Macmillan’s Ebook Prices Going Up
Saturday, March 20th, 2010Amazon recently stopped the selling of Macmillan titles. Macmillan is established as one of the top 6 publishers in the world. Amazon decided to resort to this move on account of a disagreement on the consumer’s price for Amazon Kindle and ebook users. According to a notice at Amazon.com, the Kindle Team wrote that they might sooner or later have to accept the Macmillan terms, because they would like to offer the customer the option. Macmillan’s titles will be priced from $5.99 to $14.99.
The Macmillan group states that they will actually generate less profit while Amazon makes more using the digital agent model. The retailer (Amazon) will receive 30% cut off the titles. The physical book industry has adopted an agency model that has furnished considerable gains to all involved, and Macmillan states that the digital market needs a model to follow as well.
It is true that the publisher, retailer, author and/or illustrator is in this industry to make money. This monopoly, however, will hurt the customer in the long run.
Amazon’s temporary exclusion of Macmillan titles is to show their protest of the higher cost, and according to Macmillan’s CEO, the disagreement is about the long term market. Obviously the retailer and publisher have different view points. Amazon hopes that other publishers won’t follow Macmillan’s example. But since it is obviously for their gain, what would stop other publishers from doing the same?
If we look at the tangible book market, a consumer who would like to purchase the latest and best hard cover books will do so. If the desire can be tamed, then they may watch for the price to take a bit of a dive. The issue is, why should it be any different for the digital book market?
A boycott against Macmillan is perhaps a suitable response, however, would it really last? Once a reader is tempted by the most current title from one of Macmillan’s brilliant writers, the cost doesn’t matter any longer.
Individuals will continue to acquire what makes them happy. The simple joys of reading a book has become convenient and so accessible by using Kindle technology. This alone is enticing, and when you add a new Macmillan title, reading enthusiast will bite. We haven’t been able to fight the urge when it comes to an interesting read.
Amazon has over 400,000 titles available so even if Macmillan ebook prices are steeper than the $9.99 ebook price tag that Amazon would like to stick to, Kindle users still have a wide range of ebooks to choose from. Check us out to find out what else the Amazon Kindle has to offer and why it is the most popularebook reader today.
