Quote:
Originally Posted by rcentros
So Amazon is "evil" for discounting books to their customers? And Apple, Barnes & Noble and the Colluding Six are "good" for a scheme that artificially ramped up the price of eBooks? How were the publishers getting hurt? They were selling their books for the standard wholesale price and the authors were getting full commission.
And another question no one seems to be answering. Why does Apple, Barnes & Noble and the Colluding Six think that eBooks need to cost as much as printed books? There is almost no cost in the actual publishing or distributing of an eBook -- and an eBook doesn't have the same value as a hardback or paperback. When I'm done with my printed-on-paper book, I can sell it, or hand it off, or donate it to the library. I can't do that with my eBook. The library (or my friends) will have to buy another copy. So, almost inevitably, an eBook is going to sell to more readers because there are more restrictions on how it can be passed around. It's the nature of the beast -- so why don't publishers factor that into their prices? Pure greed?
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It is documented that in moving to Agency the BPHs were getting less money and the authors were getting less royalties. They really wanted a $15 price on ebooks but Apple insisted on a uniform $13 for bestsellers.
As for why they desperately want high ebook prices, it is also publicly documented: Carolyn Reedy explained it clearly in one of the email exchanges with the other CEOs that "never occured". The reason is that getting pbooks into B&M bookstores was the primary lever they had to get authors to sign the "industry standard" contract and ebooks, instead of remaining a hobbyist niche product, were exploding into the mainstream and cannibalizing print sales. She was at the time seriously concerned that if they lost the readers they would lose the bookstores and, more importantly, lose the authors. (Just ask Harlequin how fast that can play out.)
I know there's a certain midsize publisher exec who swears indie publishers don't compete with him "because bookstores can't carry POD" books, but by now we all know that Ingram and Baker & Taylor do in fact distribute POD titles to bookstores and that both the chains and the independents do carry them, so
Reedy's fears were not only well-founded but also fell short of what really has happened.
So, the publishers want high ebook prices to protect pbook sales volume because access to bookstores is their stock in trade. Without that, authors getting $4000 advances might start questioning why they should sign away 100 years of copyright control on an "industry standard" contract. And the BPHs can't have that...
Again, I know the ruling of the antitrust trial is long (180 pages or so) but it makes for very educational reading. Highly recommended and very quote-worthy.
Edit: here's the download link, check it out:
http://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/cases/s...special&id=306