Quote:
Originally Posted by Sydney's Mom
One of my collegues (who is everything Apple) said this is a sad day for the quality of books. I understand that this decision may end author advances, but authors should still be able to make money. And given that Fifty Shades has been at the top of the NYT bestseller list for a long time, I think we can say that agency pricing is not a barometer of quality in the written word.
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First (and backwards), 50 Shades isn't quality by any definition of the word, but it
has been eerily popular. (I still think the author must have sold her soul to the devil for that to have become as popular as it is!
)
Second, I have to admit, I have a hard time understanding why the ability to discount eBooks has become the the tipping point in the house of cards that is the publishing industry. If they were truly interested in protecting advances and print publishing, why not put this in place across the board?! Why is it only ebooks and not paper?
I've said it before, but if the pricing had been equitable, I still would have grumbled, but I wouldn't have stopped buying agency ebooks, if they had been priced the same - no discounts allowed - as print. While I think they are "worth" less than print because of the restriction in digital, I know that's not true for everyone. It just ticked me off that a book I could buy at 25% off at Target or Wal-Mart or even 10% off at B&N if I had their loyalty card couldn't be purchased for the same price in digital format.