E-book pricing

Ludmilla · Post by **Ludmilla** » Tue March 1st, 2011, 2:45 pm

Well, thanks to Apple, Random House has now caved to agency pricing.

New article here.

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Tue March 8th, 2011, 10:56 pm

I'm bumping this one back up again with the mind to discussing the Kindle Kops of Amazon who *protest* the higher Kindle prices with one star reviews. Our own Elizabeth Loupas got hit with one of those today and the OP has just responded to several commenters (including me).

I understand the feedback - but consider:

1. 12+ months of communicating with publishers
2. This is hurting the author b/c I'm not *buying* a book I wanted to buy on principal and for many others for financial reasons.. A boycott is much more harmful to the author, and many Kindle owners are actively boycotting publishers. Wouldn't the author want to know this? What other forum do Kindle owners have?
3. I know the paperback is discounted, but that is my point. Amazon *can* discount it. That option has been contractually (and hopefully will one day be proven illegally) removed from Amazon per the Agency model.
4. The dialog my comment has raised is *exactly* what we are hoping for. Moving the agency model and many of my fellow ereaders endless letters to the publishers into a more public forum.

Civil disobedience is never pretty. You can't tell someone with very few options to make their grievances public they can't air those grievances in a public forum just because you don't like the forum they leverage. The publishers have not provided an equally public forum for these concerns about the rights of ebook owners versus physical book owners to be raised. So - expect this to be argued in a public forum by more and more people as the actions of the publishers become increasingly more concerning to many of us. I could have left one star with no explaination. I intentionally left an explaination to provide the *thinking* reader with context for my review. You may not agree with me. Just like you may not agree with my review of the book, had I have purchased the book (which I would like to do when the price fixing issue is addressed). But my opinion is valid. I'm saying in a non-offensive manner. There are no guideliness to my post of how much or how little of the book I must have read to leave my comments. So, thanks for the opinion. But your comments reinforce why it's important for me to leave this message to the author (who chose to sign up with this publisher) and when enough authors complain the publisher. Maybe then - they will pull out some of the unanswered letters that have been sent as well and consider engaging readers and retailers in a better model

.

Maybe it's me, but I cannot grasp the punish the author/book rating and think you're going to accomplish something. Amazon isn't looking at those and worrying about the bottom line. Wouldn't writing to the publishers and/or Amazon make more headway than this protest effort? Last time I looked the new Follett book has a ton of these protest reviews and IIRC Gabaldon's did as well.

Thoughts?

Margaret · Post by **Margaret** » Wed March 9th, 2011, 6:48 am

Interesting. She makes a good point about the feedback. But in my view, Amazon is doing more "price-fixing" than publishers are.

sweetpotatoboy · Post by **sweetpotatoboy** » Wed March 9th, 2011, 12:23 pm

I really think Amazon should provide options for rating the content of a book vs rating commercial aspects such as pricing, delivery, format etc. Unlikely to happen I know, but too many ratings and comments are now related to aspects other than content.

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Wed March 9th, 2011, 12:57 pm

[quote=""sweetpotatoboy""]I really think Amazon should provide options for rating the content of a book vs rating commercial aspects such as pricing, delivery, format etc. Unlikely to happen I know, but too many ratings and comments are now related to aspects other than content.[/quote]

I have seen multiple rating options for things like toys, etc. so they can do it. Perhaps a write in campaign requesting it?

Ludmilla · Post by **Ludmilla** » Wed March 9th, 2011, 1:52 pm

[quote=""sweetpotatoboy""]I really think Amazon should provide options for rating the content of a book vs rating commercial aspects such as pricing, delivery, format etc. Unlikely to happen I know, but too many ratings and comments are now related to aspects other than content.[/quote]

I agree. When I read a review, I want to know what the poster thought about the book. I hate the reviews that only exist to complain about the commercial side.

I know many will feel differently, but I also wish reviews for audio books were separated. A lot of them are about the narrator and don't bother to address the content of the book. I at least want the ability to filter those out.

Elizabeth · Post by **Elizabeth** » Wed March 9th, 2011, 2:22 pm

It occurs to me that there's a link to start a "Customer Discussion" on each Amazon product, including books. That would seem to be a more suitable place to address concerns like pricing, narrator, formatting, delivery, etc., and might even be more likely to garner attention.

I am not unsympathetic to the poster's concerns, but the whole pricing thing not only is incredibly complex but pretty much wholly out of the author's hands.

Michy · Post by **Michy** » Wed March 9th, 2011, 3:35 pm

[quote=""Ludmilla""]I know many will feel differently, but I also wish reviews for audio books were separated. A lot of them are about the narrator and don't bother to address the content of the book. I at least want the ability to filter those out.[/quote] I am one who feels differently about this issue; I listen to quite a few audio books and, for me, the narration is as important as the book itself. Because the narrator can truly make or break the book (for me, anyway). A poor narrator can kill what might be an otherwise wonderful book; likewise, an excellent narrator can make a mediocre book even better.

Fortunately, I've learned that you can often judge whether or not the narrator will be good just by the company who produces the audio. In my experience, a certain few companies always have excellent narrators; I try to stick with them.

At any rate, if I'm reading a review on an audio book that I'm thinking of purchasing, having other reviewers' thoughts on the narrator is helpful. I don't want to waste my money on a book with poor narration (that I can't return for refund

).

Ludmilla · Post by **Ludmilla** » Wed March 9th, 2011, 4:30 pm

I think it could work both ways, Michy. A filter could help those who listened to the audio book gain faster access to reviews that only concern the audio edition (similar to the filter for the ratings). Given the glut of information online today, it's a real time sink having to sift through irrelevant content.

LoveHistory · Post by **LoveHistory** » Wed March 9th, 2011, 5:50 pm

Using the rating system to express displeasure with anything other than the book content is inappropriate and isn't going to work.

There are better and more effective ways to go about the campaign they are waging.

1. Hit the blogosphere.

2. Write a freelance article for an appropriate magazine or industry journal.

3. Write letters to the publishers, contact the authors with your concerns (but it would be a good idea to read their books first, maybe through the library system).

4. Start an internet petition. This one won't really get anything done but it will gauge how many people would be interested in lending their support and could then be parlayed into a letter-writing campaign that could be focused so that all of the letters could be delivered to a publisher at roughly the same time, maybe in those big bags you see on TV and in the movies.

Civil disobedience without strategy and common sense is useless. And I don't think whining about eBook prices is civil disobedience, as that term usually refers to government issues, not the business world.