We've received several comments from readers on the Wal-Mart-Amazon price wars, now joined by Target (see story below).

From Robert D. Utter of the Other Tiger bookstore, Westerly, R.I.:

What ARE the economics? How much money are these two behemoths losing on each sale when costs are taken into account? What would the P&L and balance sheets look like for this model? At what point is their behavior illegal and anticompetitive?

From Nancy Colalillo, owner of Tome on the Range, Las Vegas, N.M.:

When publishers continue to remainder front list (which is what I call selling to big box stores), what do they expect? When your product is used as a loss leader, it becomes a commodity and has little value. Those of us who must charge the jacket price for books continue to look like whores to customers who think the real price is what they pay at Wal-Mart. Let's start an industry conversation about, among other things, net pricing, the overabundance of titles in the marketplace and the relationship between selling to box stores, print runs and returns.