while disparaging CBD for basically doing the same thing, albeit perhaps on a larger scale. I agree that its too bad that both of them started as more or less Reformed (or at least Logos did) but now market to the lowest common denominator. I've known people who refuse to do business with CBD on those grounds and shop at Amazon instead which to me is the height of absurdity.
 
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It's good to buy directly from publishers. They usually offer a competitive price. And because there's no middleman, both the publisher and the author get to retain a bigger cut.

But there are also some downsides. Publishers will tout all their books, not just the best ones. And they typically are not quite as efficient as booksellers in shipping and responding to customers.

Good booksellers sometimes (but not always) charge more, but also provide added value. A seller like Westminster Bookstore adds value by vetting the books they sell and promoting the best of them. Plus, a bookseller's main business is customer service, unlike a publisher who is chiefly concerned with producing the product and only does customer service on the side.

So... there are pluses and minuses both ways. Unless there's some compelling reason, I usually buy directly from publishers at conferences but use Christian booksellers the rest of the time. This is despite the fact that as an author and editor, I work for publishers and personally earn more from book sales when customers buy directly.
 
Don't publishers usually ask for the full list price (especially for new books) as opposed to buying from a distributor?
 
Don't publishers usually ask for the full list price (especially for new books) as opposed to buying from a distributor?

Take a look at RHB and P&R and you’ll see that’s not the case, at least not anymore. Even Lifeway is offering some discounts from time to time. I’m not sure about Crossway.

But the point the OP, Challies, and others of us are making isn’t specially concerned with buying direct from the publisher. The point is giving your business to Christian entities rather than Amazon, whether or not it is the publisher. You’ll save money most of the time anyway. At least I do.


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Take a look at RHB and P&R and you’ll see that’s not the case, at least not anymore. Even Lifeway is offering some discounts from time to time. I’m not sure about Crossway.

But the point the OP, Challies, and others of us are making isn’t specially concerned with buying direct from the publisher. The point is giving your business to Christian entities rather than Amazon, whether or not it is the publisher. You’ll save money most of the time anyway. At least I do.


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No worries. I'm a big RHB customer. In fact, I'll have two more books arriving in the mail this week.
 
Don't publishers usually ask for the full list price (especially for new books) as opposed to buying from a distributor?
Many do. We certainly do not charge anywhere near full price for any book. Comparing our prices to others reveals how much of a deal our customers get.
 
Many do. We certainly do not charge anywhere near full price for any book. Comparing our prices to others reveals how much of a deal our customers get.

Regarding Beeke & Smalley's "Reformed Systematic Theology" - I assume Volume 2 is pretty much ready to go and they're deep into Volume 3 by now?
 
Don't publishers usually ask for the full list price (especially for new books) as opposed to buying from a distributor?

Some might, some of the time. But for books aimed at a wide Christian audience in the US, and offered through multiple booksellers, discounts are typical. Even a book in high demand will likely be going for 15-25% off list price to American shoppers when you find it online, more when someone has a special offer going on. When the publishers sell directly, they play that game along with everyone else. Online buyers are heavily motivated by discounts. If they don't see any discount, they're liable to look elsewhere.

Currently, a new paperback of Show Them Jesus is retailing for:
20% off list price directly from the publisher
27% off list price at Amazon (with free 2-day shipping if you have Prime, like I do)
28% off list price at Christianbook.com
30% off list price at Westminster Bookstore​

So the publisher is most expensive, but is far from insisting on list price. The publisher also offers occasional special discounts of 40% or more, which is a steeper discount than I've ever seen on Amazon. Westminster is always competitive, tracking Amazon carefully and usually trying to beat them on price even though they can't match them on shipping.

This means that if you want to support the publisher or me as the author (I get bigger royalties when discounts are lower), you should buy directly from the publisher. Or if you want to support a Reformed bookseller that serves the church by vetting books and promoting good ones, you should buy from Westminster. And if you have Prime and want to pay as little as possible, or want the book by the end of the week, or want to buy with one click (which are all perfectly good desires, too), you should buy from Amazon.

Choices. They're why America is great.
 
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Regarding Beeke & Smalley's "Reformed Systematic Theology" - I assume Volume 2 is pretty much ready to go and they're deep into Volume 3 by now?

I talked to Dr. Beeke last week about volume 2, and my understanding is that it will appear about a year after volume 1. So, next spring, probably late spring.

In terms of books, I order from all the places mentioned, depending on the book. I try for the best price, I try for supporting WTS books and RHB, but by now the vast majority of books I order are only available on Amazon, as they are too specialized to be at RHB or WTS books. For me, it simply depends on the book.
 
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