Quote:
Originally Posted by Solicitous
It doesn't make sense but it is what the publishers themselves are enforcing. Amazon and other ebookstores would love to sell us any ebook we would want, but unfortunately they are being told which countries certain ebook titles can be sold to.
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Hmmm, I don't think it's slanted quite the way you're depicting, Solicitous. You make it sound like poor little Amazon is trying to do right by the customer, and the nasty publishers are making it hard for them.
It's not like that at all. The publishers here (and yes, I work with some of them, so I hear their side of the matter, at least) have issues with the terms Amazon is trying to dictate in return for the projected access its market share can provide. Amazon is screwing the publishers' and authors' cut of the deal down to almost nothing, over-valuing the access it provides and calculating profit shares on a US-centric market share model that doesn't make sense for the Australian market, and then adopting a (somewhat belligerent) "take it or leave it" stance towards the authors and publishers. Guess what? Many of them have decided to leave it, and are hoping to pick up sales through other avenues (Australian online book retailers, for instance) where they will get a fairer share of the profits.
I'm a bit disgusted at the price of ebooks overall, but in this instance my sympathies lie mostly with the Aussie publishers and authors.