Amazon destroys the book industry again

[Fbone]

Mr. McFarland can just raise his list prices 20% and give everyone 40% off.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

It's easy to set up a pipeline, but not easy to get customers to it. This is one of the reasons I don't understand why large publishers aren't selling direct. They could have they eyeballs--based on a few big name authors, they could attract a lot of customers/shoppers.

True. Prior to agency pricing, I used to buy ebooks directly from the Simon & Schuster website because they had the highest discount (can't remember exactly but it was around 20~40%).

[ProfCrash]

That makes sense. A Publisher selling books in a way that encourages me to buy from them. Novel concept.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

That makes sense. A Publisher selling books in a way that encourages me to buy from them. Novel concept.

I realize they couldn't do it in the old days because they'd be in direct competition with physical stores that they needed. People bought books they could see. These days, they could ship physical books OR ebooks and they don't need physical stores as much. Sure, they'd have to do something to keep the physical stores in the game and happy (Because they do still need them) but why aren't they pushing the idea more?

And as a writer, I'm glad they AREN'T. Because if they ever do, I'm in trouble. People will go to the top 3 that houses their favorite authors and only rarely browse elsewhere. For a while it would work that my books are on Amazon and B&N and so on, but talk about harder to get eyeballs!

It would be replicating what Amazon is doing--they are publishers taking it directly to the streets. They just did it the other way around--got the eyeballs first, lots of books and now they're going direct with publishing.

[ProfCrash]

I don't know. There would be some people who would go to the Publishers site to buy and there would be others, like me, that would prefer to shop at one place. If the Publishers are able to offer discounts, I would imagine that Agency Pricing would be gone and Amazon could offer the same discounts. Or that the price offered by the Publisher on their website could be matched by Amazon and other companies.

Maybe the Publishers could offer their books without DRM and still require Amazon to sell with DRM. So people who are anti-DRM have a reason to shop elsewhere and people who don't care (like me) can shop at Amazon.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

I don't know. There would be some people who would go to the Publishers site to buy and there would be others, like me, that would prefer to shop at one place. If the Publishers are able to offer discounts, I would imagine that Agency Pricing would be gone and Amazon could offer the same discounts. Or that the price offered by the Publisher on their website could be matched by Amazon and other companies.

Maybe the Publishers could offer their books without DRM and still require Amazon to sell with DRM. So people who are anti-DRM have a reason to shop elsewhere and people who don't care (like me) can shop at Amazon.

Agency pricing in no way precludes publishers from offering discounts on their own sites, if that's what they wish to do.

[ProfCrash]

hmmm Interesting loop hole. I would think that Amazon or BN would be able to argue that the price that the Publishers are selling the book for would be a fair price for them to sell the book for.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Agency pricing in no way precludes publishers from offering discounts on their own sites, if that's what they wish to do.

Interesting idea.
Might lead to a couple even *more* interesting lawsuits for Antitrust and restraint of trade, maybe predatory pricing.

Hmm, I like it.
I wish they *would* try it just so we can see what happens.

[Ninjalawyer]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Agency pricing in no way precludes publishers from offering discounts on their own sites, if that's what they wish to do.

I would be shocked if each of the agreements Amazon has with the publishers didn't contain a clause restricting the publisher from undercutting Amazon directly.

[HarryT]

But agency pricing doesn't mean that all sellers have to sell the product at the same price - it simply means that the publisher determines the price that the seller will charge.

And, in fact, different prices are charged by different sellers for agency books. It's not at all uncommon for a book to sell for different prices on "amazon.com" and "amazon.co.uk" for example. The same publisher is setting different US and UK prices. That is entirely within the scope of the agency agreement.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Ninjalawyer

I would be shocked if each of the agreements Amazon has with the publishers didn't contain a clause restricting the publisher from undercutting Amazon directly.

You may very well be right, but the basic principle of agency pricing doesn't preclude the concept.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by HarryT

But agency pricing doesn't mean that all sellers have to sell the product at the same price...

As implemented for ebooks that is *exactly* how they're doing it; forbidding discounting so all retailers have to sell at the same price. Remember, the whole this is *supposed* to "protect" us from eeee-vile Amazon by preventing ebook discounting.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

As implemented for ebooks that is *exactly* how they're doing it; forbidding discounting so all retailers have to sell at the same price.

It forbids discounting by the retailer; it does not mean that everyone has to sell it at the same price; the publisher is entirely free to set different prices at different retailers. See my previous post about the same publisher setting different US and UK prices for the same book for an example of this.

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by Ninjalawyer

I would be shocked if each of the agreements Amazon has with the publishers didn't contain a clause restricting the publisher from undercutting Amazon directly.

Indeed, Amazon has a most favored nation clause with publishers.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It forbids discounting by the retailer; it does not mean that everyone has to sell it at the same price; the publisher is entirely free to set different prices at different retailers. See my previous post about the same publisher setting different US and UK prices for the same book for an example of this.

Those are different contracts for different books from different publishers.
(Remember, the US and UK subsidiaries act independently, as if they were different companies.)
The rights and the markets are different.
Try looking for different prices in the same market.
Its *their* rules.

Now, whether the publishers themselves can discount in direct sales of agency titles is an interesting intellectual exercise and I'd love to see it tested in court.