Death of the agency model?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by MrsJoseph

I don't think iBooks will ever go completely away. They have iTunes U...which I love and which has been integrated with iBooks in a very cool way. I can see iBooks becoming more specialized and focused on students and customers who have been already used iBooks for school related assignments.

It also works well as a delivery platform for "enhanced eBooks", with video, audio, etc.

[Skydog]

Originally Posted by John F

You can also use iTunes on a PC (to look at the catalog).

That is precisely the problem.

[MV64]

Originally Posted by Daithi

I'm not a fan of the agency model, but I doubt that getting rid of agency pricing is going to matter much.

When Amazon was selling books at $9.99 they were trying to aggressively grow the market for their new device, so they were willing to take a loss. They're now making 30% on all those bestsellers. I doubt they'll want to go back to taking a loss.

I also doubt the publishers will be too heartbroken about being forced to abandon the agency model. They actually make more money having Amazon pay 50% of MSRP of the hardcover than 70% of the ebook price. The publishers just didn't like the $9.99 price point, and that is gone and is unlikely to come back (see point 1), so in that respect the publishers won the war. The battle over agency pricing or wholesale pricing is meaningless at this point.

I do wonder what will happen to authors who are publishing directly through Amazon. Will they too have to kiss their 70% goodbye? I mean, if Amazon can scrap the 30/70 split with big publishers then why would they maintain it with small or self-publishers?

Lastly, if the agency pricing model is gone it doesn't mean haggling over pricing is finished. It's probably just starting at square one again. So, can we look forward to publishers again doing things like releasing ebooks months after the hardcovers? Probably.

You're forgetting something, though. Competition. Now that the government is keeping an eye on collusion, we MAY see a restoration of price competition. You are probably right that the dirt cheap books are probably gone, but soon we may be able to bargain hunt again.