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Why would it? Was there ever a time in our lifetime when there weren't alternatives to buying new release hard backs? I know I had plenty of reading opportunities without needing ebooks when I was a kid -- and too poor to buy hard backs.
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Yes and no. There have always been alternatives, but they may not have been alternatives that the buyer found just as desirable as the new higher priced hardback book.
That isn't the case now.
Now the hardback market competes not only with aged releases, it also competes with the internet, video games, small publishing houses who price well below Agency prices, netflix, ... and on and on and on. It is competition for the same buyers on steroids.
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Economics isn't new. The people willing to pay the most, set the market, not the folks who say "that's too much". A publisher could set the price at $1000 for an ebook, and all of us would say "phoey on you-ey". But if lots of folks bought it at that price, then THEY would set the price, not us.
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No. In a true market economy the people paying the most do not set the price and the people demanding the cheapest do not set the price. What sets the price is profit maximization .... and it isn't even that simple. Some businesses attempt to maximize profit over long terms (years) and some care only about the current quarter.
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So far, though, there is no indication that $12.99 to $14.99 has been an impediment to mass market sales.
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I'm not sure exactly what you are saying here but yes -- agency pricing did flatten eBook sales growth at those price points and more than one publisher has predicted that eBooks will likely demolish the MMP market, sooner rather than later.