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Originally Posted by bhartman36
Unless an author self-publishes, they don't set the price of the book. The publisher does. I know this because I know people who have written books and been published. A publishing house is going to price a book at what they think it'll sell for, and for the profit margin they want. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to stay in business. Yes, the author has to agree to the terms of the contract, but that doesn't mean the author knows the pricing of the book before they sign.
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They don't know the price or set the relevant price, because authors, authors guilds, etc don't demand it. Authors, prior to signing away the contract, have all the rights the law allows, others can only gain those rights with the authors consent. So, some, if not most, authors go into it and will do and agree to whatever to get published, but I believe the consumers have the right to punish them if they so desire. Arguing that it is all the publisher is bad, because for the publisher to do anything, the author first has to grant them that ability. So, if the consumers (or a portion of them) want to punish them, then that is valid form of protest. And that is what protest is, letting others know about the issue.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bhartman36
There's a difference between what's permissible and what is good or right. It's important not to confuse the two. While I won't argue that the one-star reviews based on price are impermissible on Amazon's site, that doesn't mean they're good for the system. They're not even intended to be good for the system. They're intended to subvert it. How can a "review" of a book that doesn't even address the book's content not subvert the system?
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But it isn't subverting the process. It may not be what you want the system to be, but the system is set up to be able to review any portion of the potential purchase, from cover art, to price, to just having an author that is a jerk to their readers. Amazon says those are OK to rate on, and let others know about. It isn't a "traditional" book review, it is a product review. So, by Amazon's system, the ones that are truly trying to subvert the system are those that want to take the product review system Amazon has set in place and turn it into a content review only. If someone wants a traditional book review, there are a lot of good places to get that.
--Carl