Quote:
Originally Posted by Ninjalawyer
I actually don't recall Rhadin's post about specific legal issues, and thought I responded, so I'll go back and review. I do note though that Judge Cote cited the Leegin case in her decision.
"Conspiracy" might be a bit harsh, but you said in several posts that there was obvious crony-capitalism going on, but couldn't produce anything to substantiate that. As for your links from Fortune above, thank you. I haven't read those yet and will, but I appreciate that they appear to be more substantive than opinion pieces from the WSJ.
|
I admit it: I stopped reading this thread in detail 5 pages ago, so I'm assuming that somebody, somewhere in time, has already said this, but:
isn't the simple answer that Hachette, et al, set up their OWN Amazon?
If the persuasive argument is that quality literature is worth more--and we beg the question by assuming arguendo that BPH=quality, but that's a
somewhat separate issue--then why not just make your own Amazon? (Add books and stir...) Then everyone really COULD vote with their wallets. RH, Brown, etc., and the entire kit and kaboodle could pool their monies and sell from their own BPHLLC.com website.
Of course, here's the reality: they've looked into this and have already realized that the overhead is MASSIVE. The Tech support is a giant pain in the ass. They'll lose the mobi market, in toto, because they won't have a DRM method, and it's unlikely that Amazon would sell it to them. However, all that being granted, if they feel that Amazon is the beneficiary of their artistic heights in literature, then the obvious ploy is to
withhold the books, period. Do what Harlequin did, and sell them from their very own websites. Eat the bullet now.
Their choice is that of EVERY publisher, big, little and wee: is it more headache to sell your book from your own website than it is to pay Amazon? (We have over 2,000 clients, many of whom tried, and chucked it in
less than 6 months--actually,
ALL chucked it within 6 months, due to the tech support needs and drain on their resources.) Because THAT is the real value that Amazon provides. Not just foot-traffic, although, let's face it; that's mighty, as well. What Amazon brings to the table are the readers (both digital and bodies), the tech support for every confounded person who can't load a book to a device, and DRM. That's the bottom line.
From personal experience, I can tell you, the 500th time you've had to tell someone how to DOWNLOAD a file, your head starts to explode. How many people will RH have to employ to answer those instant-response phones? To help readers sideload files?
So, if you're RH...what's that worth, PER BOOK?
Screw the political and conspiracy theory and all those arguments; here's the core of it. If they have complaints, do NOT SELL THERE. Do it themselves. isn't that the obvious solution? Then, as they have not already done this, we can only surmise that in their (undoubtedly many) investigations, they've realized that it's less overhead per book to go with Amazon than it is to do it themselves--no????
(Apologies if it's rambling or unclear: eating painkillers for issue under dentistry bridge in mouth. Could be making NO sense, for all I know...probably should wait to post, but...)
Hitch