Bestselling novelist Paulo Coelho has convinced HarperCollins to sell many of his eBooks for 99-cents in the United States and Canada. The sale prices are now in effect at Amazon, iTunes
and Barnes & Noble.

The author could not predict how long the sale would last, but hopes to set the industry standard. In a blog post, Coelho explained that he hoped to make his digital books cost as much as a song in iTunes. The author helpfully did the book-buying math for his readers, revealing that purchasing all his discounted books will cost $10.89 versus $74.19 at regular prices.  Check it out:

One of my US publishers, HarperCollins, following a conversation with my agent Monica Antunes at the London Book Fair 2012, have decided to reduce the price of all my ebook titles (except The Alchemist) to 0.99 USD. Which means a book now costs less than a cup of coffee! This is a crucial decision for me. For years I have been advocating that free content is not a threat to the book business. In lowering the price of a book and equaling it to the price of a song in iTunes, the reader will be encouraged to pay for it, instead of downloading it for free. The email sent by Harper does not specify for how long the promotion will last.