Kindle 3, Kindle WiFi and the $9.99 boycott

Posted on August 2, 2010 by switch11

The potential impact of the Kindle 3 and Kindle WiFi on the Agency Model isn’t really being discussed.

It’s worth wondering -

Will Kindle 3, Kindle WiFi owners cause a strengthening of the $9.99 boycott? Could they cause the downfall of the Agency Model?

Are people paying $139 for Kindle WiFi and $189 for Kindle 3 going to pay $14.99 for books?

Probably Not.

If you’ve waited for the price to get to $139 to buy a Kindle WiFi you’re likely to be willing to wait for an ebook to drop below $10. That or pirate the book or get it from the library.

New Kindle owners will probably stick to buying books that are reasonably priced.

$14.99 and $12.99 will frustrate new Kindle 3 owners and strengthen the $9.99 boycott

We’re now getting a lot of people who simply couldn’t afford to pay $259 for an eReader or didn’t think an eReader was worth that much. In either case they are likely to feel that an ebook isn’t worth $14.99 or even $12.99.

Such ridiculous ebook prices (especially since hardcovers are just a few dollars more and paperbacks are cheaper) will cause a lot of anguish and force new Kindle owners to choose from amongst the few available options -

  1. Pirate eBooks. Most people aren’t particularly inclined to do this - It’s too much of a bother and it isn’t exactly ethical.  
  2. Stick to books priced below $9.99.  
  3. Give in once in a while if you really want a book.
  4. Wait for the book price to drop.
  5. Get it from a library or buy it used for a few dollars.  

The Kindle Store might have 510,000 out of 630,000 books priced at $9.99 or below – However, most new releases are priced at $14.99 and $12.99. It forces new Kindle 3, Kindle WiFi owners to delay gratification and a lot will probably join the $9.99 boycott. 

Where do we currently stand with the $9.99 boycott?

We are in an interesting stalemate where the Agency Model has failed to establish $14.99 but has managed to get $12.99 working -

  1. In the top 25 – 8 books priced at $12.99. Rest below or at $9.99.
  2. In the top 50 – 13 books priced at $12.99, 1 at $11.99, and 1 at $10.99. Rest below or at $9.99.
  3. In the top 100 - 18 books priced at $12.99, 1 at $13.65, 1 at $11.99, and 2 at $10.99. Rest below or at $9.99.                              

22 books out of the Top 100 priced above $9.99 might not seem very bad. However, before the Agency Model the number used to be 4 to 8. 

On the other hand, 22 is an improvement from about a month back when there were 28 books at $12.99, 4 books at $14.99, and several at $11.99 in the Top 100.

$12.99 is the current new book price-point and new Kindle owners will hate it

What the last section does show is that the Agency Model has managed to establish a new $12.99 price point - most new ebooks arrive at this $12.99 price.

The new wave of Kindle owners will attack this as they expected $9.99. They didn’t get the benefit of the ‘Try for $14.99, Settle for $12.99′ trickery Publishers played on all of us and will fight hard against $12.99.

There’s little doubt new Kindle owners will strongly resist the $12.99 and $14.99 prices of the Agency Model.

Will their resistance make a difference?

Can the Agency Model withstand Kindle 3, Kindle WiFi owners?

We do know a few things from the first Publishers vs Kindle Owners battle -

  1. $9.99 books sell better than $12.99 and $14.99 books.
  2. $14.99 failed as an experiment.
  3. Kindle owners (the ones who bought Kindles when they were $399, $299, and $259) fought hard against the Agency Model.
  4. Lots of Kindle owners participated in the $9.99 boycott. Lots of them still do.
  5. There’s a general perception that $9.99 is a fair price for new ebooks.

With new Kindle 3, Kindle WiFi owners we are going to see the same things and a few additional factors -

  1. New Kindle owners are probably more price-sensitive. They are going to come in expecting $9.99 prices.
  2. They are likelier to boycott prices above $9.99. They are likelier to buy books priced below $9.99.
  3. New Kindle 3, Kindle WiFi owners are going to help increase Kindle ebook sales. We may hit 15% to 20% market share by end of the year.
  4. They will strengthen the ranks of current Kindle owners – most of whom have resisted the Agency Model.
  5. Their arrival will revitalize current Kindle owners. Suddenly we all feel we have more say and Publishers seem weaker.

Publishers get a new group of Kindle owners who come in with the exact opposite mind-set of what Publishers would like. New Kindle owners are probably going to fight for $9.99 far more vigorously than current Kindle owners do.

As the number of Kindle owners increases Publishers can’t afford to play games

While ebooks made up 5% of the market Publishers could afford to price ebooks at $14.99 and $12.99 and let rivals like smaller publishers and independent authors get more ebook sales. As the number of Kindle and Nook owners goes up and ebooks’ share of the market increases Publishers can no longer afford to lose ebook sales.

It’s all fun and games to fight against a small group of customers – overprice your books, flex your muscles, dare customers to boycott higher prices. As the number of eReader owners increases and the market share of ebooks goes up to 20% Publishers will have to get serious.

Would they be willing to lose 20% of their sales? Perhaps. 

However, as the market share of ebooks increases it becomes tougher and tougher to mistreat/exploit Kindle and Nook owners.

Perhaps the best way to kill the Agency Model is to simply sit back and watch the new Kindle 3 and Kindle WiFi owners join the $9.99 boycott. New kindle owners who are even less willing to pay prices over $9.99 than we are. New Kindle owners who will probably strengthen the $9.99 boycott enough to kill off the Agency Model.

Filed under: kindle 3 | Tagged: , | 5 Comments »

Defending the rights of people who hand out 1 star reviews

Posted on July 17, 2010 by switch11

There’s a very interesting discussion going on in the Kindle forum and almost everyone seems to be against people who give books priced over $9.99 a 1 star review.

Here’s most of the original post complaining about 1 star reviews by the $9.99 boycotters -

This is directed to those One Star Reviewing books that are over 9.99…

Please Stop. Really.

I understand that you believe this will in some way aid the boycott cause and force the publishers to lower the prices of ebooks. Low reviewed books won’t be bought and they lose money, right?

Possibly. But at what cost?

1. You hurt the author. The author has possibly written an excellent book, deserving of praise. You give it a low review for something not in their control. It doesn’t make sense. By all means, don’t buy it…but don’t lie about it being a bad book.

2. Hurts the cause. I don’t know about you, but when I see that a book I like doesn’t have 4-5 star rating, I go and check out what people didn’t like. When I see that the low rating is because the person wanted to make a statement about prices…it makes me wonder why I support the boycott. It comes across as mean-spirited.

3. It hurts you. You now come across as rabid extremist. If that’s how you wish to be viewed, keep it up. I certainly don’t wish to be associated with you.

So please…remove the unwarranted reviews and stop the negative actions. Victory at any cost isn’t worth it if you lose your integrity.

It’s beautifully written. It almost makes me want to not write against it.

The $9.99 boycotters are my heroes

Here are some of the things the $9.99 boycotters are helping enable -

  1. Keeping some books at $9.99. 
  2. Keeping other books at $12.99. If it weren’t for the $9.99 boycotters we would have had $15 and $20 prices a long time ago. If not for their current efforts the new Agency Model benchmark wouldn’t be a mix of $9.99 and $12.99 – It would be a mix of $14.99 and $19.99.
  3. They are keeping ebooks alive. No matter what people might think $20 ebooks would not have survived.  
  4. They are keeping eReaders alive. Without $9.99 books there wouldn’t be people buying the Kindle or Nook.
  5. They are hurting the worst offenders. Publishers and Published Authors (yes, those pure authors who have no choice but to listen to their Publishers – those naive innocent authors who’re trying to get 50% royalties) who promote $14.99 deserve to be hurt financially.

By voting with their dollars and by raising their voices the $9.99 boycotters ensured that people now have the luxury of both reading ebooks on their eReaders and complaining about the $9.99 boycotters i.e.

It comes across as mean-spirited

You now come across as rabid extremist.

This is the reward people get for fighting the good fight.

All of us, whether or not we support handing out 1 star reviews or the $9.99 boycott are going to get a taste of this soon. When the people who laugh at us for spending $399 or $379 or $189 or $109 on a dedicated eReader get the benefit of cheap ebooks, lots of selection, and sub $100 eReaders (soon).

No good deed goes unpunished.

The fallacy that Authors are the good guys and 1 star reviewers are rabid extremists

Not sure what part of -

  1. Publishers want to take advantage of readers and get as much money as possible.
  2. Published Authors are with Publishers because they get paid by them.
  3. Neither party has shown any affinity towards readers.

The author of the forum post is missing.

It’s human nature that we want to be both the good guys and get what we want. It’s some sort of cosmic joke that people don’t just want to win and get things their way – they also want to get applauded and be prom queen.

It’s not always possible. In fact, it’s not possible a lot of the time.

Publishers are using this part of our nature – our desire to be good guys – to fight their pricing war. They talk about doing things the right way, about saving books, about making sure authors get paid. Never mind that they’re trying to take advantage of authors too.

Publishers are treating us like Sheep

This is what Publishers and published authors are trying to do – Kill off eReaders and eBooks. Failing that, keep ebook prices close to paper book prices and increase their profits.

This is what they are trying to sell us on – $15 and $20 ebooks that can’t be re-sold and can’t be shared. However, they aren’t saying that – they’re gradually creeping up using $12.99 prices and by appealing to our desire to be the good guys.

We are sheep. Born to be shorn. Born to be talked into how shipping and storage and paper and ink cost nothing. Authors hide behind Publishers and Publishers hide behind excuses and we buy it.

Prices are already waffling between $9.99 and $12.99. 2 years of effort might be undone. All because we are sheep happy to believe that Publishers and Published Authors have our best interests at heart.

Voting with our Dollars and 1 star reviews are BOTH needed

Voting with our dollars helps. It reduces sales and it ensures $12.99 and $14.99 books don’t get as much publicity.

However, there are a few problems -

  1. New books will still rise a lot. There are pre-orders that all get counted on release day and more people buy new releases. So even books that are boycotted still show up in the top lists. It makes the $9.99 boycott seem much less powerful than it is.  
  2. Publishers can use incremental pricing and fry us like frogs in hot water. They are playing around with $10.99 and $11.99 and $12.99 and if that works the next stop will be $14.99 and then $19.99. If people keep silent sooner or later they will be in a position where they wish they hadn’t been silent.
  3. There’s no way to hear from other readers and there’s no way to reach other readers.

Voting with our dollars is an invisible vote. It’s also one whose impact isn’t as visible because of the pre-orders effect.

It’s a classic communication and information gap. It seems as if the $9.99 boycott is failing when it’s actually doing wonderfully well. Despite the Agency Model lots of Publishers are pricing books at $9.99.

Why 1 star reviews are a necessary evil

There are probably lots of other people who are holding off on buying $12.99 and $14.99 books.

By leaving a 1 star or 2 star review we/they get to talk to each other and strengthen their resolve. Publishers get to hold secret meetings and leverage Apple’s iPad to fight the $9.99 boycott – The least we should be entitled to are the forums and the reviews.

Pricing is a part of the review. It indicates value for money. It indicates whether Publishers think we are sheep or paying customers. It indicates what the value of books is perceived to be.

We tend to forget we are in the middle of the Book Wars

This is war – companies are going bankrupt. This isn’t a civilized tea party where you have to courtesy and show how well brought up you are.

There’s a lot at stake -

  1. What share of the pie middle-men get. Currently authors get just 8-15% of books. As a reader you should be a bit concerned that 85% or more of the money you pay is going to other people.  
  2. Who has the control. Do we really want to have Publishers decide what books we get to choose from?
  3. A fair shot for authors. How many authors never get a chance to send out their books because they don’t meet some Publisher criteria?
  4. Reasonable prices. With ebooks we don’t have re-selling and we don’t have sharing and yet Publishers want $14.99 while hardcovers sell for just a little more. $9.99 is an extremely reasonable price.
  5. A win for customers over manipulators. Detach yourself from your emotions and beliefs and look at what Publishers have been doing – They’ve been playing around with prices and feeding us different sob-stories and trying to see how they can maximize the fleecing.  

The democratization of Publishing is at stake. There may be a way to be super polite and also win the book wars – However, it certainly isn’t apparent. In fact, it currently seems like by being super polite we are losing out – eBooks have climbed from $9.99 to $12.99 and Publishers are delighted at how gullible we are.

For the first time we have seen huge advancements - eReaders that let a lot more people participate in reading, eBooks that are cheaper and more convenient, anybody being able to publish, authors getting 70%.

All of this is at stake. Yet we have people who want to be the good guys - people who would rather be polite and civil than see a revolution in books.

If we or a group of Kindle owners give 1 star reviews it is because it is our only weapon to preserve all the things worth fighting for in books – anyone being able to publish, authors getting 70%, more people being able to read, more growth in books.

Gandhi had said that the bigger sin is to silently let someone take advantage of you. By protesting higher prices we aren’t losing our integrity – we are demonstrating it.

Perhaps we should be happy we have people who care enough to be rabid extremists – If it weren’t for them and all the other $9.99 boycotters we wouldn’t really have eReaders or eBooks. Perhaps then people could be happy buying $20 paper books, being exploited by Publishers, and cherishing the feeling of being non-rabid and run of the mill.

Filed under: thoughts | Tagged: , | 14 Comments »

eBooks and the power of pricing flexibility

Posted on June 18, 2010 by switch11

It’s hard not to notice how authors and publishers are finally beginning to understand the power of pricing flexibility that eBooks provide -

  1. Indie authors are using $1 ebooks to build a brand. Can’t imagine any way an indie author could afford to sell $1 physical books short of subsidizing the cost. 
  2. Publishers are learning that while readers won’t pay $14.99 for new titles, some/enough readers will pay $12.99. Thus turning the Agency Model war into a surrender by both sides. 
  3. Publishers are figuring out that books in the back list will sell a lot more if they go below $9.99.
  4. Authors and Publishers are figuring out the beauty of offering the first book in a series for free or at very low prices.
  5. Perhaps most importantly, everyone’s figuring out that they can price books to reflect the demand – and keep trying out little experiments to maximize profits.  

It’s a completely different world – It makes the pricing of books dynamic and flexible and makes repricing instant.

The Great Agency Model Compromise

Nothing reflects the power of pricing flexibility better than what’s happening with the Agency Model -

  1. Publishers said $14.99.
  2. Readers said they’d boycott $14.99 and they did.
  3. Publishers didn’t find sales – then a few Publishers tried $12.99 and it worked to an extent.
  4. All the Publishers began to do $12.99.
  5. $14.99 was anchored in users’ minds so $12.99 didn’t seem that bad. They rationalized what they’d pay for hardcovers as justification for paying $12.99 and they began to pay.

Suddenly we have $12.99 emerging as a new price point. We have -

  • 9 of the Top 25 in the Kindle Store at $12.99. None whatsoever at $14.99.
  • 17 of the Top 50 at $12.99 or so. None at $14.99.
  • 30 of the Top 100 at $12.99 or so. Only 1 out of the Top 100 at $14.99.

It’s amusing to think that inadvertently Publishers have managed to pull of a great psychological trick – anchored $14.99 in users’ minds and made $12.99 seem reasonable. How else could you justify a 30% price increase?

Yet, it’s not some great well-planned strategy. It’s simply the power of pricing flexibility.

The Other Side of the Coin

It’s worth looking at the other end – Cheap books in the Top 100.

There are 19 books under $5, and 15 books under $8 in the Top 100. That’s very impressive. Equally impressive is that around 5 or 6 independent authors are in the Top 100. We are just a few months into the Agency Model and already the weaknesses are being exploited.

It’s independent authors selling books for less than it would cost to print them (unless you’re a Publisher – then you could print them for -$1 each). It’s smaller Publishers pricing books at $1 or $3 and getting sales and being able to compete with big name Publishers on value for money. It’s Publishers themselves using pricing flexibility to generate sales from their back-list or to get free/cheap marketing.

An eBook World with 5 Pricing Buckets

We are going to end up in an ebook world that has 5 main pricing buckets -

  1. $12.99 for new releases. There will, however, be a lot of pressure on this as Authors realize they can sell more and get more by selling at $9.99.  
  2. $9.99. This will continue to remain the single biggest pricing bucket.  
  3. Around $5. Lots of backlist titles will hover around this price-point.
  4. Around $3. This will be the price at which Amazon starts giving you 70% of sales and lots of authors will flock to this.
  5. $1. This is dictated by the Kindle Store’s minimum $1 price. Outside the Kindle Store it’ll be $0. These are people just trying to make a name for themselves and get readers for their other works. Free/Cheap Marketing.

Yes, it’ll be a continuous spectrum – However, these are the 5 main clustering points.

My primary interest is in what happens to the $12.99 cluster. If we had been more patient it wouldn’t exist. Perhaps those of us who are sticking to $9.99 will still win out. Perhaps it’s just a temporary blip and will disappear as competitive pressure forces Publishers to match $9.99.

The most interesting thing is that 4 out of the 5 clusters are at $9.99 and below and the lower 3 clusters are making $9.99 seem golden. It might not be long before we see 70% of sales move to the lower 3 clusters – Perhaps in a year or two.

Publishers love the pricing flexibility as it lets them figure out the most money they can get out of readers – In time they will realize that it gives their competitors the ability to get the most readers to try them out. In a year or two we’ll figure out what’s the better strategy – acquiring lots of readers at a low price point or maximizing profits by going with $12.99.

Filed under: publishing | Tagged: , | 6 Comments »

Insight into Publisher’s mindset regarding Agency Model

Posted on June 3, 2010 by switch11

TeleRead point to a post by Mike Shatzkin that provides a very revealing insight into how Publishers think of the Agency Model.

My key takeaway -

  1. Publisher changed from $9.99 to $12.99 and when sales weren’t affected he continued at this price.
  2. Publisher changed from $12.99 to $14.99 and when sales were affected he dropped price back to $12.99.

So, the boycotts work and people who can’t wait and MUST buy books even at $12.99 and $14.99 are hurting themselves in the long run.

After reading this it’s clear that a boycott of prices above $9.99 WILL lead to us going back to $9.99.

Mike Shatzkin reveals Agency Model Publisher mindset

First, Mike Shatzkin is unsure of how legal the Agency Model is. Well,

Mike, Join the Club.

We already have the Texas AG, Amazon, and pretty much every Kindle owner.

Then he provides the most valuable part of the article -

One major house CEO I spoke with two weeks ago was positively rhapsodic about the control the new paradigm gives the publisher.

That CEO told me about one major bestseller at their publishing house which suffered no loss of unit sales when the price went up from the Amazon-set $9.99 to the Agency price of $12.99.

Struck by that, the CEO further raised the price of that title to $14.99 and saw immediate sales erosion. So, two weeks later, the CEO took the price back down to $12.99 for that title, where it sits.

What does that mean?

That all we have to do is not buy a $12.99 or $14.99 book for 2 weeks or so and Publishers will panic and reduce prices.

That’s all – muster up the patience to hold off for 2 weeks and the prices go down. It also means that the boycotts are working and will work – no matter how many paid shills from Publishers’ PR departments leave comments on the forums saying they don’t mind paying extra for a book they want.

Delusions of Grandeur

Here’s the above quoted Publisher getting carried away -

 “I can’t ever see going back. I have never had this ability to maximize revenue before or to experiment with pricing.”

Just you wait Mr. Publisher – the Free Market and the Justice Department (when it wakes up) will help you see clearly.

Mike Shatzkin also embarks on some wishful thinking -

I’m personally persuaded that universal set prices for ebooks are good for the industry and, ultimately, for consumers. They will definitely foster competition among retailers.

As Teleread point out this is crazy – Having fixed prices will foster competition among retailers?

Pricing is the single most important dimension to compete on - with ebooks we don’t really have very many dimensions to compete on to being with. Removing pricing flexibility will harm free competition and not foster it.

Human beings are blessed with the ability to delude themselves – very useful when you want to delude others. This is a perfect example.

The illusion that the Agency Model is good for Readers/Customers

This is something that keeps getting mentioned again and again. Mike Shatzkin also chimes in -

It would appear that the Agency model is good for just about everybody except the etailers that would use price to drive others out of the market.

No matter how you try to obfuscate the facts paying $9.99 for new books is much better for readers than paying $14.99 or even $12.99. People who need to sell ebooks at $14.99 and $12.99 to survive don’t deserve to be in the market. We’re in a free market - hence people who can’t compete should not be protected via crutches like the Agency Model.

If readers give up $12.99 to Publishers $19.99 will be next

Please take a minute and carefully consider exactly what the Publisher is revealing with his comment -

That CEO told me about one major bestseller at their publishing house which suffered no loss of unit sales when the price went up from the Amazon-set $9.99 to the Agency price of $12.99.

Struck by that, the CEO further raised the price of that title to $14.99 and saw immediate sales erosion.

So, two weeks later, the CEO took the price back down to $12.99 for that title, where it sits.

What did the Publisher do when people still bought the book at $12.99?

He immediately raised prices. He didn’t say – Thank You readers for supporting a price I think is sustainable. Instead he immediately raised up the prices to see how much more money he could squeeze out of dedicated readers.

What did the Publisher do when there was sales erosion at $14.99?

In just two weeks he came back down to $12.99. He didn’t make a stand or pretend that $14.99 was the only sustainable price (which is what Publishers have been claiming). He lowered the price to $12.99 and he’s HAPPY with it.

It’s time to make a stand because Publishers don’t care about sustainable prices or the future of books or even authors. They just use that to fool us. All they care about is getting as much money out of us as they can. If we stick to $9.99 – then Publishers will get the message and come back to it. If we keep being impatient and giving in first it’ll be $12.99 and then $14.99 and soon we’ll be paying $19.99 for ebooks.

Filed under: Reality | Tagged: , | 11 Comments »

An explosion of ebook sales in March – pre Agency Model rush?

Posted on May 24, 2010 by switch11

The Association of American Publishers reveals that eBook sales for March jumped up 184% for the month and 252% for the year. Huffington Post has the details -

Book sales tracked by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) for the month of March increased by 16.6 percent at $458.2 million and were up by 8.0 percent for the year. 

E-book sales jumped up 184.8 percent for the month ($28.5 million), reflecting an increase of 251.9 percent for the year.

The assumption we’ll make is that AAP mean a 184.4% increase from February 2010 – which is valid unless they have a different definition of ‘for the month’ from us.

Kindle owners put forward a theory

At the kindle forum there’s a discussion and someone, predictably, attributes the jump to the iPad. Never mind that the iPad hadn’t even been released. April figures will give us an idea of what impact the iPad will have on ebook sales.

The much likelier reason for the huge jump in sales in March is summed up by the reactions of two Kindle owners -

JMaze: I know I bought a lot of Kindle books in March, so as to stock up before the prices went up. I wonder how many other people did that.

D Figueroa: I, too, grabbed several books before the price increases in April. Being prewarned here in the Kindle forum gave me the chance to buy several books that I (correctly) assumed were going to jump a great deal in price.

For me it was 12 books of which 5 were specifically bought to weather the Agency Model storm. It does make you wonder though.

Did the pre Agency Model rush contribute most of the 184% jump in March?

If we were talking about a big jump in ebook sales in February 2009 when the Kindle 2 was released or in November and December 2009 when Nook and the international Kindle were released then we could easily attribute it to an increase in eReader sales.

However, there wasn’t anything of particular consequence in March – no big releases, no new Kindle or Sony or Nook, no shopping season – nothing that would cause a 184% monthly jump.

Unless you consider what happened with people stocking up for the Agency Model -

  1. Let’s say 40% of Kindle and eReader owners stocked up.
  2. Let’s say they bought an average of 5 extra books each when normally they buy 2-4 books a month.
  3. That would mean they bought 7 to 9 books in March which is a monthly increase of between 125% and 250%. Rather conveniently, 184% falls at the exact middle point of that range.

If approximately 40% of people stocked up enough books for 2 to 3 months of reading then our figure of 184% makes perfect sense.

Various other possibilities

There could potentially be some other causes for this 184% jump -

  1. The natural growth of ebooks? It leading to a monthly growth of 184% is unlikely so this theory is almost completely ruled out.
  2. Talk about the iPad leading to more of an interest in books. This is possible.
  3. Most Kindle owners finishing up with the loads of books they’d bought around Christmas. A bit far-fetched.
  4. The recession fading further and further away. Somewhat plausible.
  5. People may even go as far as to say that readers were buying books to stock up for their iPad. This is unlikely – Wouldn’t they wait to actually get their iPad before buying books? Besides they could only stock up on Kindle books as iBooks wasn’t even out.
  6. Nook being available in stores and seeing brisk sales. Not ruled out – However, a jump of 184% is unlikely.
  7. Kindle for Mac and other releases of reading software for various platforms. Possible given Amazon’s recent rush to promote Kindle for Android and get Kindle for PC on Asus laptops - the apps must be doing well.

However, the pre-Agency Model rush has some big advantages over all these other possible causes -

  1. It applies to all eReader owners and to all people who read ebooks.
  2. People who are stocking up would buy a lot more books than usual.
  3. It’s the last month before the Agency Model kicks in and the obvious time people would stock up.
  4. No one knew how long the model would last and there were even doubts about which books would be available – More reason to buy lots of books.

Basically, it does make sense to assume that the 184% increase was in large part due to the pre Agency Model rush.

If correct it would indicate that a significant number of readers stocked up for 2 to 3 months, that ebook sales in April will probably not grow much although there might be a slight jump due to the iPad, and that people do care about book prices – enough to cause a 184% rise in ebook sales.

Filed under: thoughts | Tagged: , | 5 Comments »

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