View Single Post
Old 02-25-2013, 06:05 PM   #51
taustin
Wizard
taustin ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.taustin ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.taustin ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.taustin ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.taustin ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.taustin ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.taustin ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.taustin ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.taustin ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.taustin ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.taustin ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Posts: 1,358
Karma: 5766642
Join Date: Aug 2010
Device: Nook
Quote:
Originally Posted by jalandar View Post
It's not charity, it is a business arrangement.
It's a very one sided business arrangement.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jalandar View Post
An arrangement of exactly the kind of way of sending them traffic and getting paid that Amazon has historically ENCOURAGED their affiliates to engage in.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jalandar View Post

Yes, and now that their business model has matured, they want to alter it (and the affiliates have agreed, in a formal contract, that Amazon has that right). Slimy? Sure. That's why I don't do business with Amazon on ebooks. But surprising? Not in the least. That's how business works. You open a new market, making basically nothing to build it up to a certain point of maturity, then you start cutting costs, and raise profits.
There was no charity involved. And most of us didn't JUST promote free, but also high quality bargain books.
Either this is going to affect a large number of affiliates, or it's not. If it's not, then it's not going to affect a large number of affialtes. If it is, then there are a large number of affiliates who are responsible for 20,000+ free downloads per month and that represents over 80% of the total traffic from them. Each. Bandwidth isn't free, not the way Amazon does it, and not in that kind of quantity. There are signficant costs. And at a certain point, it is charity on their part.

If you don't like it, stop promoting free books. If enough affiliates do that, their KDP program will suffer, as people stop paying for it because a major benefit is no longer worth the expense. All other parts of their busienss that benefit from free books will suffer as well.

(Not that this policy will remain as it stands, assuming the press coverage has been accurate. Amazon has proven, again and again, that they do listen to online outrage, and back down from particularly bad reactions. What I expect, assuming it's not part of the policy arlread, just unreported, is that the stuff that Amazon expressing promotes as free, like the KDP stuff, won't count against the limit.)
taustin is offline   Reply With Quote