Secondary Market in Proofs?

Fearing the continued eBaying of proofs, “HarperCollins is only doing 450 advance proofs of Anansi Boys,” Neil Gaiman reports.

Weblog Copyfight wonders aloud: “How likely is it that someone would pay an eBay price for a beloved author’s work and not buy/promote the novel itself?” “Either way,” writes the weblog tech dirt, “you have to wonder what HarperCollins is really concerned about. Are there really going to be so many lost sales because some people sell the pre-release copies?”

Here’s one attempt to answer that: According to eBay’s search results, lost sales for Anansi Boys currently total $56.04 (auction price with four days remaining), plus $46.99 (price with five days remaining).

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