[BearMountainBooks]

One thing that rarely gets discussed in the Amazon/publisher model is that Amazon proved (purposely or otherwise) that there is a huge market for lower priced books. By lowering prices, they not only helped ebooks gain acceptance, they also discovered a pricepoint where people were willing to buy a LOT more books == essentially eating into the USED book market (a market for which Amazon has a lot of data).

By watching what happened with lower prices, I think Amazon realized it was to their benefit to encourage library-goers and used book buyers back into the active market. I write cozies; a HIGH proportion of readers in this market are older, fixed-income and/or habitual library goers and frugal-bin shoppers. I know this from spending a lot of time on forums with people who buy my books--they are attracted to paying a price they were already paying (under 5 dollars.)

The publishers have not had to cater to or really deal with this market--they gave up on it long ago because it was legal to resell print books. Perhaps they don't even believe there is a market there where money is to be made.

While I know publishers feared and fear price erosion, I think the aggregate could actually be positive. There are more people looking to buy books--because they are cheaper or perceived as cheaper.

I'm biased to some extent from working in a library and BEING a used book buyer. These days I can stay within my comfort zone and buy a lot of authors.

I've also learned (as Amazon and others know) about the impulse buyer/shopper. A certain percentage of book buyers buy for the sake of buying. Like quilt makers and other hobbiest they won't actually get around to reading the books, but they are buyers quite often. The lower price-point is an ongoing sale. They can buy bargains even by name-brands! Unlike authors, Amazon and other retailers don't care if the buyer ever becomes an actual reader of said material.

I apologize in advance for typos. I'm on a netbook with an extremely small keyboard...