There are so many wars and potential wars going on it is overwhelming. February is turning out to be a crazy month for the Kindle and eReaders.
The Fight for $9.99
The Fight for $9.99 continues -
- The authors gloating over Amazon backing down just realized that Amazon’s exact words were ‘we will have to back down’ and not ‘we have’. Lots of Macmillan authors are still missing the Buy Now button at Amazon.
- Rupert Murdoch (whose News Corp. owns Harper Collins) also brought up $9.99 and the iPad and that Amazon would have to agree to higher prices.
- Author John Scalzi is trying to rally readers - Does he really expect readers to rally for a price increase from $9.99 to $14.99?
Authors are collateral damage and that’s unfortunate.
Here are Rupert Murdoch’s exact words (courtesy Media Memo via Seeking Alpha) -
We don’t like the Amazon model of selling everything at $9.99. They don’t pay us that.
They pay us the full wholesale price of $14 or whatever we charge.
We think it really devalues books and it hurts all the retailers of the hard cover books.
We are not against [inaudible] books. On the contrary we like them very much indeed. It is low cost to us and so on.
But we want some room to maneuver in it. Amazon, sorry Apple in its agreement with us which has not been disclosed in detail does allow for a variety of slightly higher prices.
…
There will be prices very much less than the printed copies of books but still will not be fixed in a way that Amazon has been doing it.
It appears that Amazon is now ready to sit down with us again and renegotiate pricing.
It is quite amusing to hear Publishers talk as if they are the ones that buy books. Have to give credit to Mr. Murdoch for admitting that the costs are lower for eBooks.
Barnes & Noble a takeover target
B&N stock has been going up as Ron Burkle attempts a hostile takeover -
Ron Burkle, a financier who is fond of raiding retail companies, plans to take a 37% stake in the nation’s largest bricks-and-mortar book seller, Barnes & Noble (NYSE:BKS). Burkle’s Yucaipa investment funds have already bought 18% of the book company
Unfortunately Mr. Burkle seems far more motivated by the future of his bank account than by the future of Publishing -
Burkle may believe that the real estate under Barnes & Noble’s stores has hidden value, and if he gets control of the company, it may be based on his gamble that the real estate is worth more than the book firm’s $1 billion market cap.
If he takes over B&N the Nook might see an untimely demise.
Scroll Motion partners with textbook publishers on iPad textbooks
Engadget and WSJ write about Scroll Motion’s deals with Textbook Publishers for the iPad -
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Kaplan, Pearson Education, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt K-12, and the educational sector of McGraw-Hill have all made deals with the company to develop textbook apps and test-prep / study guide apps for the Apple iPad
This is pretty important news. A lot of people think the iPad’s success is going to be dictated by the kind of apps it has and textbook, study guide, and test preparation apps certainly add value.
WSJ talks a bit about the prospects for eTextbooks and iPad’s possible role -
Whether the iPad will be the digital device to transform the classroom remains to be seen. “Nobody knows what device will take off, or which ‘killer app’ will drive student adaptations.
Finally, WSJ reveal some details of the Scroll Motion textbook apps -
The features of its iPad deal with publishers include applications to let students play video, highlight text, record lectures, take printed notes, search the text, and participate in interactive quizzes to test how much they’ve learned and where they may need more work.
Record lectures and take printed notes – that sounds quite alright.
Reuters reviews Apple Vs Amazon
Reuters has an article covering Amazon vs Apple and this very interesting factbox -
A look at the companies:
* Market capitalization: Apple $176 billion, Amazon $56 billion.
* Fiscal 2009 revenue: Apple $42.9 billion, Amazon $24.5 billion.
* Total cash, equivalents and marketable securities: Apple $39.8 billion, Amazon $6.4 billion.
* Fiscal 2009 free cash flow: Apple $8.9 billion, Amazon $2.9 billion.
* Fiscal 2009 operating margin: Apple 27.4 percent, Amazon 4.6 percent.
* Employees: Apple 34,000, Amazon 24,000.
Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon – all the giants have their own favorite wars and sometimes they are amongst each other.
More eReader and Kindle odds and ends
- Apple has forced iPhone Reading App Stanza (which is owned by Amazon) to end USB transfers. Now only WiFi transfers are allowed. Apple has also asked Stanza not to reveal why it had to make the change.
- Amazon have revived their Kindle Deals page and are promoting Carpool Diem by Nancy Star. It is priced at $1.99.
Still cannot get over John Scalzi rallying readers to fight Amazon and enable $14.99 ebook prices. Expecting readers fighting to raise ebook prices – Author delusions know no bounds.
Filed under: news Tagged: | $9.99 boycott, kindle news roundup
Now I realize why there is no USB port on the Ipad. To prevent from being sued by the stupid DMCA laws. DMCA should have NEVER existed in the first place.
Instead of people pointing the finger at Apple and putting a negative spin on the Ipad, put the blame where it really belongs. And that’s on the government and big name corporations that control the government.
DMCA has nothing to do with removing the USB function from Stanza. It has to do with Stanza giving access to the file system through USB, a violation of the App store agreement and an example of Apples system of protecting the user from doing what they want with their own products.
DMCA does not require copyprotection!
“Still cannot get over John Scalzi rallying readers to fight Amazon and enable $14.99 ebook prices.”
This is an entirely inaccurate statement.
First, as I’ve noted, I’ve not nor ever have called for a boycott of Amazon. I’ve called for support for Macmillan authors, by people buying their books at retailers who will sell them to them. It’s cute that you can be blase about the damage being done to authors in this thing; strangely enough, I’m not.
Second, “The Fight for $9.99,” as you put it, could end up being more literal than you think, since if Amazon were to win this particular argument, publishers would very likely feel the need to recoup the lost revenue, and thus all the eBook with price points below $9.99 (which included mine on Kindle, before they were pulled), would likely be hoisted up to that sum. So color me unconvinced an artificially imposed $9.99 price point on ebooks means lower ebook costs overall. That you don’t recognize this possibility is interesting to me.
Third, Amazon has already relented on the point of variable pricing, and did so on the weekend, so its continuing unwillingness to return the “Buy” button to Macmillan books is no longer bargaining leverage on the matter and is simply a punitive act. This is an irrational act, which may be why the market punished Amazon by dropping its stock price $10 on Monday and continuing to keep it well below its Friday close price since then.
Which is to say I have no interest in fighting Amazon — it’s already kicking its own ass with this.
Be that as it may, in the future try to be more accurate with your characterization of my stand: I’m not anti-Amazon. I’m pro-author. And if you want to say I’m for $14.99 ebooks, fine, but you should also note I’m for $4.99 ebooks as well, not to mention $9.99 ones, so long as the latter is not my only price option.
JS
thanks for your comment.
By allying yourself with Publishers you’re painting yourself into a corner.
I have to say, having read several of your posts over the weekend, that your own characterization of your posts is not what I got out of them. It seemed pretty clear that you blamed Amazon, that you thought that ebooks should be higher and that you don’t have a good understanding of basic economics.
Even here you don’t seem to understand the idea of variable demand. You also seem to have a strange idea of profit. Just because one product is lowered in price does not mean that another product will increase in price. Certainly it might, but profit is determined by a complex relationship and raising prices will not necessarily raise profit. (Nor will lowering prices necessarily decrease profit.)
I, and many others, from what I have read around different blogs have been quite off-put by the way you have rallied against Amazon. In this case, I perceive that Amazon is trying to force MacMillin to lower their prices. The tactics are hard ball, but so are the tactics by Walmart and others. But I do not see a corresponding attack on them. I also see your and MacMillian’s tactics as being anti-consumer. You, and MacMillian, can raise your prices, but I am not going to pay them. There is no way that you can convince me that an ebook should cost as much or more than a paperback (that is currently out). I could point you to dozens of cases where paperback (and sometimes hardback) prices are lower than ebook prices. That is not justifiable and people will not put up with it.
If you want to look into the future with me, I would suggest that you think about where your publisher will be if, in a few years they continue to insist that ebooks should be as high or higher than paperback. Because not all publishers will make that mistake. You as an author are replaceable. More books were published last year than any year in history. I have lots of choice. You are not so good that I have to buy your book. I am quite willing to pay for books. I buy about 75-100 book a year. But there is no way I am buying books that are priced unreasonably.
I’m sure Apple is behind this, it has really become the bully on the ballfield. While I love my iphone, I really don’t like being held prisoner to itunes. Several books I’ve bought from itunes (3 out of 7) didn’t download and no refund would be made, so I hesitate to trust them. That being said, I’m completely with you, Mr. Shields. I’d much rather write my own book that be robbed and told I have to pay a price for a book when it’s my money. Forcing the stronghand in my oppinion will eventually backfire on the publishers and ultimately the authors. Afterall, let us remember what happened to the likes of the musicians who tried to kill e-music. Lars Ulrich himself stopped fighting that fight because, we, the consumer may laugh last, but we will laugh loudest. It is our money, after all.