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#1 | ||
Zealot
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Did the Big 5 Shoot their own foot with demanding the return of Agency Pricing?
http://www.thepassivevoice.com/2016/...hing-industry/
Quote:
http://authorearnings.com/report/feb...rnings-report/ Quote:
I wonder if the Authors Guild will say anything about this.... |
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#2 |
Ex-Helpdesk Junkie
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It's kind of old news, so I doubt the Authors Guild will have anything to say.
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#3 |
Is that a sandwich?
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It also contradicts what Amazon revealed to the court in the Apple case.
Presently, agency pricing benefits Amazon so they aren't going to fight it. |
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#4 |
No Comment
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#5 |
Guru
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The current arrangement is even worse than that. If declining sales finally causes a BPH to decide themselves to discount one of their ebooks the lower return comes out of the publisher's (and the author's) pocket now. Are they insane or what? Companies with apparently insane and criminal CEOs don't seem like a wise companies to invest in long term.
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#6 |
Wizard
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This is my comment on the subject originally posted on the Passive Voice:
The Publishers made their bed with the original price-fixing conspiracy. When they did come to negotiate with Amazon after the fall-out, I find it very plausible that Amazon would make them lie in the beds of their own creation. This post puts in very clear terms just how good a deal the Big 5 destroyed. To quote from the post; “They collected royalties at an unreasonably high price point while moving the number of units that corresponded to a lower price point.” For Amazon to allow a return to retail would likely reinstate this situation. And let’s face it, the evil to consumers from agency is not because of the agency model itself, but because of the intransigence and agenda of the Big 5. All else being equal, whoever is setting the price would wish to set it so as to maximise revenue. Apparently this point used to be $9.99 for new blockbusters. Now I suspect it is lower. Like it or not, Big 5 titles are not in their own superior category, and do compete with Indie/Self-Published works, which of course exerts downwards pressure on prices. The prices of Big 5 ebooks must come down, and not just to pre-agency levels. The question is who is going to pay for the “discounts”. I simply cannot see Amazon giving the Big 5 an easy way out of this. Having said this, I doubt Amazon insisted on agency at the time in question. I think this is supported by the raising of prices which took place shortly thereafter, thereby demonstrating that the Big 5 had not realised the implications at that point, though apparently, according to Mr Shatzkin, 4 of the 5 do now! |
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#7 |
Grand Sorcerer
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Idiots. To me it really makes absolutely no sense. Amazon was playing like a retailer does, occasionally marking things down to generate traffic and sell that thing (perhaps a loss leader) along with other things that actually make a profit.
This is called a sale, its called generating traffic. The publishers really just said that we don't want more people to buy our books at a lower price, ever. They obviously all failed marketing 101. I don't hope Amazon sticks it to them because I see value in what those publishers do within the market, but I am hardly crying a river for them because they are idiotic. When I see a tried and true brand on sale at the grocery store I don't think less of them, I think I'm getting a deal and it helps continue my brand loyalty. |
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#8 |
PHD in Horribleness
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#9 |
Just a Yellow Smiley.
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Oh and one of the big 5 sometimes puts older books on for $1.99 or free. Note these are ebooks.
And on December 25, 2013 Random House put Dan Brown's Inferno for $1.99. They gave away the Da Vinci Code right before Inferno came out. Also, all of the Fifty Shades books have been on sale. |
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#10 |
Member Retired
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So Amazon is not fighting agency-pricing? I thought they were trying to lower prices (or have the option to do sell more cheaply).
And does this apply to only e-books or p-books too? |
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#11 | ||
Zealot
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Quote:
Hachette wants agency pricing and they got it Hachette’s CEO Michael Pietsch: Quote:
In this case, the Big 5 is forcing Amazon to take 30% cut on each ebook sold. Amazon is using the profits from ebooks to make prints cheaper on Amazon. Market share again. For the Big 5 Publishers, they want to slow down ebooks to protect their print business. The best way to do this is to raise ebook prices. Last edited by Xianxia; 03-02-2016 at 10:52 AM. |
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#12 | |
Just a Yellow Smiley.
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Quote:
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#13 |
Member Retired
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#14 | |
Zealot
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Not sure how I can prove that Amazon use profits of ebooks to lower the prices of hardcovers and paperbacks sold on Amazon.
Fact is that hardcovers and paperbacks on Amazon is now cheaper compare to before. That discount must be coming from somewhere.... Amazon is known for using profits from one segment to help another segment. AWS is a good example. http://authorearnings.com/report/feb...rnings-report/ Quote:
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#15 |
Zealot
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Agency pricing is both good and bad for Amazon.
Good: 30% cut since it's mandatory Bad: Higher ebook prices = not happy Amazon customers = losing market share since some ebook buyers now buy prints instead at brick and mortar stores when before they buy on Amazon. Amazon fought Hachette in 2014-2015 (lot of articles about it). Amazon lost since Hachette got what they wanted which is agency pricing. After that, other publishers follow suit. |
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