http://publishingperspectives.com/20...arket-in-2012/
Push Comes to Shove: Japan’s E-book Market in 2012
Secondly, of course, Amazon. In Japan, like elsewhere, Amazon is loved as much by consumers as they are disliked by Big Publishing. The latter wishes to extend fixed pricing from printed books to e-books and fears a loss of control should Amazon get their hands on digital publications on wholesale rather than agency terms. Nearly three years have passed since The Japan Times reported that Amazon was aiming to work closely with Japanese publishers for a “win-win situation.” Still no local Kindle store.
. . .
On the contrary, if Japanese publishers continue to pursue a ‘neither in, neither out’ approach to e-book publishing, they themselves will have forced the hand of product managers at Kobo, Kindle and other foreign entrants. The newcomers will have no choice but to seek out content, establish their own publishing arms and aggressively court the next generation of authors. I would hazard a guess that most of the resulting publications would be digital only.
When push comes to shove Japanese publishers can nurture these new entrants as sales channels or force them to become outright competitors. Which will they choose?
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The author of the article mentions "fixed price" of print books in Japan, is that true?
Is it kinda like the fixed price of books in France, Germany and Spain?