Quote:
Originally Posted by tapar
My conspiracy theory is that book publishers would prefer it if ebooks failed and were never heard from again. The longer they can stave off ebook adoption the better for them. They won't need to find ways to address piracy, they won't have to give up the margins on the hardcovers...basically from a publishers viewpoint....I can't think of many reasons to be happy about ebooks. They won't have to worry about authors hiring their own editors and cutting them out of the loop entirely.
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It's unlikely (surely no publisher could be THAT stupid, right?
), but not as far-fetched as one might think. The bigger the company, the more it is wedded to its existing gameplan, the harder it is for management to really think things through instead of simply digging in their heels and barring the doors and windows to new ideas and new business models. We've seen this with the music industry and the movie industry. The publishing industry is now entering its own adolescence - whether it will emerge a surly monosyllabic teen or a mature adult is anyone's guess.
Anyway, I would be surprised if at least SOME people in the publishing industry didn't want the ebook wave to just fade away (with some help from them of course). Of course, it's too late - it's been too late for a long time now. Someday, Amazon and the other retailers will push back hard enough (because it's the right
business decision for them - we're not talking good vs. evil BS here
) and that ridiculous price-fixing scam will go the way of the dodo.
The only question is whether it will happen sooner rather than later - especially with the star rating backlash and Amazon's (almost supportive
) passive acceptance of those reviews (by their refusal to delete them).