How long does it take for novel prices to get marked down?

When the book is no longer so – forgive me for this – novel.

Sometimes such books are drastically reduced right after release, so it will sell lots of books and put it on the best sellers list. Then, the price is restored and the label ”#1 best seller!” is put on.

Depends on the book and its popularity. Some get marked down within a week, if they are crap sellers. (Tom Wolfe, Bonfire of the Vanities was a great example of an anticipated book that was a real dog. They were practically giving them away.)

On the other hand, a best seller may stay at its lit price for months. Look at the Hunger Games series for an example of that.

I think the prices are usually marked down before the book is ever released. I’ve bought pre-release as a discount with immediate delivery and there are similar gimmicks every step of the way. I think the important thing is to get ‘buzz’ going and then maintain the momentum. It seems to me as though they schedule certain amount of a popular author’s works to be ‘remaindered’ pretty quickly. It adds new followers.

If you mean to the remainder table, somewhere between 6–12 months after publication. Some books never become remaindered, but if it’s a big bestseller, you can bet they’ve printed too many copies, and so it will be marked down significantly – only after it’s had its chance to sell as a hardcover, and probably around the same time as the paperback comes out.

As others have mentioned, even current bestsellers are discounted somewhat by large chains (in their folly, and to the detriment of the bookselling industry as a whole).