2
Feb
Soo…
There was this almighty fight going on.
Macmillan – the big name publisher – insisted they want to set the prices for their Kindle releases, rather than Amazon.
Which is fine. Why shouldn't they be able to set their own price?
Well, Amazon kinda didn't see it that way. Generally books on Kindle are released at around $9.99, but Macmillan wanted to release new books at $14.99 – the same price as a hardback – on first release.
I can kind of see their point.
If they release a book in hardcover at that price, but at the same time it's available on the Kindle (and on the iPod / iPhone via an App) at $9.99, then the sales for the hardcovers will go down, as people will get it cheaper as an ebook.
So Amazon started to play hardball. For a few days, they refused to sell any Macmillan titles on the Kindle.
Apparently the fight is over — and Macmillan won.
Today Amazon relented, and released a pretty strong statement:
"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."
Well, I can see both points. No, I don't agree with the same price for hardcover and ebook. Definitely not. But I also don't agree that Amazon gets to set the price of a book on Kindle. It's not their release, it's the publisher's.
Considering (until June, when it can be changed) Amazon take 65% of that price, the publisher (and as such the author) makes next to nothing on a Kindle sale, but on the hardcover edition, they do.
If the book is cheaper (on release) as an ebook on first release — then hardcover sales will drop. As such, the royalties of the authors will go down as well, in favor of the (cheaper) ebook version.
As long as the ebook price goes down when the paperback is released, I have no problem with the higher price. Those who want it have the option of getting it first, either in ebook or hardcover. It's up to them what they want to get. Some of us can't afford Kindles. 
What do you think?
Comments
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Chelle Sandell
on
02.05.2010
I've been using the free Adobe reader version and just reading from my laptop. I usually won't fork out the bucks for hardcover. I wait for paperback or check it out at the library.