Simon & Schuster has reached deal with Amazon.

[apesmom]

From Publisher's Weekly. It kinda sounds like the current situation, agency with discounting to a point.

The multi-year agreement moves the e-book discount policy back towards the original agency plan, and will let S&S set the e-book prices while giving Amazon room for some discounting. The deal is believed to keep the amount of money authors earn from the sale of e-books at current levels.

I'm sure this isn't going to help Hachette's position.

[JSWolf]

Does this mean higher prices for S&S eBooks?

[DiapDealer]

I'm finding this waaaay more hilarious than I probably should.

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Does this mean higher prices for S&S eBooks?

Not necessarily. Knowing Amazon and what we know about their negotiations with Hatchette, I'd guess not much.

[FizzyWater]

Although neither side would publicly confirm the deal, on Monday afternoon a source with knowledge of the agreement said that S&S has signed a new contract, impacting the of both its digital and physical books, that will go into affect January 1, 2015.

For the first time, Agency Pricing is going to be applied to their printed books. However, what it doesn't say is if S&S will set different prices for print vs. digital.

I was never a fan of Agency, but one of the things I hated was that I could buy the same book for usually 20-25% less, as long as I was willing to buy a physical copy.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

I was never a fan of Agency, but one of the things I hated was that I could buy the same book for usually 20-25% less, as long as I was willing to buy a physical copy.

See, I never really experienced that under Agency the first time around. The prices were a bit higher, sure, but ebooks (the ones I looked at) were still consistently less (if even only by a little bit) than their physical counterparts.

Besides: it says the new contract impacts both print and digital books. It's quite early yet, but I see nothing that implies that agency will apply to print.

[fjtorres]

A bit of revisionist history by PW (not exactly new, I know) in that they claim that Agency with discounting is a return to conspiracy terms. And that S&S is going to control prices.
Bull-o-ney, of course.

Agency with discounting lets the retailer set their prices as they see fit. The publisher price becomes a list price, agency or no agency.

Note, BTW, that the new contract was negotiated three months *before* the old one expires.
Not six-months and counting after it expired...

[DiapDealer]

I think I just heard the wind leaving Hachette's sails.

Apparently forging an equitable deal with Amazon isn't quite as challenging/impossible as Hachette wants people to believe.

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

See, I never really experienced that under Agency the first time around. The prices were a bit higher, sure, but ebooks (the ones I looked at) were still consistently less (if even only by a little bit) than their physical counterparts.

Besides: it says the new contract impacts both print and digital books. It's quite early yet, but I see nothing that implies that agency will apply to print.

I don't generally buy series that are in hardback release, so for me it was mostly pricing based on MMPB. In those cases - especially initially - the paperback always had at least the potential for being priced lower (at Target or Walmart). And Amazon had the buy 4 for 3 MMPB deals going.

I don't buy a lot of independents anymore either, which I know are generally priced lower.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

I don't generally buy series that are in hardback release, so for me it was mostly pricing based on MMPB. In those cases - especially initially - the paperback always had at least the potential for being priced lower (at Target or Walmart). And Amazon had the buy 4 for 3 MMPB deals going.

OK, I gotcha now. I was thinking strictly of Amazon ebook price vs Amazon pbook price (new) for the same book.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I think I just heard the wind leaving Hachette's sails.

Nah, there's plenty of bluster left in the Hachette man camp.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

A bit of revisionist history by PW (not exactly new, I know) in that they claim that Agency with discounting is a return to conspiracy terms. And that S&S is going to control prices.
Bull-o-ney, of course.

Agency with discounting lets the retailer set their prices as they see fit. The publisher price becomes a list price, agency or no agency.

Note, BTW, that the new contract was negotiated three months *before* the old one expires.
Not six-months and counting after it expired...

I'm thinking that PW isn't the one engaging in revisionist history.

[Barcey]

Interesting...

Although neither side would publicly confirm the deal, on Monday afternoon a source with knowledge of the agreement said that S&S has signed a new contract, impacting the of both its digital and physical books, that will go into affect January 1, 2015.

The source with knowledge of the deal was probably an executive at one of the other publishers.

[mitford13]

Posted in the Amazon Kindle Forum about 5 minutes ago:

Initial post: Oct 20, 2014 4:48:56 PM PDT
The Amazon Books team says:
(AMAZON OFFICIAL)
We are pleased to announce that Simon & Schuster and Amazon have reached a multi-year agreement for the sale in the US of both print and digital books.

We are very happy with this agreement, as it allows us to grow our business with Simon & Schuster and help their authors reach an ever-wider audience. Importantly, the agreement specifically creates a financial incentive for Simon & Schuster to deliver lower prices for readers.

Thank you,
The Amazon Books Team

http://smile.amazon.com/forum/kindle...x3H5HX25QOKO9C

[binaryhermit]

Good news for consumers?

EDIT: from http://mashable.com/2014/10/20/amazo...m-Tw-main-link

"We are very happy with this agreement as it is economically advantageous for both Simon & Schuster and its authors and maintains the author’s share of income generated from eBook sales," Reid wrote. "It addresses our mutual concerns about preserving the value of our intellectual property in the marketplace, as it is a return to a version of agency pricing that, with some limited exceptions, gives control of eBook pricing to Simon & Schuster, while providing us the flexibility to deliver great prices for readers."

That sounds potentially bad for consumers.