ublishing world looks on as Amazon and Macmillan barter02.02.10 The Bookseller
The publishing world is continuing to assess the fall-out from the ongoing dispute between Amazon.com and Macmillan US over e-book prices. While the media has generally perceived Amazon.com's "capitulation" as a victory for "old media", others have suggested that Amazon will be the ultimate winner from the fracas.
Negotiations between Amazon.com and Macmillan are reported to be "on-going", with Macmillan US' books still not available direct from the internet retailer as of today (2nd February).
Despite the problem this may cause some of their authors, US agents have applauded Macmillan's decision to talk-touch with Amazon. A statement from the Association of Authors’ Representatives said: "We have never believed that a model that incurs a per unit loss on every sale, and sets an unrealistically low price on the most popular bestselling books, can possibly be in the best long-term interests of our clients or the publishing industry.
"Therefore we applaud Macmillan’s stance on e-book terms, and Amazon’s stated intention to work within Macmillan’s model. We hope and assume other publishers will soon follow suit."
The Guardian notes that this local tussle between American firms is being closely watched by British publishers. As one editor at a London publishing house put it: "Whatever happens in the US will dictate what happens elsewhere in the world." Some publishers sensed Amazon was gearing up for a legal fight with its use of the word "monopoly" in its response, posted on a Kindle forum.
But the suggestion that Amazon.com has been defeated has been rejected by some. Forrester's James McQuivey notes on Paid Content that Amazon "wins in the short run and the long run", given that it will now make money from sales of Macmillan's books on the Kindle, while Macmillan may lose sales, forcing it to bring prices down again. "In that future, Amazon will make more money than it does now. At that point, even if prices come back down to $9.99, Amazon will be making $3.30 from each book sold. . . And publishers will make less money than before on each book sold."
Meanwhile, despite Amazon.com's public climbdown, there is still no firm indication when it will begin selling Macmillan US' titles again. As Publishers Lunch reported: " They only said they would do so 'ultimately'. Does that really mean 'in early March' when Macmillan's new terms become effective, or slightly thereafter when the iPad launches, or sometime far sooner?"
Kristin Nelson at PubRants wrote that she expected resolution sooner: "Talking with Macmillan editors, I hear that John Sargent has a meeting this afternoon with Amazon and that the company is 'optimistic' that links will be back up by tonight or tomorrow morning. I’ve been assured that the conversation is continuing."
Guardian believes 'old media' has won.
It's a mistake to look at this tussle as if it was about ebooks or ebook prices in isolation. The major publishers' concern is entirely with hardcopy print books, and their fear is that reasonably-priced ebooks will compete with the same titles in hardcover. That's why Macmillan was willing to strike a deal with Amazon that would net them (Macmillan) less per volume sold AND fewer sales (since that's the predictable result of a price hike). Obviously Macmillan isn't concerned about the money they'll make or won't on ebook sales, because what they want is something that will be worse measured that way. They're concerned about killing their old-model business.
ReplyDeleteThe old media haven't won because they can't. The writing is on the wall, and the old brick-and-mortar model is broken and doomed. The future of publishing will be much more decentralized, with a lot of small publishers as well as a lot of self-publishing, rather than monlithic control by a few giants. What we see happening is the death throes of a dinosaur.