|
I've been reading posts here on MR for awhile and occasionally writing my own. What I recall reading here, expressed in many different ways, is that publishers just don't like ebooks, they are afraid ebook sales will cut too far into pbook sales and are generally reluctant to jump on that bandwagon.
It appears to me that, instead of taking that leap, they are working together to try to make ebooks unpalatable and drive us all back to pbooks. One presumes they are simply blind to how many of us might buy books in all available formats (sometimes the same books...) that give the publishers their profits multiple times. Also how many folks usually or always buy used pbooks and give the publishers nothing at all. Also how many folks don't buy books if they can help it, supporting their local library instead - again, no profit there. Getting silly about pricing is probably not going to make us trot obediently down to the bookstore to buy a pbook - it is going to make us (well, I can't speak for everyone, can I? It is going to make me) look for more sites like Baen that sell good books at a good price and don't put DRM on them. And the ebook sellers are going to get hurt.
No, I can't say I'm particularly happy with this stupidity, and I do question if it is even legal. I have sent an email to the DOJ asking them to look into it. That was probably a waste of time, but at least it didn't waste a stamp!
Let's all go out to Baen and buy a book. I like Robert's new site - but I don't like that the book that I should have bought yesterday for $7.99 is now $13 (yep, one of those 5 publishers). I don't think the publishers are going to get the idea unless we hit their wallets. Unless the DOJ actually does decide it is price fixing and smacks them down.
Pigs fly, right?
|