Quote:
Originally Posted by pilotbob
So, if a small percentage of these new ebooks are exclusive to the Kindle for a few months in the grand scheme of things who cares. The market is growing.
Me thinks he doth protest to much. Would you complain if Sony got some exclusive deals too?
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Bob, I do not care if Amazon gets 6 month exclusivity. It just means they are more aggressive in the marketplace. What I do care about are (a) permanent exclusivity, which is, I believe, where Bezos is heading if he can, and (b) the impact on publishers and authors. Bezos is already trying to force publishers into better deals for Amazon, deals that will not or do not convert into better deals for consumers -- note:
better deals for Amazon, not for consumers.
We have begun to see this with the pressure Amazon has been putting on UK publishers and on POD (print on demand) publishers in the US. Amazon has demanded that UK publishers increase the discount to Amazon, but there hasn't been the concomitant promise of increasing the discount to consumers (or even the whisper that it would be so). In the US, if you want the one-click button you have to use Amazon's POD services, not the services of other POD printers.
What I am concerned about is that as the tide swells to its peak we will see more publishers publishing ebooks, but as the tide recedes the only boat not wrecked is the Amazon. Too much market power, particularly in a market that is supposed to be the market that generates the full exchange of ideas -- regardless of their frivolity -- does not bode well for free exchange.
And, FWIW, I would complain equally as much if it were Sony that cut these types of deals. I am simply opposed to giving a single vendor too much power in the marketplace of ideas.