Amazon vs Publishers Dispute

Don't blame Amazon, blame the publishers.

I think the book publishers were also scared amazon might replicate the ipod/itunes playbook, ie they might wake up one day and amazon kindles might be 90% of the ebook market at which point amazon has way more leverage over them than they would like. So I think for the publishers this is a way of leveling the playing field and trying to create competition in the book reader market.

It's regrettable that some of the authors are losing sales, but I think that Amazon is basically in the right, for the following reasons:1. Their arguments with regards to price elasticity are supported by (admittedly, Amazon's) data, and are intuitively plausible. Cheaper books sell more, yielding more revenue. The cost of production is substantially lower for ebooks, so passing on some of the savings to consumers seems fair, and further, so long as a literate public is seen as a g

Here's a previous discussion when the same publisher was being pirated by Amazon previously.https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13924546

Interestingly here, it's not the authors complaining, it's the publishers. Much like the record labels, it is the publishers that are becoming less relevant in the slow move to electronic books. Without the barrier to entry of having huge printing presses, Amazon effectively cuts them out. Longer term though, with open formats, Amazon risks being disintermediated themselves, as authors can sell directly to readers.

Amazon makes money from every pirated book sold. Maybe book publishers lack the clout of the music publishers?

One of the most interesting things to come to light in the anti-trust decision against Apple was that Amazon was happily buying bestselling eBooks from publishers for $13 and reselling them for $9. The publishers preferred the opposite: for Apple and Amazon pay them $9 and then resell the books for $13. The publishers WANTED the eBook market to slow down - they didn't want people to stop buying hardcovers from Barnes and Noble for $30 and they didn't want people thinking that a new bes

Interesting thing is, traditional book publishers could do the same. Maybe they have, and we wouldn't be aware of it. My impression is that they mostly haven't and mostly wouldn't. I think Apple, Amazon et al. are particularly extractive, and they come at anything firstly from the point of view of how they can control and channel the experience, the level of focus being unique to them.

I'm pretty sure authors would get a better deal if they cut off these middlemen. I always buy directly from the author if I can. Not only is it cheaper when that option is available, but the authors often take a pro-reader stance - like no DRM. There are a few small scale publishers like leanpub that do something similar. The exploitative practices in the publishing can stop if both authors and readers take a proactive stance in it.

I know I'm against the grain here, but I don't have much sympathy.Firstly, no-one is forcing them to sell through Amazon/Audible. They don't have to. They could build their own storefront, with all the effort and cost that goes with that.Secondly, publishers are complaining about shady accounting and crooked royalty payments? Publishers of all people? Oh, the irony.Thirdly, presumably they've done the calculations, and even with the shady royalty p