I got a letter this morning from Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing imploring me to write a letter to Hachettes CEO regarding their current dispute over eBook prices. I just finished my letter and sent it out. ========================= Mr. Pietsch: I have been following this conflict between Hachette and Amazon for some time now. While I can understand you feel your sales might be threatened by Amazon undercutting your eBook prices, that does not excuse your illegal collusion to fix eBook prices at rates that will fill your pockets at the expense of authors who are not household names and the customer themselves. We live in a free market economy. That is one of the great wonders of living and doing business in the United States. But, as with any other freedom afforded to us under the Constitution, just because we can do something does not mean we should. Yes, you can raise your eBook prices to match your print book prices, but that does not mean you should. That is a wrongdoing toward the customer motivated by greed. A key tenet of ethical capitalism is to do right by your customers and offer a fair price. Trying to push eBooks for $19.99 is not a fair price, and anybody who would buy an eBook for that price is a fool. There are no production costs involved with an eBook. The only logical conclusion is that you are trying to sucker the consumer, and that is wrong. Amazon sees that, much like the paperback industry saw that in the 1940s. Of course, the establishment back then also tried to rally around the same tired arguments that this change in the publishing industry would destroy it (which were proven patently false). Im sure by now youve read Kindle Direct Publishings email sent to its authors. One key point brought up in that letter is one that I have known for a long time, well before I was published. Books do not just compete against books. They also compete against video games, television, films, and other forms of entertainment. Trying to price an eBook at the same price as a DVD or a video game is hardly wise. Most people in the younger demographic with money to spare are going to go with the DVD or the video game. You price the eBook lower than those other forms of media, and youll entice them to buy it. That also means more profits in the long run. I do not know what is so difficult to comprehend about this concept, sir. It saddens me to see that you have seduced mainstream authors such as Stephen King and James Patterson to rally around your message of corporate corruption and greed, but I cannot say that I am surprised. However, as big as those names are, they do not represent all authors. If you claim to want what is best for the industry, then I urge you in the strongest possible terms to reconsider the offers Amazon has made to settle this dispute with you. I also implore you to not use the authors on your payroll as bargaining chips. Thus far, your actions have indicated you want to do whats right for your billfold and not for the industry. If you want to do what is right for the industry, then you should be striving to deliver a quality product at a fair price. Please take a few moments and carefully consider the key points of this dialogue. Thank you for your time, sir. I remain respectfully, Steven Hildreth, Jr. ============================= Please LIKE and SHARE this post to let people know that you want fair eBook prices.
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 19:03:39 +0000
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