Kindle Review – Kindle Fire Review, Kindle 4 Review

To be quite frank my initial thoughts on this were -

1. Prices higher than $9.99 are greed - they lead to lower book sales, and they hurt books in the long term.
2. $9.99 is good for people who read books and it’s good for authors – especially with the new royalty rates that Amazon and Apple are offering.

However, there are lots of people with different opinions and it’s worth seeing what they think and why.

People who think Amazon’s stand is Evil

John Scalzi is understandably upset that his books (along with most Macmillan titles) have been pulled. He writes -

Macmillan, I’m assuming, wants to raise the price because it will make more money that way;

Amazon, I’m also assuming, wants to keep the price lower because it has Kindles to sell, and low eBook prices is a fine motivator for convincing people to part with the $400 (or so) that Kindles cost.

And looming over all of this is the iPad WHICH WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING AS WE KNOW IT FOREVER AND EVER AMEN,

John Scalzi brings up the fact that Amazon is endangering his livelihood and you can’t really respond to that.

There is the tiny mistake of quoting the Amazon Kindle at $400 instead of $259.

The comments from authors are really worth going over – a lot of them are pro-Publisher and some of them are anti-Amazon.

People who think Publishers are Evil

Monika at the John Scalzi post writes -

 As a consumer I can only applaud amazon.

$15 for an e-book is a rip-off and would harm the growing e-book market.

$10 feels about right and the publishers and authors make more from it than they would from a paperback. Moreover amazon.com has oversea customers that other companies don’t have

Henry Blodget at Business Insider also has a pro-Amazon and anti-Publisher perspective - mostly due to the benefits of lower book prices. 

Scott Marlowe and Jib point out that Publishers are an endangered species -

Jib: “For people in the biz that can not imagine how in the world the industry will work without a publisher, well, welcome to future shock. This is how new technology creates productivity. It eliminates entire sections out of the supply chain. And with that, it eliminates companies and jobs.”

I couldn’t have said it any better, so I won’t bother trying.

Likewise (couldn’t have said it better) – New technology eliminates entire sections out of the supply chain. It’s the end of Publishers – they get replaced with enabling platforms and marketing companies.

Is the iPad Publishers’ Last Stand

Jerry T. at the Scalzi Blog points out that the iPad’s imminent arrival has a big part -

I hate to be the conspiracy theorist here, but does it seem a bit fishy that the Amazon/Macmillan dustup happened right after the iPad announcement?

Apple has a brand-new $500–$800 device coming out and they specifically indicated they would be selling books for $13-$16.

 But they have a problem: Amazon is selling those same books for $10.

It’s in Apple’s best interest that Amazon sell books at the same price point as Apple.

Steve Jobs did say in the Mossberg mini-interview that Apple would sell books for the same price as Amazon. Perhaps he meant that all ebooks would be sold for $15.

The iPad is huge for Publishers -

1. Apple has offered to give them more control.
2. Apple’s iBooks might leave out indie authors completely.
3. Publishers get to push $13 and $15 prices.

If Publishers go all out with the iPad and $15 prices it does one of two things -

1. Transfers over eBook sales to the iPad.
2. Kills eBook sales.

Either seems very appealing to Publishers.

What they’re missing is that in the long run it kills them and books.

Will Authors be collateral damage in the war between Publishers and Platforms?

All the measures Publishers are taking are leading to repercussions -

1. They price books too high and people start the $9.99 boycott.
2. They make eBooks too restrictive and some people start pirating.
3. They delay eBook release dates and people boycott them and give the books 1 star reviews.
4. They try to pressurize Amazon and Amazon cuts one of them off. 

It’s understandable for authors to be upset with readers who pirate and with Amazon. However, a lot of the problems stem from Publishers.

Publishers are losing their grip of the market. They are going to do a lot of crazy things to try to get back control.

Authors have to realize that they don’t need to be bonded labor for Publishers any longer. The fraction of authors that ally themselves with Publishers are going to get killed by readers.

My Take on the Amazon Macmillan stand-off

As a reader there’s an obvious bias to support the company that is more oriented towards what’s best for readers.

Let’s make a list of what is best for readers and books -

1. Prices that are low enough to encourage wide-spread adoption. 
2. Prices that are high enough to sustain authors and the platform - Note that middle-men do not factor into this discussion.
3. Wide range of titles. 
4. Very efficient service – things like flexibility and dependability.
5. Ability to read any book on any device.
6. Ability to migrate books to a new device.

Amazon is thinking very long term. Books are a huge part of their business and you can be sure they’re thinking 10-50 years down the line.

The negative aspect is obviously the lock-in. However, with mp3 music they’ve shown they’ll ditch DRM. Plus they have made it easy to turn off DRM for Kindle Store books now.

For the most part Amazon is doing things that are good for readers. They might want to become the platform underlying all of Publishing – However, with 70% royalties to authors and Publishers who play according to the rules they’re definitely not greedy.

Readers and Customers are going to pick the company that allies with their interests. By raising prices Publishers are picking the wrong enemy.

Filed under: books Tagged: | amazon vs publishers, book wars