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I find all of this totally illogical. Everyone is ignoring price fixing because bad practices associated with a monopoly may occur. Is there any indication that if those bad practices occur, the DOJ would not be all over it? I am so against the Big Publishers. It used to be I went into the bookstore, and picked books based on their marketing agreements with the publishers. Now, I never shop in bookstores. I pick books based on bestseller lists, which contain some indie publications, and recommendations I see on the web, including here.
I know books aren't fungible. But I also know that I will never in my lifetime be able to read all the books I want to. If I can't ever read a Hachette book again, I will still have plenty to read.
Every other profession has undergone significant changes due to globalization and the financial crisis. Newspapers have folded one after the other. I currently read the Chicago Tribune digitally. I buy songs one-by-one--very few albums anymore. In the past decade, I have changed where my money goes based on overall changes in the economy (buying digital classes, borrowing digital library books). Things aren't going back. I am not buying the new bestseller at $14.99, because I haven't read the last bestseller yet.
I am an Amazon fan--I buy everything on Amazon except for yarn and groceries. I used to work 10 hour days and then rush around doing errands nights and weekends. Now, I work from home, and order things I need from Amazon. Well, not everything. I just redid our living room, bought a leather couch from Costco, and chairs and tables and lamps from Overstock. I did not set foot in a single furniture store. So I would resent having to pay the markup for the furniture stores. If you need the design help from furniture stores, then you need to pay the markup. If you need the book selection expertise of the big publishing houses, then pay the money. But I don't, and I will buy another book rather than read the latest JK Rowling. Heck, I haven't read the last one, yet.
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