[Nathanael]

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

If you could be so kind, please provide a link to Amazon's bestseller lists sorted by format, because I'm having a devil of a time trying to get the thing to admit MM paperbacks exist at all.

Here's the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Books/b/ref=sv...F8&node=549028

The various categories are listed down the left-hand side.

For the Kindle top 100, from the Amazon home page point to Digital Downloads, select Kindle Store, and the top 100 paid and free are on the right side.

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

We're talking about prices on the same item here, not unrelated items.

We are not. Not unless you're claiming the apples of the HarperCollins catalog are the same as the oranges of Simon & Schuster's. In which case I don't see why I shouldn't be allowed to toss in the tangerines of Smashwords. Nothing I've ever read there comes remotely close to the stench of anything Dan Brown ever cranked out. But now we're talking taste, not economics.

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

if you're buying books, you're buying specific books

Sometimes, yes. More often I just walk into a bookstore and browse. I may have a certain genre in mind, perhaps even an author, but rarely a specific title. That may just be me, but I doubt it. But if you want to talk specific books, then let's pick for the sake of argument this week's top five NYT hardcover fiction bestsellers:

1. The Rembrandt Affair, published by Putnam Adult (Penguin).
2. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, published by Knopf (Random House)
3. The Help, published by Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam (Penguin)
4. Fly Away Home, published by Atria (Simon & Schuster)
5. Private, published by Little, Brown and Company (Hatchette)

Now, if I want to buy specifically The Rembrandt Affair, can I get it from Simon & Schuster? HarperCollins? Random House? Hatchette? Macmillan? No more than I can buy any of their titles from Penguin. If you want to talk specific items, then it's tautalogical to claim that, as even Amazon admitted, Macmillan has a monopoly on its own titles.

Look, bottom line is you're trying to convince me we're entering some brave, new Orellian world where all our reading decisions are controlled by some sinister publishing mafia. Sorry, I just don't buy it (pun intended).

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

What has given you the idea that I am unhappy?

Could be because when I hear you lamenting this alleged price-fixing publishing cartel, I don't hear a smile in your voice. Or do I just need to clean out my ears?

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

I'm used to discussing economic issues with fellow capitalists and advocates of the free market

And you assume I'm not, why? Because I don't believe in your publishing cartel?

And, BTW, you are aware that the inevitable outcome of unrestrained capitalism is monopolization, right? Which is why even Americans don't believe in unrestrained capitalism. As to this price-fixing publishing cartel, if it exists, well, welcome to the free market.

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

The price-fixing cartel has prohibited competition. If you want to buy an ebook they manufacture, you have to buy it at their set price

If I want to buy a Simon & Schuster book, I have to buy it at Simon & Schuster's set price. If I want to buy a Macmillan book, I have to buy it at Macmillan's set price. If I want to buy a Smashwords book, I have to buy it at Smashwords' set price. If I want to see the sunrise, I have to face east. I just don't see the news here.

AFAICS, it just goes without saying that if I want to buy a specific title I can only get it from a specific publisher; Simon & Schuster doesn't publish Macmillan's catalog.

But last I checked, even in the world of pbooks, all the major houses charge pretty much the same prices to the retail chains, e.g., about $13 for a hardcover. The difference is, most customers are OK with paying $20=$25 retail for that hardcover, which gives retailers some room to compete with each other on price.

All I see here is Amazon shooting itself in the foot, by setting its customers' expectations artificially (and unsustainably) low. Now that its customers are accustomed to paying $9.99 for an ebook, it's discovering it can't get the wholesale price it needs to sustain that price point. Sounds like Amazon tried to wedge itself in between its customers and the publishers, and got itself stuck. I say, bully for the publishers. Amazon played the bluff, the publishers didn't blink, and now Amazon's left holding shizz for cards.

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

Pbooks don't work that way.

For the reason I noted above: in the pbook world, retailers haven't set customers' pricing expectations unsustainably low, which leaves the retailers room to compete on price. Amazon slit its own throat on this one.

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

Books are not fungible.

Assuming for the moment I agreed with that, all you're saying is each publisher has a monopoly on its own titles. If books are not fungible, then you can't go comparing the apples of Macmillan with the oranges of Penguin. Or at least if you can, then I still don't see why I shouldn't be allowed to toss Smashwords citrii into the salad.

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

I think twice (if not more) about plopping down $8 for a mass market paperback; therefore, I think $10 or $15 for a[n e]book ... is excessive.

Now hold on. We have to talk specific titles here, right? Here are the top ten mass market fiction titles with their paperback and ebook prices (PB/EB):

1. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: $7.99/$7.14
2. Nine Dragons: ---/$14.99 (Amazon doesn't list a paperback price)
3. The Girl Who Played with Fire: $7.99/$7.99
4. Charlie St. Cloud: $10.20/$6.29
5. Smashcut: $9.99/$12.99
6. The Lucky One: $7.99/$9.99
7. Knock-out: $9.99/$8.99
8. The Defector: $9.99/$8.99
9. The Neighbor: $7.99/$5.99
10. Finger-Lickin' Fifteen: $8.99/$8.99

Average: $9.01/$8.34

In only one case does the ebook price reach up into your $10-$15 range, and in only two cases is the ebook more than the pbook (and that's even comparing against MM PB; I could just as easily have compared against trade or hardcover).

Look, if you don't like $12.99 for an ebook then buy the paperback. Or are formats non-fungible as well? If you don't like the PB price, then pick it up used. Or borrow it from a friend. Or read it at the library. Options. Options. Options.

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

Please read my post again and point out to me where I said I had an "addiction" to cartel books?

You talk as if the Big Six are the only game in town, as if somehow the ebook market stands or falls by them. There are plenty of other ballparks to play in, and if you don't like baseball, then go play soccer. There are so many ebook options, I just can't see where what the Big Six are doing (even up to and including price collusion) is of much significance at all.