[stonetools]

From the point of view of authors who have ebooks available both through agency pricing and their own releases, agency pricing is costing them a lot of money. The fact that *all* kinds of ebooks are selling more than they used to doesn't mean that agency pricing is good.

Doesn't mean its bad either. Its up to agency pricing's detractors to prove it unduly depressed sales. There is no evidence of that.

Do you really think Konrath's self-published titles are of tremendously higher quality than the ones still locked into agency publishers? That the mainstream publishers who have the rights to some of Rusch's novels somehow just picked the worst of her writing to keep in print, to such an extent that an unadvertised novella with a bad cover can sell ten times as well as an agency book?

(Shrug) I'll leave judgments of quality to the market. There are agency priced mystery/thriller authors who are selling a lot more copies than Mr. Konrath.

Authors who have books available in both price systems: agency, and self-chosen, keep saying that agency pricing is horrible, and they make more money on $3 self-releases than $12 publishers' novels.

If agency pricing is better *for publishers* but worse for authors, that's not a mark in its favor.

There are plenty of authors who seem perfectly happy with agency pricing and accept the publisher's argument that Amazon was underpricing ebooks

They're allegations backed with some evidence, like Jobs' public statement that books won't be cheaper at Amazon than the iBookstore -- and that they'll be in the $12-15 range.

The Justice Dep't doesn't investigate without evidence. Allegations may be all the general public has, but there's already noteworthy amounts of facts that support the accusation of illegal price-fixing, or it wouldn't be getting any official attention.

We will just have to wait and see how the investigation pans out. Right now there is just enough evidence to warrant a look-see by the DOJ- not enough for a conclusion , either way. Be advised that the courts have concluded that manufacturers have every right to set prices.

LINK

Reading court's rationale is instructive:

The Justice wrote, "A single manufacturer's use of vertical price restraints tends to eliminate intrabrand price competition; this in turn encourages retailers to invest in tangible or intangible services or promotional efforts that aid the manufacturer's position as against rival manufacturers. Resale price maintenance also has the potential to give consumers more options so that they can choose among low-price, low-service brands; high-price, high-service brands; and brands that fall in between. Absent vertical price restraints, the retail services that enhance interbrand competition might be underprovided. This is because discounting retailers can free ride on retailers who furnish services and then capture some of the increased demand those services generate."

By not adhering to minimum prices, the Court maintained, discounters were able to essentially let competitors do much of the heavy lifting required to make a sale.

"Consumers might learn, for example, about the benefits of a manufacturer's product from a retailer that invests in fine showrooms, offers product demonstrations, or hires and trains knowledgeable employees. Or consumers might decide to buy the product because they see it in a retail establishment that has a reputation for selling high-quality merchandise. If the consumer can then buy the product from a retailer that discounts because it has not spent capital providing services or developing a quality reputation, the high-service retailer will lose sales to the discounter, forcing it to cut back its services to a level lower than consumers would otherwise prefer. Minimum resale price maintenance alleviates the problem because it prevents the discounter from undercutting the service provider. With price competition decreased, the manufacturer's retailers compete among themselves over services."

Substitute " Amazon" for "discounter", and you pretty much have the publisher's and independent bookseller's argument for agency pricing.