Quote:
Originally Posted by DiapDealer
They may have slapped a $26 list price on their new-releases, but there was damn-few people ever paying that price. MSRP to the discounted retail price is never a valid comparison. Every single book-seller in the world (e- and physical) were guilty of "devalueing" the publishers' hard-cover releases
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Not down to $9.99
Even when Walmart and Costco would use the release of a Harry Potter book as a lost leader to get folks into the stores, they didn't set the price at $9.99
Nobody is expected to continue to do business in a way that's harmful to their business. The publishers had a rogue but very powerful retailer who was using predatory pricing to buy marketshare at the expense of the Publisher's very own business.
Your ability as a consumer to shop on price remains unchanged. If the publishers charge more for an ebook than you are willing to pay, you simply don't buy the book.
This whole notion of "raise prices" is a misnomer. It accepts the $9.99 "sell at a loss price" that Amazon was practicing as the basis of comparison. Even at $14.99, the price of a new ebook is cheaper than the "listed at $28 and sold on sale for $22" price of the hardback.
The price competition still exists. Do I buy xyz book from publisher A for $14.99 or do I buy abc book from indie author B for $1.99? Or read any of the millions of free ebooks...etc. etc.
The publishers simple didn't have the power -- before Apple -- to deal with Amazon. The publishers STILL have to deal with the consumer.