Quote:
Originally Posted by DuckieTigger
Authors don't matter? Why is Amazon suggesting more money to authors at $9.99 per copy? Up to Hachette of course which they would not do. Does not make sense that they don't take a cut on their profit since ebooks don't carry any risks like unsold pbooks have.
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First, Hachette doesn't publish a book in just ebook format; it publishes a book in both print and ebook and the economics of a title is not limited to or segregated by a specific format. The profit that Hachette earns has to cover costs incurred by all of a title's formats and also company overhead and shareholder interests. You cannot separate a title's risks into convenient categories by format.
Second, in anticipation of the argument that Hachette should just stop publishing print books, it needs to be remembered that in the overall publishing market, roughly 60% of all sales of titles by traditional publishers are print sales, not ebook sales. Although many -- but not all -- MobileReaders prefer and only buy ebooks, that is not a true picture of the book market. MobileReaders who are participating in these discussions are not representative of the book-buying population overall.
Third, while Amazon wants to encourage ebook sales, not everyone else does. Regardless of whether one agrees with such a decision, it is as legitimate a business decision to not encourage ebook sales as it is to encourage ebook sales, especially in the current market where the majority of sales are still print.
Finally, the bottom line is that authors do not have to sign on with Hachette or any other publisher. And when they do sign on, they are aware of the terms. That they continue to sign on or want to sign on with a BPH is an indication, at least to me, that there is still perceived value in being published by a BPH and that authors view that value as part of the compensation they receive.
So far, Amazon has only brought to the table suggestions that cost Hachette money. I'm waiting for Amazon to bring some sacrifice of its own to the table.