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Originally Posted by MacEachaidh
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.
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Ok thats a fine argument, but why are other ebookstores in the same boat? Why do I find I go to Amazon.com and see an ebook geographically restricted, then go to say kobobooks.com and find the same title geo restricted? Kobo isn't owned nor contracted with Amazon, so if Amazon are making life difficult for the publishers, then why aren't they making deals with other sellers??? I still don't understand, if Amazon are making life difficult for the publishers, then why are they selling to Amazon restricting to certain geo areas and not others, why not just sell the ebook to the world or part ways and go through another ebook store?
I have no doubt that Amazon would be trying to make the best profit for themselves on an ebook sale, but if Amazon are too big and want too much.....well there are many other stores that might be a little more forgiving.