Quote:
Originally Posted by David Marseilles
Windows for releases aren't good for business either (hardcover to paperback, Theater to DVD to streaming to tv), but they probably do have benefits with regards to predictability and risk control and they are definitely comfortable territory for content producers.
|
I gotta say, it looked to me like windowing kind of sucked for almost everyone.
Readers had to wait months to get the ebook versions. Publishers, retailers and authors were overwhelmingly eviscerated by the readers for the practice. It was understandable given Amazon lowballing the ebook prices and the need to protect hardcover margins, but immediate release is definitely a better option.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by David Marseilles
Before agency pricing we had a great market system....
|
We did?!? Seems to me like lots of MR readers would've eviscerated you for saying as much in late 2009.
To be more specific, there was a great deal of concern over Amazon's attempts to -- wait for it -- control the market and reveal its anti-competitive streak. People were actually lauding Sony -- Sony!!! -- as a potential savior of the freedom of the ebook market. (You know you're really up a creek when you're hoping that Sony will protect your digital rights....)
Publishers were also terrified that their margins were going to go down the tubes, with authors on one hand ramping up to demand higher royalties while retailers (especially Amazon) was likely to demand lower wholesale prices.
Non-agency does have some advantages -- more discounts, retailers can compete on price -- but it's not like people regarded 2009 as a golden era for ebooks.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by David Marseilles
The move also slows down the digital revolution that content producers of every kind are afraid of and protects the familiar analog forms that they are comfortable with and understand better.
|
Did it?
Agency pricing wiped out the windowing issue, beat down Amazon's attempts to establish a permanent lock on the ebook market, let publishers relax about their margins, gives retailers slightly better margins, and still manages to sell a lot of books at the $10 price point. Meanwhile, ebook sales may have doubled during 2010.
I will say the ebook market would have developed without agency pricing, and it may be impossible to truly evaluate its effects on the market. But I don't really see it as slowing things down -- despite JSWolf's plaintive cries for the lost majesty of cheap Fictionwise titles.