[Sydney's Mom]

It seems that the Hachette books Amazon is discounting are doing better than the higher priced post-Agency books. For example, the new Patterson and Rowling are doing better than the latest King. I know books aren't fungible, but I am actually more concerned about the future of literature if we go back to Agency pricing. If there are fewer books being offered at prices people are willing to pay, the publishers are looking at making themselves irrelevant. Already, independent authors are eating their lunch. And even though I have been a voracious reader for my whole life, in the last five years I have developed hobbies that are eating into my reading time. Just reading all of the wonderful posts and links on this forum about the Amazon Hachette negotiations are cutting down on my reading time. I enjoyed the NYPL piece (watched the whole thing), but I think the panel might have been looking at the threat from the wrong perspective. Isn't the end game to get as many books into as many hands as possible? Get people hooked on reading, and then jack the price up?

It isn't just the shift from print to digital that is changing books. It is also the shift to universal accessibility. It used to be that books were about the only thing you could carry around and enjoy. A dvd player was too heavy, ran out of batteries, etc. Now, you can just watch a movie on your phone. And you don't even need to be connected to Wi-Fi to watch it. So, if I am sitting on the train, and I have a choice between the book or the movie, while I would usually go for the book first, if it is $14.99, I would rather rent the movie. It will take less effort on my part to watch the movie rather than read the book, and for me, renting a movie is an impulse purchase, while $15 is not.

Younger people on the train appear to be watching movies. Infrequent older riders appear to be watching movies. I don't see many people reading. I watch movies while I work-out. I watch movies while I knit. I like to surf the net. All these are things I either used to read during (had a book rest on my stairmaster), or didn't do, that are cutting into my reading time. I used to line up at the bookstore to get the latest book. I raced down the driveway to meet the ups guy to get the final HP. I really didn't think of the cost of books at that point. But now, I buy just about everything online, and I do more comparison shopping.

I applaud anyone who is interested in getting people to read more. But that is not what the publishers really are interested in. They just want to artificially prop up the price of books at a time when songs have gone from $4.00 (the cost of a 45) to $1. What is the saying? Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.