Quote:
Originally Posted by pwalker8
I would say that authors agree to the exclusive because they think they will be financially better off. There have been many authors who try it and find out that the reality doesn't match the sales pitch. Amazon is modeled on the somewhat predatory business model of Walmart which involves squeezing suppliers as much as possible. In this situation, the authors are the suppliers.
As I've said elsewhere, exclusives have been around for a long time. I see nothing wrong with Amazon tying pimping a book to it being exclusive to Amazon. As long as they don't run into anti-trust issues, they can do as they like. If they squeeze the authors too much, that will just cause another ebook store to jump in. Competition is a good thing.
|
I agree with much of what you have written above. However, I don't think your Walmart comparison holds up particularly well with KDP (with a 70% royalty rate) or even with KU (where Amazon completely controls the size of the pool and any bonuses). Big 5 businesses practices are far more exploitative and getting worse. So far as anti-trust intervention is concerned I consider it unlikely in present circumstances.