Quote:
Originally Posted by Fbone
If the courts decided agency pricing must end, what stops the publishers from raising their wholesale prices or delaying ebook availability?
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There is nothing that would stop a publisher from witholding an e-book version or raising prices, other than their economic interests.
If readers have the choice of buying Title A at $20.00 or Title B at $10.00, and they are equally appealing, the seller of Title B will likely make more profits. Unlike paper books, the marginal cost of producing and selling an ebook is a pittance. It is in the interest of a vendor to sell as many copies as possible to a) recover the fixed costs of publishing the book (avoiding a loss) and increase profits by the additional revenue from every extra copy sold.
On the other hand, if every book is priced at $20.00 perhaps it becomes more attractive for many people to spend their money on something else, like renting a movie.
Agency pricing looks like a price-fixing cartel. Cartels can work only if you can truly control supply. I don't think that it is possible for the book publishing industry to do that.