There are many decisions I can point to from Apple’s stand against accepting porn in their app store to both companies having a distinct aversion to having a GBLT eBook category to Amazon’s mucking with GLBT rankings last year etc etc etc.
But I have one quick question to the good folks out there in eBook Reader Blogland…
Why is it Apple’s or Amazon’s fault over the whole Dead Tree Publisher “price fixing” deal?
I and others have pointed out again and again that Publishers need to listen to the consumer more and less the retail channels. They need to hold themselves accountable to their “real” customers and that is you and me.
So why are numerous bloggers and commentators out there still holding Apple or Amazon accountable for the Price Fixing Five?
It was the Dead Tree Publishers who decided they wanted to control how much you paid for eBooks. If anything they just took advantage of Apple getting into the eBook game to pull that fast one.
So why is it that you and I (the “real” customers) are not burning down the doors of the “real” culprits here?
The Publishers!
Are we being as much part of the problem as they are by not holding them responsible for their business decisions? Why snipe and snarl at the stupid stores? Why say it’s all Apple’s fault? Hell, why is anyone even suing Apple? It’s like taking a torch to Fictionwise because they had to change their prices too.
Get to the real fucking problem children…
From: Digital Trends ~ Inside Apple’s iBooks Library: Five Publishers On Board With The iPad
Penguin
Owner: Pearson PLC
Notable Brands: Puffin Books, Viking Press, Allen Lane, The Complete Idiot’s Guide, E.P. Dutton
Popular Titles: The Scarpetta Factor by Patricia Cornwell, Tom Clancy’s HAWX by David Michaels, Food Rules by Michael Pollan, Getting Things Done by David Allen, The Godfather by Mario Puzo
Harper Collins
Owner: News Corp
Notable Brands: Ecco, Avon Books, Regan Books, William Morrow & Company
Popular Titles: Going Rogue by Sarah Palin, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man by Steve Harvey, Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton, SuperFreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, Game Change by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin
Simon & Schuster
Owner: CBS Corporation
Notable Brands: Aladdin Paperbacks, Free Press, Scriber, Howard Books, Atria
Popular Titles: Last Words by George Carlin, Under the Dome by Stephen King, Thirst No. 2 by Christopher Pike, Days of Gold by Jude Deveraux, Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman
Macmillan
Owner: Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck
Notable Brands: Bedford, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Pan Books, St. Martins Press, Tor Books
Popular Titles: Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay, Wolf Hall by Hilary Mante, Night by Elie Wiesel, Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich, Impact by Douglas Preston
Hachette
Owner: Lagardère SCA
Notable Brands: Twelve, Orbit Books, Yen Press, Grand Central Publishing, Vision
Popular Titles: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, Dear John by Nicholas Sparks, Alex Cross by James Patterson,The Shack by William P. Young, The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova
Tags: eBook Commentary
kirsten saell wrote,
There’s a certain hypocrisy over this whole brouhaha over the “price fixing”, IMO. I mean the same people who insist publishers need to start seeing the end consumer instead of the retailer as their actual customer–well, isn’t that what’s happening here? They’re selling direct to consumer, and eliminating the manipulation of the middle man. Sure, they’re replacing it with their own attempts at manipulation, but it’s hard to see readers as your customers when you sell to bookstores who then turn around and sell your product at whatever price they want–whether it’s a huge mark-up or a huge loss.
All readers need to do is exercise patience and stick to their guns. If they do that, the worst case scenario for readers–some people will buy ebooks that are overpriced, but most won’t. Some will go ahead and buy the cheaper print versions, but most won’t. Publishers will experiment with price-point and find something the market will bear–or they’ll continue protecting their print books until their losses hurt them enough to reconsider their philosophy. Meanshile, epublishers who’ve been doubly penalized by the unfair, retailer-subsidized competitiveness of the big pubs while earning a fraction per copy on each ebook they sell than those competitors do, will have a greater chance to succeed.
It’s not a fair system, but neither was the old one. And as with all things that are driven by consumer willingness to lay down money, it will shake down to something bearable eventually, or companies will go under as readers make their displeasure known.
The only worry I have is that the longer it takes to all work itself out, the more accustomed many readers will become to getting what they want for free…
Link | June 3rd, 2010 at 6:07 am
TeddyPig wrote,
I think people do not want to UPSET the publishers or the authors over their reaction to the price.
Frankly those are the EXACT people I would hold MOST accountable honestly.
Authors choose what publisher they work with (I find it hard to believe an author would allow their readers to be taken for a ride and not say or do anything to get out of that publisher immediately but there unfortunately are some really scared authors out there) and the publishers get away with whatever price they think that suckers will buy without it becoming a public issue.
Blaming retailers for these bad decisions is just denying who really is responsible.
Link | June 3rd, 2010 at 8:07 am
Stumbling Over Chaos :: Fit To Be Linked wrote,
[...] also wonders why the whole price fixing agency pricing model is Amazon or Apple’s fault – maybe we should be pointing to the traditional publishers [...]
Link | June 4th, 2010 at 5:36 am
Did The Agency Model Bring April Showers? | The Naughty Bits wrote,
[...] it have been the Dead Tree Publishers jacking up the price of eBooks through their poorly thought out and horribly implemented Agency [...]
Link | June 17th, 2010 at 3:44 am