Random House adopts agency pricing March 1st - Page 2

Blue Tyson · 02-28-2011, 08:57 PM

Guess they've guaranteed the total number of Random House books downloaded for free in March will increase.

Freeshadow · 02-28-2011, 09:04 PM

you are all a far too spoiled bunch :P
in Germany the price-lock is applied to all books in general

JeremyR · 02-28-2011, 09:30 PM

This is probably a reaction to the iPhone app thing. They probably feel since they might be losing all other stores except iBooks, they need to get on it...

Logseman · 02-28-2011, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freeshadow

you are all a far too spoiled bunch :P
in Germany the price-lock is applied to all books in general

And mandated by law no less. We Spaniards have the same lovelies on top

elemenoP · 02-28-2011, 09:42 PM

between this news and HarperCollins' library book restrictions, it has been a very depressing week in the ebook world!

eP

snipenekkid · 02-28-2011, 09:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by abookreader

I'm about as frustrated as I can possibly get with these companies.

You seem like a nice person so I won't play Shoot the Messenger today.

oh, just DO IT...it's Fbone after all...go ahead and just F'bone Fbone...

snipenekkid · 02-28-2011, 09:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

"We are looking forward to continuing to work with all our retail partners..."

That's easy to translate: "Customers: turn around, bend over, and think of England."

don't forget to grab your ankles and push out not clench up.

elemenoP · 02-28-2011, 10:02 PM

The more I think about it, the more depressing this news is. Are ALL of the major publishers on the agency model now? Then I think ebook prices will go up across the board. Did $12.99 look expensive for an ebook? How about $26.00? I think it could happen.

eP

leebase · 02-28-2011, 10:23 PM

It's lovely to see conventional wisdom turned on it's head.

Lee

GreenMonkey · 02-28-2011, 10:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elemenoP

The more I think about it, the more depressing this news is. Are ALL of the major publishers on the agency model now? Then I think ebook prices will go up across the board. Did $12.99 look expensive for an ebook? How about $26.00? I think it could happen.

eP

They're making the same mistakes that the music companies made. It'll go the same way as music did for years, but even worse, considering how small e-books are.

I don't buy DRM'd ebooks unless I absolutely must have something in a rush (for class) or they are dirt, dirt cheap (like $.99). DRM destroys the value of anything for me. Even though it's not that hard for me to remove, being a techie of sorts, I'm not willing to support companies that engage in it. This agency price fixing is awful, too.

Vote with your dollars and give them to publishers and storefronts that deserve it.

tomsem · 02-28-2011, 10:27 PM

Maybe they think there's so much momentum behind ebook adoption that they can't hurt themselves by taking control of pricing and undercutting discounters like Amazon and Kobo. That price control is more important than short term profits (at Amazon's expense, when they subsidize $9.99 pricing). They could be right.

I will not argue that US laws are better or worse than Germany's or Spain's, but we in the US quite expect to shop around for the best price, it forms the basis of our mad consumerism, and so this looks like price-fixing to us (particularly when unlike physical goods, there is no resale market). I guess we'll see if someone will challenge this in the courts here.

TallMomof2 · 02-28-2011, 10:37 PM

Well, think of all the money we will save. I haven't purchased hardly any ebooks since the publishers started price fixing and Random House was one of the few exceptions.

snipenekkid · 02-28-2011, 10:42 PM

note to self -- STOP READING MR because the news completely sucks!!

FizzyWater · 02-28-2011, 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freeshadow

you are all a far too spoiled bunch :P
in Germany the price-lock is applied to all books in general

Honestly, I wouldn't mind the Agency price fixing as much if it was across the boards for all books. Not to say I wouldn't have grumbled a bit, knowing I'd be paying a couple bucks more for books than I did before.

But it's the unfairness of applying this to only ebooks that really ticks me off.

Dopedangel · 02-28-2011, 11:19 PM

Well one more nail in the coffin of the publishing industry. At the moment the physical books are still a big part a book sales in 2-3 years they will be such a small percent of sales that major authors would be willing to sell their ebooks directly and cut out the middle man the publisher.

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02-28-2011, 08:57 PM	#16
Blue Tyson Blue Captain Posts: 1,595 Karma: 5000236 Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Australia Device: Kindle Keyboard 3G,Huawei Ideos X3,Kobo Mini	Guess they've guaranteed the total number of Random House books downloaded for free in March will increase.

02-28-2011, 09:04 PM	#17
Freeshadow temp. out of service Posts: 2,818 Karma: 24285242 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Duisburg (DE) Device: PB 623	you are all a far too spoiled bunch :P in Germany the price-lock is applied to all books in general

02-28-2011, 09:30 PM	#18
JeremyR Guru Posts: 973 Karma: 2458402 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: St. Louis Device: Kindle Keyboard, Nook HD+	This is probably a reaction to the iPhone app thing. They probably feel since they might be losing all other stores except iBooks, they need to get on it...

02-28-2011, 09:42 PM	#20
elemenoP Wizard Posts: 1,717 Karma: 3790058 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: NYC Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Sony 650	between this news and HarperCollins' library book restrictions, it has been a very depressing week in the ebook world! eP

02-28-2011, 10:02 PM	#23
elemenoP Wizard Posts: 1,717 Karma: 3790058 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: NYC Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Sony 650	The more I think about it, the more depressing this news is. Are ALL of the major publishers on the agency model now? Then I think ebook prices will go up across the board. Did $12.99 look expensive for an ebook? How about $26.00? I think it could happen. eP

02-28-2011, 10:23 PM	#24
leebase Karma Kameleon Posts: 2,976 Karma: 26738313 Join Date: Aug 2009 Device: iPad Mini, iPhone X, Kindle Fire Tab HD 8, Walmart Onn	It's lovely to see conventional wisdom turned on it's head. Lee

02-28-2011, 10:27 PM	#26
tomsem Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,011 Karma: 27060353 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: USA Device: iPhone 15PM, Kindle Scribe, iPad mini 6, PocketBook InkPad Color 3	Maybe they think there's so much momentum behind ebook adoption that they can't hurt themselves by taking control of pricing and undercutting discounters like Amazon and Kobo. That price control is more important than short term profits (at Amazon's expense, when they subsidize $9.99 pricing). They could be right. I will not argue that US laws are better or worse than Germany's or Spain's, but we in the US quite expect to shop around for the best price, it forms the basis of our mad consumerism, and so this looks like price-fixing to us (particularly when unlike physical goods, there is no resale market). I guess we'll see if someone will challenge this in the courts here.

02-28-2011, 10:37 PM	#27
TallMomof2 Kindlephilia Posts: 2,017 Karma: 1139255 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Snowpacolypse 2010 Device: Too many to count	Well, think of all the money we will save. I haven't purchased hardly any ebooks since the publishers started price fixing and Random House was one of the few exceptions.

02-28-2011, 10:42 PM	#28
snipenekkid Banned Posts: 760 Karma: 51034 Join Date: Feb 2009	note to self -- STOP READING MR because the news completely sucks!!

02-28-2011, 11:19 PM	#30
Dopedangel Wizard Posts: 1,798 Karma: 30548723 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Singapore Device: Boyue	Well one more nail in the coffin of the publishing industry. At the moment the physical books are still a big part a book sales in 2-3 years they will be such a small percent of sales that major authors would be willing to sell their ebooks directly and cut out the middle man the publisher.