Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
the previous book pricing cartel - the "Net Book Agreement" - was ruled to be illegal in the 1990s, so I'd be surprised to see full-blown "agency" pricing in the UK as exists in the US. The publishers know that it would be pretty certain to be judged an anti-competitive practice and prohibited.
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Actually the NBA had effectively collapsed before it was ruled illegal in 1997. Hachette's CEO has gone on record stating that the demise of the NBA was good for British publishing, so it's strange to see them leading the charge towards agency pricing.
The problem with simply lowering prices to increase sales is that book purchases are partially inelastic. Consumers only have a certain amount of free time in which they can read books, and if they're rational they aren't going to buy books that they won't get round to reading. There's certainly room for growth by encouraging more people to read and encouraging people to buy rather than borrow from a library, but that growth will be limited.