Apple causing rise in E-Book pricing with iPad

[teiresias]

Didn't know if anyone's heard about Amazon pulling all of Macmillan Publishing's books (apparently e-books and print editions) over a pricing dispute stemming from the fact that Apple/Jobs are letting them price e-books in the $15 range on the iBooks store for the iPad.

Amazon Pulls Macmillan Books Over E-Book Price Disagreement

Basically, Macmillan wants Amazon to do the Apple pricing or they're going to delay every e-book by seven months on Amazon. I guess Jobs doesn't read (he certainly doesn't think anyone else does), so unlike he did with music, movies, and tv, he's willing to actually RAISE the price of the product once Apple gets into to the market rather than have it go lower.

Apple can suck it.

 

[Tegeril]

Didn't know if anyone's heard about Amazon pulling all of Macmillan Publishing's books (apparently e-books and print editions) over a pricing dispute stemming from the fact that Apple/Jobs are letting them price e-books in the $15 range on the iBooks store for the iPad.

Amazon Pulls Macmillan Books Over E-Book Price Disagreement

Basically, Macmillan wants Amazon to do the Apple pricing or they're going to delay every e-book by seven months on Amazon. I guess Jobs doesn't read (he certainly doesn't think anyone else does), so unlike he did with music, movies, and tv, he's willing to actually RAISE the price of the product once Apple gets into to the market rather than have it go lower.

Apple can suck it.

So you're going to blame Apple for making a deal with a publisher without any actual inside information about that deal and the specific requirements set by the publisher? And you're going to further ignore the statement from Steve Jobs directly that the publishers were displeased with Amazon's pricing, implying there was no deal with Apple if they did not capitulate to Macmillan's pricing and likely to renegotiate with Amazon for higher prices regardless?

I'm all for the prices being lower, and would much rather buy a book for $9.99 instead of $12/14.99, but neither Apple nor Amazon own the content. Apple, with all its leverage, couldn't even keep all music at $0.99 forever.

By all means, jump on today's Apple hate bandwagon though.

 

[teiresias]

What's there to need insider information about? It's the same split as the App Store with publishers setting the prices.

Music publishers are still displeased with iTunes pricing, I'm sure you'd have something to say if iTunes music prices raised across the board. That doesn't stop Jobs from holding the music industry to the fire to keep prices low.

 

[teiresias]

Amazon has caved. From their message boards:

Dear Customers:

Macmillan, one of the "big six" publishers, has clearly communicated to us that, regardless of our viewpoint, they are committed to switching to an agency model and charging $12.99 to $14.99 for e-book versions of bestsellers and most hardcover releases.

We have expressed our strong disagreement and the seriousness of our disagreement by temporarily ceasing the sale of all Macmillan titles. We want you to know that ultimately, however, we will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan's terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles, and we will want to offer them to you even at prices we believe are needlessly high for e-books. Amazon customers will at that point decide for themselves whether they believe it's reasonable to pay $14.99 for a bestselling e-book. We don't believe that all of the major publishers will take the same route as Macmillan. And we know for sure that many independent presses and self-published authors will see this as an opportunity to provide attractively priced e-books as an alternative.

Kindle is a business for Amazon, and it is also a mission. We never expected it to be easy!

Thank you for being a customer.

Post here

Thank Jobs, thanks Macmillan, looks like I need to start checking the publisher before I buy anymore books.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Amazon has caved. From their message boards:



Post here

Thank Jobs, thanks Macmillan, looks like I need to start checking the publisher before I buy anymore books.

Amazon currently takes a loss by selling best seller ebooks at $9.99 in an attempt to increase market share. Apple is allowing publishers to set their own prices.

Even without Apple, Amazon would eventually increase the prices of best seller ebooks in the future.

 

[ViRGE]

Amazon currently takes a loss by selling best seller ebooks at $9.99 in an attempt to increase market share.

Really?😱 This is the first I've heard of this.

 

[teiresias]

Yes, Amazon takes a loss at the $9.99 because they already pay Macmillan and other publishers what they ask.

The ironic thing here is that Amazon will actually end up making more money per book by giving in to Macmillan (I think so anyway) since they'd now sell the e-book closer to what they actually pay Macmillan.

It also shows how anti-consumer Macmillan is in all of this, because they're not actually making more money under this deal, because Amazon was already paying them the higher price for the book. Macmillan just didn't want people to start associating $9.99 pricing with e-books whether they be new releases or "paperback" versions.

 

[Conscript]

Thank Jobs, thanks Macmillan, looks like I need to start checking the publisher before I buy anymore books.

+1...there are so many books out there, I can easily do without purchasing ones published by Macmillan. $14.99 for books that cost you about .05 to distribute electronically? Unless you tell me the author is getting 95% of the balance...no deal.

 

[mugs]

+1...there are so many books out there, I can easily do without purchasing ones published by Macmillan. $14.99 for books that cost you about .05 to distribute electronically? Unless you tell me the author is getting 95% of the balance...no deal.

Why do you think the publisher should not be able to make a profit? :hmm:

Hardcovers typically sell for ~$25. The printing and distribution costs are less than $10 per book, so at $15 for an eBook there is less profit to go around. Why are you complaining about them making a profit on eBooks but not about the profits they make on hardcovers?

 

[Capt Caveman]

+1...there are so many books out there, I can easily do without purchasing ones published by Macmillan. $14.99 for books that cost you about .05 to distribute electronically? Unless you tell me the author is getting 95% of the balance...no deal.

/facepalm

The sale of an ebook is a loss of sale of a hardcover. Amazon loses money on every best seller ebook sold at $9.99.

And for all of those complaining about Apple, Google is planning on releasing an ebook store this year and they also will allow publishers to set their own prices. Amazon's $9.99 pricing model was only temporary to build market share.

 

[Conscript]

/facepalm

The sale of an ebook is a loss of sale of a hardcover. Amazon loses money on every best seller ebook sold at $9.99.

And for all of those complaining about Apple, Google is planning on releasing an ebook store this year and they also will allow publishers to set their own prices. Amazon's $9.99 pricing model was only temporary to build market share.

/facepalm

Then the issue is the cost of the books to Amazon isn't it? Not my problem. The printed word has been on the decline for years. The issue with e-book is that it is basically ridding the need for publishers. If you don't need to to print, bind, physically distribute, then what is a publisher even needed for? Instead, publishers are trying to a) recoup their fixed cost to produce physical books by making up on basically 100% margin e-book business, and b) perhaps more diabolically, making e-books as unattractive as possible without completely boxing themselves out of the market. Trust me, every single publishing company would prefer that ebooks never existed, save for the fact that their business has been on the decline for years and need it to stay afloat.

ebooks will eventually take over once Amazon, or Apple, or Google, or whomever, start direct to market books, from authors straight to ebook distributor. Mark my words, withing the next few years, once there are enough ebook readers out there to make it worthwhile, some well known author will go direct to market and bypass his/her publisher, and then you will see the true revolution begin...

 

[Conscript]

Why do you think the publisher should not be able to make a profit? :hmm:

Hardcovers typically sell for ~$25. The printing and distribution costs are less than $10 per book, so at $15 for an eBook there is less profit to go around. Why are you complaining about them making a profit on eBooks but not about the profits they make on hardcovers?

Hey, they're welcome to try to sell at the highest margins they can...it's a free market. Likewise, it's a free market for me to purchase from publishers who offer the best books at more reasonable margins not at my expense.

 

[Capt Caveman]

/facepalm

Then the issue is the cost of the books to Amazon isn't it? Not my problem. The printed word has been on the decline for years. The issue with e-book is that it is basically ridding the need for publishers. If you don't need to to print, bind, physically distribute, then what is a publisher even needed for? Instead, publishers are trying to a) recoup their fixed cost to produce physical books by making up on basically 100% margin e-book business, and b) perhaps more diabolically, making e-books as unattractive as possible without completely boxing themselves out of the market. Trust me, every single publishing company would prefer that ebooks never existed, save for the fact that their business has been on the decline for years and need it to stay afloat.

ebooks will eventually take over once Amazon, or Apple, or Google, or whomever, start direct to market books, from authors straight to ebook distributor. Mark my words, withing the next few years, once there are enough ebook readers out there to make it worthwhile, some well known author will go direct to market and bypass his/her publisher, and then you will see the true revolution begin...

/facepalm

You have no clue what it takes to publish a book do you? Have you worked in the publishing industry like myself? Do you even know what a publisher does?

Do you seriously believe that the manuscript an author writes goes straight to the printer? Sadly, the vast majority of authors don't even write their own books but need ghost writers, editors, researchers, historians, etc to create what you read today.

Yes, some authors have written and published their own books/ebooks. However, unless you're already known like Stephen King, you're not going to make any money without a publisher to market the book and ordered by resellers.

 

[Conscript]

/facepalm

You have no clue what it takes to publish a book do you? Have you worked in the publishing industry like myself? Do you even know what a publisher does?

Do you seriously believe that the manuscript an author writes goes straight to the printer? Sadly, the vast majority of authors don't even write their own books but need ghost writers, editors, researchers, historians, etc to create what you read today.

Yes, some authors have written and published their own books/ebooks. However, unless you're already known like Stephen King, you're not going to make any money without a publisher to market the book and ordered by resellers.

actually, I have an even better perspective...I'm an outside auditor for one of the majors. So save your facepalms, k?

and on a personal note, I've had my Kindle a little over a year. Probably purchased about 50 books. Almost all of them were randoms found by reviews by unknown authors...some of the best even.

 

[Capt Caveman]

actually, I have an even better perspective...I'm an outside auditor for one of the majors. So save your facepalms, k?

and on a personal note, I've had my Kindle a little over a year. Probably purchased about 50 books. Almost all of them were randoms found by reviews by unknown authors...some of the best even.

So? Then why would you make such ignorant comments? Oh wait, it's b/c you still don't know what a publisher does.

Also, well known authors enjoy signing lucrative book contracts that pay them a non-refundable advance with perpetual royalties for a title regardless of how well it may sell. They also enjoy having a publisher translate/edit the book for international sale/distribution, handle international marketing, handle royalty accounting, etc...

So, yes it costs nothing for a publisher/author to produce a book(ebook/physical). An ebook is pure profit. /facepalm

 

[Conscript]

So? Then why would you make such ignorant comments? Oh wait, it's b/c you still don't know what a publisher does.

Also, well known authors enjoy signing lucrative book contracts that pay them a non-refundable advance with perpetual royalties for a title regardless of how well it may sell. They also enjoy having a publisher translate/edit the book for international sale/distribution, handle international marketing, handle royalty accounting, etc...

So, yes it costs nothing for a publisher/author to produce a book(ebook/physical). An ebook is pure profit. /facepalm

sounds like I struck a nerve. Sorry, didn't mean to tell you you were becoming obsolete. Keep up the good work, clearly the subject matter is much more important to you than me, as I'm not really looking to fight with someone who's been on these forums half as long as me, with 15x the posts...clearly you have a lot to say about a lot and I will bow out as I am no match for the rhetoric...

 

[Capt Caveman]

sounds like I struck a nerve. Sorry, didn't mean to tell you you were becoming obsolete. Keep up the good work, clearly the subject matter is much more important to you than me, as I'm not really looking to fight with someone who's been on these forums half as long as me, with 15x the posts...clearly you have a lot to say about a lot and I will bow out as I am no match for the rhetoric...

Nope, didn't strike a nerve, just trying to provide some insight on how ignorant some folks are believing an ebook cost nothing to produce and that publishers don't do anything but print books(which most don't since they outsource the printing).

Surprised you don't post more, as an auditor of one of the majors you know so much about books and publishing.

 

[teiresias]

My question is, does Apple give access to their iBook store to small, independent publishers and independent self-publish authors the way Amazon currently does with the Kindle store, or is Apple content merely to do big deals with the major publishing houses?

Also, if Macmillan and other publishers want to charge more for their e-book versions (with prices often closer to the hardcover price even after the paperback edition is available), then they need to rid the e-books of the OCR errors I've seen littered through quite a few of the books from the bigger publishers. They apparently feed the manuscript through the OCR machine and don't even have an editor go through it to check for typos or mis-identified words. There's often formatting errors and other weirdness as well that would not be acceptable in a print edition that they let pass in the e-book.

 

[fatpat268]

Why do you think the publisher should not be able to make a profit? :hmm:

Hardcovers typically sell for ~$25. The printing and distribution costs are less than $10 per book, so at $15 for an eBook there is less profit to go around. Why are you complaining about them making a profit on eBooks but not about the profits they make on hardcovers?

Maybe so, but I haven't payed more than ~$17 for a harcover in a long time. (Thanks amazon!).

I plan on getting a kindle soon, and if more publishers want $15 for an ebook, it's gonna leave a sour taste in my mouth.

 

[Kmax82]

In my opinion, this just proves the uphill battle that there is to face against digital distribution.

On one side, you have the publishers/producers who still want to make the record profits that they were getting offline.

On the other side, you have consumers who aren't ok with paying the same amount of money for a file.

Yes, in the end.. it's probably close to the same amount of work (minus the actual packaging), but in a consumer's mind it isn't. It's a file. And it's hard to associate value with that.

This struggle will continue for quite a while. However, with more products coming out to upsell on the pluses of these digital products, I think it will keep print and other mediums valid IF they attack it correctly.

 

[Fingolfin269]

/facepalm

The sale of an ebook is a loss of sale of a hardcover.

Not necessarily. A lot of people wait for the paperback version because of the cost associated with the hardback edition. E-books are priced lower than their hardback counterparts and may bring people in on release day as opposed to waiting for the paperback version. To be fair it could be that an e-book purchase at release could actually be cannibalizing a paperback sale which I imagine would work out in the favor of the publisher, right?

 

[Tegeril]

The real facepalm here is Amazon stating that Macmillan has a "monopoly" of its own content. LOL.

 

[Kadarin]

Not necessarily. A lot of people wait for the paperback version because of the cost associated with the hardback edition. E-books are priced lower than their hardback counterparts and may bring people in on release day as opposed to waiting for the paperback version. To be fair it could be that an e-book purchase at release could actually be cannibalizing a paperback sale which I imagine would work out in the favor of the publisher, right?

I for one very rarely ever buy a new hardcover. Still, if I buy an ebook for whatever price, I'd like to be sure it'll outlive the device I read it on.

 

[teiresias]

Harper Collins possibly following MacMillan's lead?

 

[Conscript]

let me save the suspense, once the first domino fell, the rest aren't far behind. Can't say I'll be surprised when some of the disenfranchised with $300 ebooks that perhaps start finding torrents of books once promised at $9.99 now selling for close to the physical copies....

p.s. despite loving the mbp's, i hope the iPad turns out to be the epic failure i predict and Jobs has magical and revolutionary nightmares of all the ways he went wrong on this un-inventive piece of crap.