Comments on: What to make of the Amazon-Macmillan stand-off?

By: Scott Marlowe

Scott Marlowe — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:55:33 +0000

Now that Amazon has capitulated (no surprise there, really), how long before the rest of the publishers raise prices? That’s a rhetorical question; no need to answer. We’ll wait and see.

I won’t buy eBooks with a greater than $10 price tag, though. Ultimately, it’s up to consumers to vote with their wallet, so that’s what I’ll be doing.

By: Mal

Mal — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 22:58:11 +0000

It’s not about 9.99 ebooks, because under the publisher/Apple plan, the ebooks would eventually sell for less than a paperback – just not right away. Nobody ever minds waiting for the paperback, why should they mind waiting for the ebook price to come down?

This is about Amazon trying to dictate to the publshers what they can charge, the way walmart dictates to factories and lowers the quality of everything and the wages of everyone.

Amazon is the greedy one, they want to be the walmart of media.

By: switch11

switch11 — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 19:02:28 +0000

You’re welcome.

They have to do the move now – otherwise all Publishers will pull the pricing stunt when the iPad comes out and kill (or severely delay) the growth of eBooks and eReaders.

By: Scott Marlowe

Scott Marlowe — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 13:41:39 +0000

I’m 100% against publishers maintaining > $10 eBook prices, but kind of torn with regards to the way Amazon has chosen to teach them a lesson, so to speak. What I mean is this: I think Amazon is well within their rights to pull those titles from their catalog and I hope ultimately they win this battle. However, as a Kindle owner, they’ve suddenly diminished greatly my ability to buy eBooks. In a way, they’ve betrayed myself and other Kindle owners. Amazon did their best to sell us their device with (implied) promises of low eBook prices and a large catalog selection. They’re fighting for the former, which I applaud, but pulled the rug out from underneath our feet on the latter. This is, however, a war and there will be sacrifices and casualties. I’m very curious to see who blinks first on this one.

Oh yeah, thanks for the mention in your post.

By: Adam Shields

Adam Shields — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 03:41:59 +0000

I also don’t get why you are mad at Amazon. Yes they could have left your wishlist intact, but would you have bought the book for $15? If so, then MacMillian lost a sale, but if not, then potentially if MacMillian caves then you get a book at a price you will pay. The point is that in my mind, Amazon is fighting to have the right to see you a book at a price they think you will buy. That isn’t stabbing you in the back. That is fighting for the right to see you a book that you will buy. No one wins, MacMillian included, if we just all stop buying books because they are priced too high.

By: switch11

switch11 — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 03:37:01 +0000

Surely, Amazon removing macmillan isn’t stabbing you in the back.

Purchased books haven’t been removed. It’s unfortunate that removing macmillan books from amazon nuked them from your wishlist.

By: Brian Carnell

Brian Carnell — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 23:47:25 +0000

It doesn’t really matter whether Amazon or MacMillan is right in the long term..the big issue now is why Amazon pulled such an outrageous stunt of simply removing MacMillan books from its store. That didn’t just screw over MacMillan, it screwed over me and my wife and other Amazon *customers* who saw MacMillan books disappear from our wishlists and, apparently, in some case sample chapters from MacMillan books disappear from Kindles.

Stupid stupid move. I think $15 for an ebook will never work, but I didn’t expect Amazon to stab me in the back to prove it.

By: JimK

JimK — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 23:36:26 +0000

John Scalzi is one of my very favorite writers. If he, Macmillan or anyone else thinks I am paying more than $9.99 – and I actually have a problem at THAT price – for a digital ebook that is restricted in what I can and cannot do with it in ways a print copy cannot be?

They are dreaming. I know what the costs associated with producing e-content are. I also know when I am being ripped off.

I won’t. I would sooner stop reading any book by a publisher or author that took such a stance. SO sorry, but there’s hundreds of thousands of book published each year, and millions that I haven’t yet read. I can fill my time just fine.

By: Adam Shields

Adam Shields — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 22:07:51 +0000

I really don’t understand people that want to blame Amazon. Both are companies that are doing what they think is in their long term interest. It happened before when NBC/Universal removed all their content from itunes. It will happen again. It is part of a capitalist society. If you can’t make money selling something at the price you need to sell it, you either innovate to sell cheaper, specialize to sell more expensive or die. Macmillan will die in the long term because they aren’t doing anything in the supply chain that really justifies their existence. Amazon will win in the long term because they understand the direction of the market.