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Originally Posted by gastan
The truth finally gets mentioned. In all the reading I've done concerning book prices (pBook or eBook) the same mantra seems to be repeated over and over by everyone - publishers, authors, commenters - the publishers need more money to support their authors.
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I've never seen that. *cough* straw man *cough*
The common issues are that new ebooks at the $10 price point are cannibalizing hardcover sales, and erode the value of (new) books.
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Originally Posted by gastan
The publishers don't give a damn about their authors and don't care if they make money or not.
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With all due respect, "bull."
Publishers throw tremendous resources at their authors. If the author is actually able to sell books, they recognize that they need to treat the author well or else they'll jump to another publisher who offers bigger advances and better perks.
Not every author gets treated like royalty, of course. Then again, not many actually sell enough books that the publishers actually break even.
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Originally Posted by gastan
They care if THEY make money, and the more they can get, the better they like it. GREED = the real reason behind the agency pricing model. Period.
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Oh, please. If you're greedy, publishing is one of the worst businesses to be in.
Authors are not saints and publishers are not demons. It's a business, and lots of authors would not be able to sell any books if it wasn't for the resources invested in them by the "greedy" publishers.
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Originally Posted by gastan
It amounts to price fixing and borders on violating anti-trust laws in the US and the European Union competition law (IMO).
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Uh huh. You're basing this interpretation on an extensive background in the relevant case law, I presume.
This has all been very open and well-publicized. If it turns out to be anything resembling "price fixing," I'd expect the FTC, AG's office and/or especially the EU to make some noises about it.
*crickets*