Amazon has a small write-up explaining their decision to let Macmillan set prices. They say that Macmillan has a monopoly over their titles and Amazon want to offer the titles to Kindle owners (even if the price isn’t right) and let them decide -
Macmillan, one of the “big six” publishers, has clearly communicated to us that, regardless of our viewpoint, they are committed to switching to an agency model and charging $12.99 to $14.99 for e-book versions of bestsellers and most hardcover releases.
We have expressed our strong disagreement and the seriousness of our disagreement by temporarily ceasing the sale of all Macmillan titles.
We want you to know that ultimately, however, we will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan’s terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles, and we will want to offer them to you even at prices we believe are needlessly high for e-books.
Amazon customers will at that point decide for themselves whether they believe it’s reasonable to pay $14.99 for a bestselling e-book. We don’t believe that all of the major publishers will take the same route as Macmillan. And we know for sure that many independent presses and self-published authors will see this as an opportunity to provide attractively priced e-books as an alternative.
Kindle is a business for Amazon, and it is also a mission. We never expected it to be easy!
It’s pretty key that Amazon think other Publishers won’t follow i.e. they’ll keep their ebooks at $9.99 to keep a competitive advantage.
It’s unlikely – though it wouldn’t be a surprise to see at least 1 or 2 publishers stick with $10 eBook prices.
Is it suprising that Amazon let Macmillan back in?
Very.
It seems that Amazon think they do need to let customers have the option to decide whether to buy more expensive titles or not.
It’s a good decision for customers and books for the short-term. However, it sets a very dangerous precedent for the long-term.
Overall, I strongly feel Amazon made a big mistake here. It’s not good for the future of ebooks.
Content is still King
This whole battle shows the importance of a few Amazon initiatives -
- Letting indie authors publish and be found via the Kindle Store.
- Amazon Encore.
- Getting eReaders into readers’ hands.
The Big 6 Publishers still have the content and every retailer and every platform has to play along – for the moment.
The iPad is giving Publishers a chance to reset the Publishing Industry
There’s no way to deny that this is a big win for Publishers and a loss for customers.
The iPad gave Publishers something to threaten Amazon with and reset eBook prices – Macmillan is the first.
Now it’s up to the customers to support Publishers and Authors that don’t set ridiculously high prices (like Macmillan is going to) and bring back more reasonable ebook prices.
What about Macmillan’s Authors?
Macmillan Authors are going to get a nasty shock.
- It’s not going to be as bad as being kicked out of Amazon.
- At the same time $15 prices are going to lead to much lower sales.
- There are also people who will consciously boycott Macmillan titles.
It’s interesting to see how quickly authors rushed to defend their Publisher and pretended that $15 prices were not unfair to customers. How convenient to forget who actually pays for your books.
They are going to get a real shock once the new $15 and $13 prices are implemented and customers get to return the favor.
It’s a sad day
The Publishing Mafia have won a battle at the cost of the customer.
The real battle is going to be when Macmillan sends out $15 and $13 titles. Then it’s not going to be in the hands of Macmillan or even a company like Amazon which is dependent on Macmillan for titles.
Then it’s going to be in the hands of customers.
Macmillan is probably going to be joined by most of the other Big 6 Publishers in March. The entry of the iPad has allowed Publishers to put a roadblock in the progress of eBooks and eReaders.
A sad, sad day for customers and people who love books.
Filed under: books Tagged: | $9.99 boycott, Hachette attempting murder
You know … I wonder, though if this wasn’t a fabulous move on Amazon’s part. They just established themselves as ‘pro-customer/reader’ and set Macmillan and Apple up to look as if they are greedy corporate raiders out to make huge money off the poor consumers.
The books in question will only have been off Amazon’s ‘shelves’ for a few days, so customers don’t have to panic about losing access to their favorite novels, but Amazon sent a clear message that they are taking the position to benefit their readers.
This has been a fascinating matchup and the winner has yet to be declared.
It’s a good point. You’re spot on – the winner is yet to be declared.
Macmillan wont be getting any more than $9.99 for a book from me ever. Neither will anyone else. I don’t even download a “two credit book” from audible.com either no matter how much I want to, I hate to feel ripped off.
As I see it the winner in all this will be libraries. Free books that you can order online through interlibrary loan and keep for up to 2 1/2 months if you use the renewal system, works for me. I love my macbook, my iphone and my imac but I don’t appreciate being thrown under the bus by Apple. I also love my Kindle and Amazon.com in particular and because of the great products, shopping experience and customer service they have given me for many years my loyalty on this issue belongs to them. I will continue to buy solid books and other things from them and I will also continue to buy kindle books priced $9.99 or lower.
I have only had my kindle since Christmas but already have over 80 books on it. Most are free I grant you but my plan was/is to purchase 5 0r more non-free books per month. I guarantee you that in any given month I buy approximatly 0 hard cover books.
I am just one customer and maybe i’m alone in my opinion but Mr. Publisher, what if i’m not…?
I for one will not buy a MacMillian book. I think Apple has made a big mistake by causing this war. I am pleased that Amazon is continuing to offer these books but I think that the sales will show for themselves how people are upset over this.
i agree with amazon’s reversal. the free market should (and will) decide what prices work, and which publishers are successful. the free market is all about giving a company like macmillan enough rope to hang themselves with.
personally, i have a kindle wishlist with about 300 titles on it, and every few days when i need a new book, i just pull it up, sort by price, and buy one of the cheapest. as long as a book is sitting somewhere over #25-50 in price, it is NEVER GOING TO GET BOUGHT. there will always be books for me to buy at a reasonable price, and my wishlist only ever gets larger, i add to it faster than i can read books off of it… so its no skin off my nose if a publisher wants to price themselves out of me ever reading their books… plenty more to read where they came from.
Macmillan has earned a black mark on its brand for a segment of serious readers who will remember this for a long time. This sort of corporate strategy gives pirates a good name.
I think my favorite comment in the Amazon thread is this: “If they want higher prices then it is time for them to provide quality formatting. Not just quickly scanned with no effort to fix the OCR errors. The frequent formatting errors would no longer be acceptable.”
If they’re going to charge $15 for an ebook version that is released the same time as the hardcover (and is not far behind in price) the formatting better be perfect. As I’ve read wayy too many books that have formatting issues. (Some minor, some just outright stupid)
customerservice@mpsvirginia.com
email Macmillan and tell them … that’s what I did.
I will not pay $15.00 for an eBook. I love my Kindle and purchased it for the ease of use and significant reduction in prices. If I lose the pricing advantage, my Kindle will sit on the shelf.