Electronic Device Stirs Unease at Book Fair, NYT article.
"But excitement about the Kindle, which was introduced in November, also worries some publishing executives, who fear Amazon’s still-growing power as a bookseller. Those executives note that Amazon currently sells most of its Kindle books to customers for a price well below what it pays publishers, and they anticipate that it will not be long before Amazon begins using the Kindle’s popularity as a lever to demand that publishers cut prices."
Let's hope! It's greedy and bad business to try to stick to old prices when your expenses are suddenly cut drastically. Not only may low prices very well increase your profits by multiplying sales, they will certainly increase your exposure, and they will help combat piracy (copying and unauthorized selling) and "piracy" (free copying).
In my opinion, Amazon is still being very kind to publishers. They could very well operate like Lulu, publishing directly for the Kindle.
ReplyDeleteSuch a giant could even organize a virtual marketplace where cover artists, translators and proofreaders could offer their services directly to authors... now, that would force publishers to adapt or die!
Such a marketplace is an interesting idea.
ReplyDelete