Agency pricing - Page 3

leebase · 02-11-2011, 10:04 PM

The "fact" (we don't know what the real facts are because Amazon doesn't publish sales numbers) that sales have moved away from "Agency books" to other books is PROOF that there is absolutely NOTHING to fear from Agency pricing.

Pricing and demand are clearly working. Clearly people are able to vote with their dollars and CLEARLY the "Agency 5" have no power to price their books above what people want to pay.

Publishers are not about to gut their own hard back book dollars in favor of ebook pennies. So they price not just to sell an ebook, but to sell their product at the highest price the market will bear during the highest demand time window.

Of course the volume of sales of ebooks goes down when you price them at $14.99 instead of $9.99. But the profits from your $25 hard back aren't cannibalized so drastically by the $14.99 ebook as they are the $9.99 ebook.

Those who are only willing to pay $9.99 will get their opportunity to buy the book at that price LATER -- just like ALWAYS. There is no "paper back book" version of an ebook, but the price will drop.

Price and demand -- somebody aught to teach this stuff in school.

Nonny

Catlady · 02-12-2011, 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leebase

Those who are only willing to pay $9.99 will get their opportunity to buy the book at that price LATER -- just like ALWAYS. There is no "paper back book" version of an ebook, but the price will drop.

Then why are 50-year-old backlist e-books priced at $12.99?

Scott Nicholson · 02-12-2011, 10:52 AM

I think it's awesome. That decision launched the writing careers of a lot of writers who could now compete on price, and readers discovered a lot of writers who were just as good as the people they were asked to pay $15 for. Sounds like a win/win to me when greed loses and readers/writers share in the savings.

Scott

CleverClothe · 02-12-2011, 03:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

There is no such thing as a "shared monopoly." That is an oxymoron.

There is such a thing. But the word is "oligopoly".

CleverClothe · 02-12-2011, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leebase

The "fact" (we don't know what the real facts are because Amazon doesn't publish sales numbers) that sales have moved away from "Agency books" to other books is PROOF that there is absolutely NOTHING to fear from Agency pricing.

Pricing and demand are clearly working. Clearly people are able to vote with their dollars and CLEARLY the "Agency 5" have no power to price their books above what people want to pay.

It is clearly not working because agency pricing is STILL in effect. Price fixing is price fixing no matter how many are caught up in it.

carld · 02-12-2011, 03:49 PM

I think a shared monopoly actually fits pretty well, though we usually call it an oligopoly.

Quote:

Shared or Joint monopoly refers to anti-competitive behavior by firms, normally an oligopoly, in order to secure monopoly profits for the firms as a group. Essentially, shared monopoly requires some form of collusion but stops short of being a formal cartel. It is therefore similar to tacit collusion. In a shared monopoly firms may not compete for the same customers and have instead local monopolies.

snipenekkid · 02-12-2011, 03:50 PM

it's simple, people, myself included are far more comfortable knowing the retailer has control over prices. We won't see sales like Amazon's buy-3-get-1-free for print books with the Agency model. And while the sheeple will just buy at whatever price eventually even they will realize there are never any sales on ebooks despite the ability to sell the book forever without the associated distribution and cost of physical goods.

And lets not get into that tired argument over server storage and whatever since one server can probably handle the entire library of Kindle books. For the hyperbole impaired I exaggerated from the practical taking things to the absurd minimum to add some perspective on the requirements.

The lack of the ability for the retailer, who knows their customers better than anyone, to run sales when traditionally sales slow down is where the whole agency model as in place for the books really lets the consumer down from traditional expectations from a retail buying perspective.

CleverClothe · 02-12-2011, 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

"Fixing" prices and "setting" prices mean the same thing. It is not illegal for a seller to fix the price of an object he is selling. In fact, doing so is fundamental to the free market.

That was a great joke, well done. Wait, you were serious? You think that price fixing is no different than setting prices?

Price fixing is completely the opposite of a free market. You have businesses working together to actively stop competition. A quick Google search turned up 234 "price fixing" stories in the last WEEK. And 137,000 in the archives.

This may be a personal question, but, do you watch Fox News?

FF2 · 02-12-2011, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CleverClothe

That was a great joke, well done. Wait, you were serious? You think that price fixing is no different than setting prices?
.............
This may be a personal question, but, do you watch Fox News?

JSWolf · 02-12-2011, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keryl Raist

I am. I've got one book out, so obviously I'm not a big player in the market.

However, I can set pretty much any price I like. I can find whatever number maximizes my sales/profit and price in accordance to that.

Amazon has the freedom to set their cut however they like and use that to leverage the publisher into a set of prices.

If you price from 2.99-9.99, you get 70% of the price.

If you price below 2.99 or above 9.99, you get 35%.

But, do your books show up at any other shop other then Amazon? I know you can submit to Smashwords, but I am not always happy with the results from the meatgrinder there. So is there any place you can submit your books to other then Amazon or Smashwords where you can hand craft the eBooks to make sure they do come out nicely formatted for those of us that do not have Kindles?

leebase · 02-12-2011, 09:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Catlady

Then why are 50-year-old backlist e-books priced at $12.99?

Because there is value in the eformat and it took new money to create the eversion of the old book.

Folks wanting the most economical version will buy the paper version.

Nonny

leebase · 02-12-2011, 09:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CleverClothe

It is clearly not working because agency pricing is STILL in effect. Price fixing is price fixing no matter how many are caught up in it.

Works just fine as no one has to pay the price.

Nonny

CleverClothe · 02-12-2011, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leebase

Works just fine as no one has to pay the price.

Nonny

They do if they want any of the Agency 5 books, thanks to a little monopoly ensuring law called Copyright.

OtterBooks · 02-13-2011, 03:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott Nicholson

I think it's awesome. That decision launched the writing careers of a lot of writers who could now compete on price, and readers discovered a lot of writers who were just as good as the people they were asked to pay $15 for. Sounds like a win/win to me when greed loses and readers/writers share in the savings.

I was under the impression that agency ebook sales have been increasing rather dramatically.

Valentino · 02-13-2011, 03:30 AM

Honestly, I don't know 1 person that has bought an agency priced book.
It is obviously a complete ripoff, and after buying it and reading it, your $20 "license" for an encrypted file will feel like a joke.

I'm glad there is so much good free reading out there.

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02-11-2011, 10:04 PM	#31
leebase Karma Kameleon Posts: 2,933 Karma: 26616647 Join Date: Aug 2009 Device: iPad Mini, iPhone X, Kindle Fire Tab HD 8, Walmart Onn	The "fact" (we don't know what the real facts are because Amazon doesn't publish sales numbers) that sales have moved away from "Agency books" to other books is PROOF that there is absolutely NOTHING to fear from Agency pricing. Pricing and demand are clearly working. Clearly people are able to vote with their dollars and CLEARLY the "Agency 5" have no power to price their books above what people want to pay. Publishers are not about to gut their own hard back book dollars in favor of ebook pennies. So they price not just to sell an ebook, but to sell their product at the highest price the market will bear during the highest demand time window. Of course the volume of sales of ebooks goes down when you price them at $14.99 instead of $9.99. But the profits from your $25 hard back aren't cannibalized so drastically by the $14.99 ebook as they are the $9.99 ebook. Those who are only willing to pay $9.99 will get their opportunity to buy the book at that price LATER -- just like ALWAYS. There is no "paper back book" version of an ebook, but the price will drop. Price and demand -- somebody aught to teach this stuff in school. Nonny

02-12-2011, 10:52 AM	#33
Scott Nicholson Scott Nicholson, author Posts: 363 Karma: 2029337 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Boone NC Device: Kindle	I think it's awesome. That decision launched the writing careers of a lot of writers who could now compete on price, and readers discovered a lot of writers who were just as good as the people they were asked to pay $15 for. Sounds like a win/win to me when greed loses and readers/writers share in the savings. Scott

02-12-2011, 03:50 PM	#37
snipenekkid Banned Posts: 760 Karma: 51034 Join Date: Feb 2009	it's simple, people, myself included are far more comfortable knowing the retailer has control over prices. We won't see sales like Amazon's buy-3-get-1-free for print books with the Agency model. And while the sheeple will just buy at whatever price eventually even they will realize there are never any sales on ebooks despite the ability to sell the book forever without the associated distribution and cost of physical goods. And lets not get into that tired argument over server storage and whatever since one server can probably handle the entire library of Kindle books. For the hyperbole impaired I exaggerated from the practical taking things to the absurd minimum to add some perspective on the requirements. The lack of the ability for the retailer, who knows their customers better than anyone, to run sales when traditionally sales slow down is where the whole agency model as in place for the books really lets the consumer down from traditional expectations from a retail buying perspective.

02-13-2011, 03:30 AM	#45
Valentino Connoisseur Posts: 86 Karma: 999999 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: some.	Honestly, I don't know 1 person that has bought an agency priced book. It is obviously a complete ripoff, and after buying it and reading it, your $20 "license" for an encrypted file will feel like a joke. I'm glad there is so much good free reading out there.

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