I agree but the DOJ would say this is anti-competitive behavior and go after the publishers again. I've always wondered why the reseller gets to do whatever they want to (as long as it's Amazon) while the publisher and author are held hostage. If the author wants to sell their book for $1000 why should a reseller have the right to drop that price? Would Amazon actually pay this author $1000 and turn around and sell it for $9.99 just to push it's garbage products?
The problem with people today is they treat everything as having the same value. All books, all music, all movies are of equal value. Of course this only lasts until they want to sell something, then its value is much more than anyone else's.
No. There's no regulation that says a publisher has to sell to everyone and they certainly don't have to sell to anyone who doesn't want to pay their wholesale price. If Amazon wants a 65% discount from list and the publisher only wants to give a 55% discount or the publisher doesn't want to let Amazon print books when they run out of stock and the publisher can't supply additional copies immediately (which is what Amazon is indeed asking for), they don't have to. Let's not make up regulations that don't exist.
And yet, the worst DOJ in the history of DOJs, a DOJ with a total disregard for the law and the constitution, are going after Apple.
I thought this was a british publishing house & smaller publishers in the UK? What is the DOJ have to do with the UK? Please stop regurgitating delusional nonsense that you can't back up.
Does the DO have the ability to do anything about action occurring in the EU and the UK or are people just ranting without reading the article. Or have I just misread the article?
One of those knee jerk reactions I'd say. Of course the DoJ has no power over what occurs in another country.
Does the DO have the ability to do anything about action occurring in the EU and the UK or are people just ranting without reading the article. Or have I just misread the article?
One of those knee jerk reactions I'd say. Of course the DoJ has no power over what occurs in another country. Federal government department like the IRS, Immigration, State, BTF ...
If you have ever wondered how the big music labels came to be producing rote musical acts, you're watching the answer now with books. Unlike music however, the drastically reducing cost of technology won't magically give new authors the capital and oversight they need to finish a book.
Indeed the agency model could have fixed much of this, but we won't really see anything like that for years now.
I live in a country where the agency model is mandated by law on books and not on music since 1985 or so. But the publisher cannot change the price on same quality edition afterwards. The net result is that books in France are rather cheaper than anywhere else in EU (especially on hardcovers as you cant jack up prices on new and bestsellers), small book sellers are still alive and thriving when they are good at counselling, and the only one who have problems with amazon are the local equivalent to Barnes&Nobles. Those are dying mostly because they relied on music and DVD sales which have gone poof. Amazon cannot lower the price more than 5% and only by hitting their own margin.
On the music side, Walmart equivalents and Amazon had killed the small ones long before anybody was only buying digital. As the price was free to set and they were buying in high volumes they were able to sell almost at cost and push the others out of market
Sure the price is fixed by the publisher in agency model, but as they are in seriously cuthroat competition between them they are forced to keep it as low as possible.
Government is good... Repeat after me... Government is good...
If government isn't good, we'd damn well better make it good! A complex organism can't function without regulation. Shall we let companies assassinate each other's leaders? Maybe manufacturers should save money by dumping their toxic waste into your yard?
Amazon, especially with the introduction of the Fire phone, is slowly but surely killing small business across the country. Consumers will walk into a local store to see, touch & feel the object they are shopping for and then will use their Firefly app to order online.
Perfect example is a shoe store.
1) Walk in.
2) Get perfectly fitted by a professional
3) Ask to try on "one last pair"
4) Salesman walks into the stock room to retrieve "one last pair" thinking he made a great sale
5) Meanwhile, consumer scans UPC with Firefly, finds much better deals
6) When salesman returns, fake an "emergency" and walk out, only to order on Amazon.
It happens multiple times daily in the shoe store across from my shop and it's putting him out of business.
It's kind of ironic that the behaviour you've described is exactly what Amazon practises every time they sell something, especially books. The publishers do all the "heavy lifting" .... editing, working closely with the author, book tours, promotions, etc. etc.......and then Amazon walks in and undercuts them on price, making it almost impossible to compete, thus resulting in the closing of hundreds, if not thousands, of book retailers.
The thing is, it's us ... the consumer, who is the "bad guy" here. We keep on insisting on lower and lower prices and never once do we question the results of our never ending search for "the best price". We never ever consider the "cause and effect" and if we do, by chance, then we "rationalize" our purchases through companies like Amazon, as just a drop in the bucket in the overall scheme of things so ....no harm, no foul. Where are the boycotts of Amazon and Walmart and all the other similar companies who thrive on creating the race to the bottom (price wise) while putting North American companies out of business. People, wake up! There is a price to be paid for buying "the cheapest".
To paraphrase a famous comic strip character .... I have seen the enemy ... and the enemy is us.
Good thing the consumer is being protected from Apple.
...and Apple was protecting Publishers as well... are you just kidding around or do you beleive that consumers are the only thing needing some attention?
Apple attempted to do an iTunes Store approach to publishing because the industry is getting hammered by players like Amazon. Publishing is changing radically, not dying overall. (There is "some" demand for paper books -- just not from me.) But unfortunately, I believe, DoJ overreached in the scope of their prosecution of Apple. Support Publishing and their employees.
It's kind of ironic that the behaviour you've described is exactly what Amazon practises every time they sell something, especially books. The publishers do all the "heavy lifting" .... editing, working closely with the author, book tours, promotions, etc. etc.......and then Amazon walks in and undercuts them on price, making it almost impossible to compete, thus resulting in the closing of hundreds, if not thousands, of book retailers.
The thing is, it's us ... the consumer, who is the "bad guy" here. We keep on insisting on lower and lower prices and never once do we question the results of our never ending search for "the best price". We never ever consider the "cause and effect" and if we do, by chance, then we "rationalize" our purchases through companies like Amazon, as just a drop in the bucket in the overall scheme of things so ....no harm, no foul. Where are the boycotts of Amazon and Walmart and all the other similar companies who thrive on creating the race to the bottom (price wise) while putting North American companies out of business. People, wake up! There is a price to be paid for buying "the cheapest".
To paraphrase a famous comic strip character .... I have seen the enemy ... and the enemy is us.
Yep we think we should get everything for cheap. We discount the 'blood, sweat and tears' that go into creating something from scratch because we can go to a website and 'one-click' and via the cloud it winds up in our mobile library. While this mindset persists companies like Amazon will keep squeezing small businesses till they cease to exist. We mismanage our finances to the extent that we can only afford to buy everything at discount prices. Very sad.
This is what the stupid dumb f**k lawyers at the US Department of Justice and their imbecilic boss Eric Holder has brought about. The biggest collection of empowered moronicity that we've seen in a long time. Who the f**k ever expected that the DoJ, under a Democrat no less, would sue to restore a monopoly that was demolished by a new entrant? That has never ever happened in the US before. WTfreakingF?
This is what the stupid dumb f**k lawyers at the US Department of Justice and their imbecilic boss Eric Holder has brought about. The biggest collection of empowered moronicity that we've seen in a long time. Who the f**k ever expected that the DoJ, under a Democrat no less, would sue to restore a monopoly that was demolished by a new entrant? That has never ever happened in the US before. WTfreakingF?
Did I miss somewhere that Apple or anyone else can't sell books? Or for a lower price?
Barnes & Noble did this to the mom & pop shops loong before Amazon ever existed. No my worry if the publishing houses couldn't adapt to the digital age and sell some other way.
Too late now.
Comments
I agree but the DOJ would say this is anti-competitive behavior and go after the publishers again. I've always wondered why the reseller gets to do whatever they want to (as long as it's Amazon) while the publisher and author are held hostage. If the author wants to sell their book for $1000 why should a reseller have the right to drop that price? Would Amazon actually pay this author $1000 and turn around and sell it for $9.99 just to push it's garbage products?
The problem with people today is they treat everything as having the same value. All books, all music, all movies are of equal value. Of course this only lasts until they want to sell something, then its value is much more than anyone else's.
No. There's no regulation that says a publisher has to sell to everyone and they certainly don't have to sell to anyone who doesn't want to pay their wholesale price. If Amazon wants a 65% discount from list and the publisher only wants to give a 55% discount or the publisher doesn't want to let Amazon print books when they run out of stock and the publisher can't supply additional copies immediately (which is what Amazon is indeed asking for), they don't have to. Let's not make up regulations that don't exist.
Interesting that this is spreading to the UK where the Competition and Markets Authority to investgate abuses of monopolies. This appears to be exact that and in my view should be investigated. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/competition-and-markets-authority
And yet, the worst DOJ in the history of DOJs, a DOJ with a total disregard for the law and the constitution, are going after Apple.
I thought this was a british publishing house & smaller publishers in the UK? What is the DOJ have to do with the UK? Please stop regurgitating delusional nonsense that you can't back up.
One of those knee jerk reactions I'd say. Of course the DoJ has no power over what occurs in another country.
Fixed that for you!
Fixed that for you, AI.
If you have ever wondered how the big music labels came to be producing rote musical acts, you're watching the answer now with books. Unlike music however, the drastically reducing cost of technology won't magically give new authors the capital and oversight they need to finish a book.
Indeed the agency model could have fixed much of this, but we won't really see anything like that for years now.
I live in a country where the agency model is mandated by law on books and not on music since 1985 or so. But the publisher cannot change the price on same quality edition afterwards. The net result is that books in France are rather cheaper than anywhere else in EU (especially on hardcovers as you cant jack up prices on new and bestsellers), small book sellers are still alive and thriving when they are good at counselling, and the only one who have problems with amazon are the local equivalent to Barnes&Nobles. Those are dying mostly because they relied on music and DVD sales which have gone poof. Amazon cannot lower the price more than 5% and only by hitting their own margin.
On the music side, Walmart equivalents and Amazon had killed the small ones long before anybody was only buying digital. As the price was free to set and they were buying in high volumes they were able to sell almost at cost and push the others out of market
Sure the price is fixed by the publisher in agency model, but as they are in seriously cuthroat competition between them they are forced to keep it as low as possible.
Government is good... Repeat after me... Government is good...
If government isn't good, we'd damn well better make it good! A complex organism can't function without regulation. Shall we let companies assassinate each other's leaders? Maybe manufacturers should save money by dumping their toxic waste into your yard?
Amazon, especially with the introduction of the Fire phone, is slowly but surely killing small business across the country. Consumers will walk into a local store to see, touch & feel the object they are shopping for and then will use their Firefly app to order online.
Perfect example is a shoe store.
1) Walk in.
2) Get perfectly fitted by a professional
3) Ask to try on "one last pair"
4) Salesman walks into the stock room to retrieve "one last pair" thinking he made a great sale
5) Meanwhile, consumer scans UPC with Firefly, finds much better deals
6) When salesman returns, fake an "emergency" and walk out, only to order on Amazon.
It happens multiple times daily in the shoe store across from my shop and it's putting him out of business.
It's kind of ironic that the behaviour you've described is exactly what Amazon practises every time they sell something, especially books. The publishers do all the "heavy lifting" .... editing, working closely with the author, book tours, promotions, etc. etc.......and then Amazon walks in and undercuts them on price, making it almost impossible to compete, thus resulting in the closing of hundreds, if not thousands, of book retailers.
The thing is, it's us ... the consumer, who is the "bad guy" here. We keep on insisting on lower and lower prices and never once do we question the results of our never ending search for "the best price". We never ever consider the "cause and effect" and if we do, by chance, then we "rationalize" our purchases through companies like Amazon, as just a drop in the bucket in the overall scheme of things so ....no harm, no foul. Where are the boycotts of Amazon and Walmart and all the other similar companies who thrive on creating the race to the bottom (price wise) while putting North American companies out of business. People, wake up! There is a price to be paid for buying "the cheapest".
To paraphrase a famous comic strip character .... I have seen the enemy ... and the enemy is us.
Good thing the consumer is being protected from Apple.
...and Apple was protecting Publishers as well... are you just kidding around or do you beleive that consumers are the only thing needing some attention?
Apple attempted to do an iTunes Store approach to publishing because the industry is getting hammered by players like Amazon. Publishing is changing radically, not dying overall. (There is "some" demand for paper books -- just not from me.) But unfortunately, I believe, DoJ overreached in the scope of their prosecution of Apple. Support Publishing and their employees.
I have iBooks & Kindle on my iPad.
The reason I get most of my ebooks from Amazon is the selection - history, classics, sci-fi - and I'm not looking for top 40 or mainstream.
If iBooks had what i wanted then I'd gladly stay in the Apple's ecco system.
LOLOL why? Because I pay less?
Ruthless works. Look no further the Steve Jobs approach to $.99 iTunes.
Don’t act stupid.
Illegal monopoly doesn’t.
This is what the stupid dumb f**k lawyers at the US Department of Justice and their imbecilic boss Eric Holder has brought about. The biggest collection of empowered moronicity that we've seen in a long time. Who the f**k ever expected that the DoJ, under a Democrat no less, would sue to restore a monopoly that was demolished by a new entrant? That has never ever happened in the US before. WTfreakingF?
Monopolies are not illegal. The government wouldn't be granting them if they were.
Did I miss somewhere that Apple or anyone else can't sell books? Or for a lower price?
Barnes & Noble did this to the mom & pop shops loong before Amazon ever existed. No my worry if the publishing houses couldn't adapt to the digital age and sell some other way.
Too late now.
Nor did I say they were. Please read the post.
HOLY FREAKING CRAP, THE DELUSION AND FALLACY.