Totally. For more common books - slabbing a 9.6 is generally going to be a money loser, while 9.8 books have a least a chance of recouping slab costs and maybe turning a profit. Few collectors are interested in slabbed 9.6 run of the mill moderns, so it's understandable that once a modern book becomes valuable enough to slab in lesser grades that the "9.8 or better" crowd would still be willing to pay a premium for the grade, to match the rest of their collection.
just saying that if someone mass subs and has a load of 9.6 and is selling mostly to recoup the grading fees and it is a title i collect, i'll probably pick up a run of 9.6's instead of 1 or 2 9.8's.