Cover Story: Amazon: The Elephant in the Room
The Problem With Pricing
One of the most powerful forces for change in the industry has been the switch from wholesale book pricing, in which publishers sell to retailers at a discount from the list price and retailers set prices for consumers, to agency pricing, in which publishers set the prices retailers can charge. This change mostly happened in 2010, but it arguably was a response to Amazon's increasing e‑book clout, and industry fear of widespread consumer expectations for low-priced e‑books. Amazon's move to set prices at $9.99 and lower for e‑book versions of hardcovers that listed for around $25 intentionally pushed Kindle sales, at the expense of other e‑book sellers' margins. Agency was seen as a way for other e‑book sellers to compete.
%0D%0A%20%20Hyperbole%3F%20Perhaps%20not,%20when%20the%20earth-shaking%20influence%20of%20the%20e‑commerce%20giant's%20recent%20moves%20in%20publishing%20are%20taken%20into%20account.%0D%0A%0D%0A%0D%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.bookbusinessmag.com%2Farticle%2Fthere-s-no-way-around-it-the-seattle-based-e-tailer-has-become-dominant-force-change-book-publishing-today-whether-that-s-good-or-bad-industry-no-easy-question-answer-418742%2F" target="_blank" class="email" data-post-id="2923" type="icon_link"> Email Email
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