Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeD
That doesn't prove agency pricing is working, you can infer very little from those lists. If agency books sold 1000x times more books than non agency (prior to agency introduction) and now sell only 500x as many, they'd still dominate the best seller lists despite a reduction in sales or growth.
Ps yes the 1000x was a arbitrary and ridiculous number for the example, I just wanted to point out that despite a decline in popularity you can still remain a best seller for a time, but the gap will be closing at a higher rate than it may otherwise have. 
Amazon's statement however is based on actual sales data and growth rates extracted from that data. The best seller lists do not disprove anything stated in the amazon quote. |
Its not my burden to prove its "working": its your burden to prove that agency pricing unduly depresses sales.
You are quoting, not real sales figures but conclusory statements by Amazon- the very entity those practices led to the adoption of agency pricing ! Hardly a disinterested party.
What those lists do prove is that the publishers were correct that the market price for bestselling ebooks was above the price that Amazon wanted to charge. If the publishers were wrong about that, then the current bestsellers wouldn't be bestsellers.