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Daithi · 03-31-2012, 01:05 AM

I'm not a fan of the agency model, but I doubt that getting rid of agency pricing is going to matter much.

When Amazon was selling books at $9.99 they were trying to aggressively grow the market for their new device, so they were willing to take a loss. They're now making 30% on all those bestsellers. I doubt they'll want to go back to taking a loss.

I also doubt the publishers will be too heartbroken about being forced to abandon the agency model. They actually make more money having Amazon pay 50% of MSRP of the hardcover than 70% of the ebook price. The publishers just didn't like the $9.99 price point, and that is gone and is unlikely to come back (see point 1), so in that respect the publishers won the war. The battle over agency pricing or wholesale pricing is meaningless at this point.

I do wonder what will happen to authors who are publishing directly through Amazon. Will they too have to kiss their 70% goodbye? I mean, if Amazon can scrap the 30/70 split with big publishers then why would they maintain it with small or self-publishers?

Lastly, if the agency pricing model is gone it doesn't mean haggling over pricing is finished. It's probably just starting at square one again. So, can we look forward to publishers again doing things like releasing ebooks months after the hardcovers? Probably.

03-31-2012, 01:05 AM	#5
Daithi Publishers are evil! Posts: 2,418 Karma: 36205264 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Rhode Island Device: Various Kindles	I'm not a fan of the agency model, but I doubt that getting rid of agency pricing is going to matter much. When Amazon was selling books at $9.99 they were trying to aggressively grow the market for their new device, so they were willing to take a loss. They're now making 30% on all those bestsellers. I doubt they'll want to go back to taking a loss. I also doubt the publishers will be too heartbroken about being forced to abandon the agency model. They actually make more money having Amazon pay 50% of MSRP of the hardcover than 70% of the ebook price. The publishers just didn't like the $9.99 price point, and that is gone and is unlikely to come back (see point 1), so in that respect the publishers won the war. The battle over agency pricing or wholesale pricing is meaningless at this point. I do wonder what will happen to authors who are publishing directly through Amazon. Will they too have to kiss their 70% goodbye? I mean, if Amazon can scrap the 30/70 split with big publishers then why would they maintain it with small or self-publishers? Lastly, if the agency pricing model is gone it doesn't mean haggling over pricing is finished. It's probably just starting at square one again. So, can we look forward to publishers again doing things like releasing ebooks months after the hardcovers? Probably. Last edited by Daithi; 03-31-2012 at 01:09 AM.