Its pretty sad when a publisher can force the prices of books up the way Macmillan just did to Amazon.
Amazon is a discount broker and Macmillan does not need to use them for their primary releases if the publisher wants to keep the prices up for a short period of time but it seems that it has been in both Amazon and all other publishers benefits to release books at a economical price that will attract people using the Kindle platform.
Really these books should be released in an open pdf format that anyone can read who has access to a computer. Unfortunately with the introduction of the Apple IPoo this week Amazon was forced to renegotiate prices.
Once one publisher has forced Amazon’s arm everyone will want to set their own prices.
I would like to see this same tactic taken by Macmillan with WalMart.. Wonder how fast they would be kicked to the ground and forced to cry uncle….. Walmart takes no prisoners when it comes to prices and Amazon has the right to refuse anyone the same way Walmart will if you try to strong arm your negotiations.
The fact is the Kindle platform is better for publishers then even a printed copy that can be lent to friends or placed in a library and read by dozens if not thousands of people over time.
The fact is this pricing will only hurt authors because when a book is discounted it means more people will make the purchase… if you are talking the difference between $9 amazon’s price and $13 to $15 Macmillan price people will walk away from the purchase and find free or other discount access someplace else.
We are not talking about Amazon offering technical manuals costing $150 retail for only $9… we are talking a few dollars … just enough to tick someone off.
And anyway who reads anymore…. not a lot of people….
Macmillan better start looking at ways to publish to Twitter…
I don’t know it is sad and strange… but mostly its just wrong to do because it is bad business. Macmillan wants to get 50% more per book… well as everyone with retail experience knows you set the price too high and you will kill your sales.
Find a Grocer charging $7 for Milk and ask them when the last time they sold any was…
Maybe Amazon should start charging companies that want to set prices a download fee for each purchase to cover bandwidth… and a storage charge along with promotional placement…
