Penguin Upsets Kindle Owners

[Logseman]

My honest estimate is that the result would be fewer and less diverse titles overall, published less well than they are now.

Less titles, even less well? Our Hall of Shame is big enough as it is.

We've had it already in Spain, stores selling ebooks which were just taken from the darknet and shot to a store for profit with not the slightest improvement on the f*****g file. Publishers are under strong suspicion to do the same.

[Logseman]

Originally Posted by tompe

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatekeeping_(communication)

Why do we want books filtered from the base? We'd want them filtered from the readers' wishes, aye?

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Logseman

Less titles, even less well? Our Hall of Shame is big enough as it is.

Not that the quote referred to current paper book publishing.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

The publishers don't give a fig for the readers. The publishers care about one group of people, and one only: the people who speculate on the prices of their stock (in fact, they're legally required to care only about those people). What's good for publishers' short-term stock prices is often very, very bad for the readers -- but that doesn't matter. They're not there for us. They're not there for authors. They're not even there for their own employees. They're there for stock speculators, and only for them.

....

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ THIS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

and it applies across the board from corporate farms to Oil Companies. The Corporation and the laws that support it are destroying all we hold dear and we are following along like a toad in a pan of water brought to a slow boil.

Jump! Jump!

[J. Strnad]

You and Worldwalker are so right!

[Bittybye]

I am totally against piracy but with ridicules moves like this there's little wonder why so many people turn to them to get the books they want. A student on a fixed income? Why pay such a high price when they can get it free?
I'm willing to pay for my books but not more than the cost of a paperback.

Unfortunately this only harms the authors.

[jes1]

One of my problems with the whole agency model is they no longer allow the coupons and member discounts. I can get a Barnes and Noble card and get a discount on every paper book they sell, plus they occasionally send out coupons for further discounts. But because I prefer ebooks, I can't have that same option. That makes no sense to me. If they are going to set the prices for ebooks, they need to do the same with paper books. They won't, because they know that would be a big mistake and generate a lot of anger in the reading public and would end up costing them.

[JSWolf]

I hope this comes to pass.

As one Kindle Nation citizen sized things up in a blog comment this week,

Or, possibly, sooner. Publisher's Marketplace is reporting today that Apple and some or all of the Agency Model publishers are the subjects of an anti-trust investigation by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. Stay tuned.

[lilac_jive]

It always cracks me up to see how threatened publishing companies are over the loss of hardcover sales. How is Harlequin so popular (and very profitable) when they barely offer any hardcovers and their prices are set to sell? And I love them even more, they still offer good deals on ebooks.

What is irritating me is that I'm seeing ebooks priced higher than the paper, and these are mostly mass market paperbacks. Geesh, all I need is a 5% discount on those for me to be happy, and that's mostly symbolic.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by lilac_jive

It always cracks me up to see how threatened publishing companies are over the loss of hardcover sales. How is Harlequin so popular (and very profitable) when they barely offer any hardcovers and their prices are set to sell? And I love them even more, they still offer good deals on ebooks.

They are selling nearly the same product all the time and people are subscribing to it. so it is easy to explain that certaing publishing works when puhlishing direct to paper back. A lot of science fiction is also published direct to paperback. But I do not think that any direct to paperback book sell as well a a hardcover best seller.

And one important reason to have a hardback is that paperback books are not appearing on the important best seller lists since they are not allowed to be there.

[FizzyWater]

One of the publishers is posting over on TeleRead that they've had better-than-ever earnings since the Agency price-fixing model was rolled out. I really hope that's a fluke from all the new iPad buyers all at once buying a book or two!

[tompe]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

One of the publishers is posting over on TeleRead that they've had better-than-ever earnings since the Agency price-fixing model was rolled out. I really hope that's a fluke from all the new iPad buyers all at once buying a book or two!

Why do you hope that? A growing market would be a much better alternative since it will be good for ebook availability.

[FizzyWater]

Uh, because I don't want to pay $14 for a "paperback" ebook? That's why. Nor do I want to pay $7.99.

I want to find a place that discounts those books, just look I might with the paper versions.

[JSWolf]

It's not just Kindle users who are getting shafted. The prices at other online retailers are ridiculous too. So it seems that Apple is the only one getting the discounts.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by jes1

I can get a Barnes and Noble card and get a discount on every paper book they sell, plus they occasionally send out coupons for further discounts. But because I prefer ebooks, I can't have that same option.

B&N didn't have member pricing or coupons for ebooks before agency pricing either (they did have some discounting from list price though).