Over at eBook MarketView, information technology consultant Dan Lubart spotted a dramatic change on the Kindle Bestsellers List–the average price of all the bestsellers had plunged from from $7.75 to $6.43 in a few days.

You can see the change mapped on Lubart’s graph (embedded above). The consultant speculated that Amazon’s Sunshine Deals program had created this price shift, selling 600 Kindle titles at $0.99, $1.99 and $2.99 for two weeks. What do you think–can the $12.99 agency priced eBook survive in this climate?

Check it out: By promoting discoverability of cheaper titles, they have likely created a surge in sales in that price band, driving many of these titles onto the bestseller list for the first time.  Ranking doesn’t tell the whole story, but we have to wonder if this program has had a significant downward effect on sales volume of higher priced titles.  It certainly speaks to the tremendous promotional power Amazon has to influence what people are buying.”