Quote:
Originally Posted by Nate the great
I didn't say he was lying.
Propaganda falls into a category similar to marketing. Neither is the factual truth, but since they are an accepted "truth" you can't call them a lie.
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The description "accepted lie" is as apt or probably more apt than "accepted truth". Marketing can produce both truth and lies. It's the presentation that counts, and that is mostly misleading by omission or emphasis. In appropriate cases we can certainly call out a claim as a lie. In this case I would not do so. It is speculation based on little evidence. Nevertheless it may be true.
Amazon didn't force agency on the Conspirators. But I doubt Amazon wants to go back to it now. The days of Amazon subsidising the Big 5's inflated pricing policies are over. Even if there is a return to a wholesale model, it is not now in Amazon's interest to discount their books from its own pocket. Though of course the beauty of Agency is that it places the blame for high prices squarely where it belongs. And Amazon makes sure that this message isn't lost on Purchasers by stating that the price is set by the Publisher. As the Big 5 finally face the fact that their books are not so superior as to form a separate market and they therefore are competing with Indies they will also have to face the facts that reduced prices must be funded from their own pockets. Of course, under traditional publishing contracts much of the pain is often passed to the authors. But if this continues they will have few authors in the future.