yes, I'm ranting about book prices again

Some days Amazon’s different sites save me from myself.I subscribe to a lot of bookish websites, some of which let you know when one of their favourites is on sale. Often, I run off - all eager to purchase - to get hit by the usual Australia problem.Oh, you live in Australia… nope. It’s not on special for YOU. The price is not 99c it’s $8.And I don’t buy it.This must be how Hawaiians feel with the ‘continental US’ limitation on postage.*Shrugs*I will admit this week I had a few real life smacks and to cheer myself up I fully intended to buy a book. [Like I don’t somehow get books every day. Shush, brain.]Ilona Andrews has recently finished their Kate Daniels series. I desperately want to read it but I have all the series in the same format; mass market paperback. I check my local library and they don’t have any of the books. So off I dash to check the price of the ebook.I rationalise that I will get a physical copy at some point, but the ebook will get me through until then.$18.99What? For an ebook? [I have raged about Australian book prices before…]That is just too much for me, so I go to check when the paperback will be released. I may get a short dose of happy book buying feelings if I can buy a pre-order.No release date, yet. This seems like a deliberate decision by the publishers to milk fans of the series. Previously I’ve pre-ordered the paperback no problem. You can’t tell me they don’t know when it will be released. In fact, I just got a notice that a pre-order for their Hidden Legacy series is on its way.*grits teeth*What if I just got a hardback? [Let’s ignore, for the moment, the way it will make me crazy for decades to have ONE book a significantly different size in a series of ten. I neeeeds it, precious…]$45 at my local bookshop. Are you freaking kidding me?Now this isn’t a swipe at Ilona Andrews. This is a traditionally published book and the author doesn’t set the price, but man… I live in a country where most of the wildlife can kill, don’t add book prices to the list of things that can wound me.