Thread: Smashwords Moves to Agency Model
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Old 12-04-2010, 05:47 PM   #66
lilac_jive
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew H. View Post
No. All agency pricing means is that the retailer acts as an "agent" for the publisher (including a self-published author), selling the book to the consumer at the publisher's price and taking a certain cut from the sale. This is the same model ebay uses.

The term is a neutral term; the reason people don't like Big 5 agency pricing really has nothing to do with agency pricing at all; it has to do with the fact that the prices set by the publishers are seen as being too high. If the big 5 set their new release prices at $8.99, no one would complain about agency pricing - if anything, people would complain about how Amazon ripped consumers off by jacking up prices to $9.99.
Thanks for the clarification.
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