Will Amazon lose access to Big 6 e-books?

[Doug_Pardee Distinguished Bibliophile]

A couple of years ago, at the dawn of the Agency Model, Amazon was unable to sell recent Penguin releases as e-books for six months, because they were unable to come to terms on the contract.

Salon magazine's Alexander Zaitchik reports that all of the Big 6 US trade publishing houses are refusing to sign Amazon's latest e-book contracts, due to outrageous increases in the mandatory co-op advertising fees that the publishers are being asked to pay. Laura Hazard Owen at paidContent has been able to confirm that at least two of the Big 6 are balking. Owen reports that Amazon has significantly reduced its promotion of Big 6 e-book titles.

Will this become a huge blow-up, with "buy" buttons removed and all, or is it just everyday "negotiation drama"? I guess time will tell.

[Ya_Ya]

---

Doug_Pardee wrote:

Will this become a huge blow-up, with "buy" buttons removed and all, or is it just everyday "negotiation drama"? I guess time will tell.

---

This.

Just like they folded to Penguin (well, to their customers' requests and agreed to Penguin's terms) last time, they'll do it again, because their customers won't stand for a catalog with no bestsellers - especially because Kindle users can't purchase those bestsellers from someone else, either.  

[wordsandmelodi…]

They cannot possibly continue without books from the Big 6, and they know it.  Publishers ultimately have the advantageous bargaining position in this situation.  If it were just one publisher, I imagine Amazon could wait a while to see if they could come to more Kindle-friendly terms.  But if we really are talking about all six publishers, I think Amazon will have to ease up on their demands.  Unless, of course, Amazon never really EXPECTED to what they are asking for, and planned it all along...  (We know we can't get G, but if we ask for G we will be much more likely to get B, C, and D.  Otherwise, if we start out asking for B, we will get pushed to A...")

Probably I shouldn't be posting semi-conscious at midnight.  

[AlanNJ Inspired Bibliophile]

Apparently 3 publishers have settled with the DOJ and will no longer be part of the Agency Model.  Is this the end of B&N?  I honestly don't think they have deep enough pockets to compete with Amazon's potential discounts.  

[keriflur]

Ooh, I really hope they play hardball with each other.  We know they'll need to come to an agreement (Amazon cannot survive w/o the big 6 and Amazon is the biggest retailer of ebooks), but it'll be fun to watch the fighting and fallout, especially now that three of them won't be setting Agency prices.  It could get really ugly.  Meanwhile I'll sit back with my nook and watch the fray.  Fun times. 

[AlanNJ Inspired Bibliophile]

Apparently there will be discounting limits but time will tell...

[bga_reviews]

I suspect the B&N member program will end up including a discount on ebooks.

[whiteginger]

---

bga_reviews wrote:

I suspect the B&N member program will end up including a discount on ebooks.

---

I soo hope you are right!

That would call for a celebration, so here's to B&N member discounts on ebooks!  

 (sorry, best image I could find to represent the giddy jubilation I would feel should this happen)

[gb18]

Book Publishers Must Learn the Same Lessons Music Publishers Did

http://www.tabletpcreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3234&news=ebooks+ereaders+apple+price+kindle+amazon

[wisdombunny]

i have jeard the same

[vizeroth]

http://gizmodo.com/5465323/why-and-how-apple-killed-the-999-ebook

This is a rather old article, but the recent press makes it relevant, as most people seem to have forgotten that Apple was fundamental in bringing us the 99 cent mp3, and the agency model in ebooks.

Most of the reason distributors lost access to ebooks last time around was that the contracts Apple offered gave the publishers significantly more control, and very few distributors were willing to sign the same contracts. Once they realized that the publishers weren't going to come back begging for the old terms and were perfectly willing to have their products drop from Amazon (never mind smaller distributors), they slowly made their way back to the table and took whatever deals they could get.

[patgolfneb]

Amazon was nearly the only game in town for e books not so long ago. I am sure Apple, Google, BN, would love the chance to trumpet, not available on Amazon. It is almost personal now, I am sure Amazon recognize this and offer more reasonable terms soon.

[compulsiveread…]

---

gb18 wrote:

Book Publishers Must Learn the Same Lessons Music Publishers Did

http://www.tabletpcreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3234&news=ebooks+ereaders+apple+price+kindle+amazon

---

Great article, thanks for posting. This is the part I loved most:

"What they have to realize is that, in the eBook business, authors and readers are necessary, publishers are not. They can have a role, finding new authors and assisting current ones to do their jobs, but they aren't required.

Many writers have begun self-publishing their works on sites like Amazon, where they often sell for 99 cents. Consumers choose which of these to buy based on the reviews of other readers, not on the opinions of an editor in New York."

So true. As a reader, I'm finding that I'm not dependant on the BIG 6 any more for a decent read and I rarely buy them. Has to be something I REALLY want because my choices are many now.

It's hard to say which one will cave here, and how it all works out. The major advantage that Amazon has had over B&N that I can see is that they seem to get most new titles before B&N does.

[LarryOnLI]

---

compulsivereaderTX wrote:

---

gb18 wrote:

Book Publishers Must Learn the Same Lessons Music Publishers Did

http://www.tabletpcreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3234&news=ebooks+ereaders+apple+price+kindle+amazon

---

Great article, thanks for posting. This is the part I loved most:

"What they have to realize is that, in the eBook business, authors and readers are necessary, publishers are not. They can have a role, finding new authors and assisting current ones to do their jobs, but they aren't required.

Many writers have begun self-publishing their works on sites like Amazon, where they often sell for 99 cents. Consumers choose which of these to buy based on the reviews of other readers, not on the opinions of an editor in New York."

So true. As a reader, I'm finding that I'm not dependant on the BIG 6 any more for a decent read and I rarely buy them. Has to be something I REALLY want because my choices are many now.

It's hard to say which one will cave here, and how it all works out. The major advantage that Amazon has had over B&N that I can see is that they seem to get most new titles before B&N does.

---

A few differences between books and digital music:

1) Digital music costs .99 a track, not .99 for an album (which for the sake of argument here we will consider equivalent to a novel). Will readers be willing to purchase their eBooks by the chapter? Purchase just the chapters they like?

2) Again for the sake of argument, lets say an album consists of 12 tracks, and sells fro 9.99 on iTunes. Buyers of this album get approximately 1 hour of music for their $10. Purchasers of a $13 eBook novel might get up to a week of reading one hour a day.

3) I think a much better comparison than music, is comparing an eBook to a movie purchased online. You can not buy the latest action/adventure box office smash for 99 cents.

[keriflur]

---

LarryOnLI wrote:

A few differences between books and digital music:

1) Digital music costs .99 a track, not .99 for an album (which for the sake of argument here we will consider equivalent to a novel). Will readers be willing to purchase their eBooks by the chapter? Purchase just the chapters they like?

2) Again for the sake of argument, lets say an album consists of 12 tracks, and sells fro 9.99 on iTunes. Buyers of this album get approximately 1 hour of music for their $10. Purchasers of a $13 eBook novel might get up to a week of reading one hour a day.

3) I think a much better comparison than music, is comparing an eBook to a movie purchased online. You can not buy the latest action/adventure box office smash for 99 cents.

---

I agree with what you've said here, but I think even comparing to a film somewhat shortchanges the book.  A 12-episode television series on DVD/Blu-ray is probably more comparable, for the amount of time spent in both the creation and the enjoyment.  Last I checked Amazon's selling new release 12-ep tv series for $20 and up.

Game of Thrones season 1, with 10 episodes, is going for $44 on blu-ray.  A book for $13 that I'll read for 10+ hours seems like a bargain compared to that.

Also, to point 1 above - Anthologies are great for comparing to music albums, as individual stories can be extracted, and often there are only a handful of "hits".  For these, I've seen a lot of these taken apart in e-format, with individual stories selling for $2-3.  IMO this is also a bargain compared to the 3-minute song for $1.

[Sun_Cat]

I agree that reading is inexpensive entertainment compared to movies -- both in the theater and on DVD. It seems to me that the price of a movie ticket has been roughly comparable to the price of a paperback book for at least the last 50 years. (I can't remember much further back than that. ) I imagine that the biggest reason for the disparity -- and for its longterm acceptance by the public -- is that movies obviously cost more to produce than books.

I'm less impressed by comparisons with the entertainment value of music, because people typically listen to a song or album many more times than they would ever read a book or watch a movie. An album priced at $9.99 arguably gives at least as many hours of entertainment as a DVD or book priced higher.

[patgolfneb]

---

Sun_Cat wrote:

I agree that reading is inexpensive entertainment compared to movies -- both in the theater and on DVD. It seems to me that the price of a movie ticket has been roughly comparable to the price of a paperback book for at least the last 50 years. (I can't remember much further back than that. ) I imagine that the biggest reason for the disparity -- and for its longterm acceptance by the public -- is that movies obviously cost more to produce than books.

I'm less impressed by comparisons with the entertainment value of music, because people typically listen to a song or album many more times than they would ever read a book or watch a movie. An album priced at $9.99 arguably gives at least as many hours of entertainment as a DVD or book priced higher.

---

I agree with the basic point you are making but I think most people people are more likely to watch movies repeatedly than read books many times. If I read a book again usually several years have passed. I believe I am probably typical. Children's books and videos are an exception. The other element of music and movies is that often they are part of social occasions heard and watched together, rarely an occurrence with adult books.