Quote:
Originally Posted by abookreader
True. And I do wonder about the long term effect since the Agency Pricing agreement doesn't extend to Amazon from what I can tell.
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Nope. The Agency Pricing model was specifically
aimed at Amazon, to force them to charge
more for ebooks. It extends to other ebook retailers, but Amazon provoked it.
Amazon had a default price point of $9.99 for Kindle editions. It was selling Kindle versions of
current hardcover releases at that price, competing with the hardcover.
When a publisher publishes both a hardcover and a mass market paperback of a book, there will be a year delay between the HC and the MMPB, to give the HC time to sell before introducing a competing format at a lower price.
Hardcovers generate more revenue and higher profit margins than PB editions. Hardcover best sellers may make the difference between a publisher making money or showing a loss for the year. You can imagine how thrilled the publishers were about the competition from Kindle editions.
The publishers originally tried to get Amazon to impose a delay in releasing the Kindle edition to protect hardcover sales. When Amazon wouldn't play ball, they changed the terms under which they sold ebooks to Amazon to require a higher price.
The dust hasn't settled, but I think the eventual norm will be that if you want the ebook cheap, you'll have to wait for it, the same way you wait for the MMPB instead of buying the hardcover. If you want to read it at the same time the hardcover is released, you'll pay a higher price for early access.
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Dennis