Media Bias vs Amazon

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

They bury it behind a paywall/login where it can't be easily seen by the masses?

Or stick it with a click-bait misleading headline:

http://the-digital-reader.com/2014/0.../#.U7SqfI7D_MI

[TimW]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Or stick it with a click-bait misleading headline:

http://the-digital-reader.com/2014/0.../#.U7SqfI7D_MI

I think Nate overlooked this bit:

There is some risk for Amazon if its customers get frustrated that they can't find certain titles and look elsewhere. But Mr. Grandinetti said the company has been down this road before. He noted that in early 2010 Amazon briefly stopped selling books published by Macmillan. At the time, the publisher told Amazon it intended to move to the "agency" pricing model in which publishers set the retail price of their digital books, from the wholesale model, in which retailers set the retail price. Amazon opposed the switch, because it prevented it from discounting titles.

"We were fighting for what we thought was right for consumers, and the same is true here," said Mr. Grandinetti.

IMHO, that direct comparison is a reasonably subtle way for Grandinetti to say "The holdup is about agency...we don't want it because we want to keep customers' prices as low as possible."

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Or stick it with a click-bait misleading headline:

Here is the Wall Street Journal headline:

Amazon Defends Its Stance Against Hachette

Here is the headline from The Australian:

Amazon defends e-book stance

And here is the heart of said article:

Amazon has been criticised for its negotiating tactics, including attacks from some Hachette authors whose careers have benefited from Amazon sales. But in an interview, Russ Grandinetti, Amazon’s senior vice president of Kindle content, indicated the retailer was willing to suffer some damage to its reputation and was simply doing what is “in the long-term interest of our customers”. . . .

"We were fighting for what we thought was right for consumers, and the same is true here," said Mr. Grandinetti.

How the heck is that not a defense of Amazon's stance against Hachette?

As for the substance, what would be the most likely explanation for why Kindle Paperwhite prices at the US office supply chains are virtually identical with those on Amazon.com, without the occasional deep discount seen on most other products? And when Staples or OfficeMax do discount Kindles, the discount is more often that you get a gift card than an actual deep price reduction. On its face, it looks awfully like the minimum advertised AKA agency pricing preferred by those dreaded big publishers, as well as Apple. But, hey, this is the great Amazon, who puts the customer above all others, so my suspicions must be a mere fantasy.

[Barcey]

Originally Posted by TimW

I think Nate overlooked this bit:



IMHO, that direct comparison is a reasonably subtle way for Grandinetti to say "The holdup is about agency...we don't want it because we want to keep customers' prices as low as possible."

Yes that's the second time I've seen Amazon make the not so subtle hint that this is about agency. For some reason Hachette hasn't leaked that.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

As for the substance, what would be the most likely explanation for why Kindle Paperwhite prices at the US office supply chains are virtually identical with those on Amazon.com, without the occasional deep discount seen on most other products? And when Staples or OfficeMax do discount Kindles, the discount is more often that you get a gift card than an actual deep price reduction. On its face, it looks awfully like the minimum advertised AKA agency pricing preferred by those dreaded big publishers, as well as Apple. But, hey, this is the great Amazon, who puts the customer above all others, so my suspicions must be a mere fantasy.

It could be a minimum advertised price situation hard to say for sure, but it's also likely the case that the margins are very slim on the devices (Amazon's admitted to selling them at or near cost so can't be offering them to retailers too cheap) and so there's little room for them to be discounted. It's not like the store can discount it and hope to make up for the loss by selling you books for it. At most you may buy a cover or charger which has a much higher markup than the device itself. You often get a gift card because it has the potential to get you in their store one more time and a $20 (or whatever) gift card isn't really costing the store $20 out of pocket. It's not agency in the sense that there are no discounts from the set price ever. Staples has had $50 off tablets many times and it, at least some of the time, it applies to Kindle Fire's.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Barcey

Yes that's the second time I've seen Amazon make the not so subtle hint that this is about agency. For some reason Hachette hasn't leaked that.

The Hachette CEO all but confirmed it didn't he?

From the OP...

believe that the rest of the Big 5 know Hachette’s negotiating strategy because the Big 5 sent a joint letter to Judge Cote saying that they all (independently) intended to attempt to sign no-discount agency agreements with all of their ebook retail outlets. The CEO of Hachette recently confirmed that this was Hachette’s position in the Amazon negotiation.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

The Hachette CEO all but confirmed it didn't he?

No "all but" about it.
He openly admitted it in europe.

And so have S&S and Macmillan.
http://the-digital-reader.com/2014/0.../#.U7TDy47D_MI

They're still coordinating to fix prices.

But, again, that doesn't get coverage.
Nor do predatory contracts, Author Solutions ripoffs, or other inconvenient "coincidences".

[TimW]

Originally Posted by Barcey

Yes that's the second time I've seen Amazon make the not so subtle hint that this is about agency. For some reason Hachette hasn't leaked that.

Felix is correct; Hachette chief executive Arnaud Nourry stated "this period of discounting ends at the end of 2014."

http://www.futurebook.net/content/am...dramatic-shift