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This is my comment on the subject originally posted on the Passive Voice:
The Publishers made their bed with the original price-fixing conspiracy. When they did come to negotiate with Amazon after the fall-out, I find it very plausible that Amazon would make them lie in the beds of their own creation. This post puts in very clear terms just how good a deal the Big 5 destroyed. To quote from the post;
“They collected royalties at an unreasonably high price point while moving the number of units that corresponded to a lower price point.”
For Amazon to allow a return to retail would likely reinstate this situation. And let’s face it, the evil to consumers from agency is not because of the agency model itself, but because of the intransigence and agenda of the Big 5. All else being equal, whoever is setting the price would wish to set it so as to maximise revenue. Apparently this point used to be $9.99 for new blockbusters. Now I suspect it is lower. Like it or not, Big 5 titles are not in their own superior category, and do compete with Indie/Self-Published works, which of course exerts downwards pressure on prices. The prices of Big 5 ebooks must come down, and not just to pre-agency levels. The question is who is going to pay for the “discounts”. I simply cannot see Amazon giving the Big 5 an easy way out of this.
Having said this, I doubt Amazon insisted on agency at the time in question. I think this is supported by the raising of prices which took place shortly thereafter, thereby demonstrating that the Big 5 had not realised the implications at that point, though apparently, according to Mr Shatzkin, 4 of the 5 do now!
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