Thread: A simple question about the new 'agency' model...
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Old 02-06-2010, 06:44 PM   #4
Pardoz
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Quote:
Originally Posted by delphidb96 View Post
Okay, I *get* that MacM, H-C and Mini-T have all pushed and gotten an 'Agency model' deal from Amazon. Now if I understand correctly, this new model puts Amazon's amount of each sale at 30% - at least for bestsellers. Is this also true for the midlist ebook titles?
Yup. The agency model means:

- the publisher decides the price they want to (try to) sell e-books at.
- the publisher tells Amazon '(Try to) sell this e-book for $X'
- in the unlikely event Amazon sells a copy of the e-book, Amazon keep 30% and kick 70% back to the publisher.

This applies to every title - new, old, bestseller, midlist, everything. Basically Amazon is no longer a retailer, they're a sales agent working for a commission, thus 'agency model'.

When the price of e-book versions of some midlist titles shoots up to $14 for a book that's been out for fifteen years as a $7 mass market paperback, remember the first point above and don't bother writing a letter of complaint to Amazon, since they're not the ones deciding that's the 'correct' price.
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