They Did a Bad, Bad Thing
Published December 20th, 2011 | 
A while back, I said that even though I was firmly against the “agency model” for pricing e-books, I did not believe that Apple colluded with publishers. Well… as the lawsuit against Apple and the mainstream publishers moves forward, information has come to light to make me rethink my initial conclusion. If we roll up our sleeves, put on a pair of tillman gloves and get to work investigating the matter further, we find that it was an unnamed publishing insider who tipped Grant & Eisenhofer, a law firm hoping to represent consumers in the matter, to the conspiracy. They could be blowing smoke. The “publishing insider” could be full of shit. However, If there is indeed actual proof that there was collusion, perhaps we can finally put an end to the agency model.
Why the Apple Agency Model is Good for Pirates and Self-Publishers
Published December 16th, 2011 | Mainstream publishers still don’t get it: book buyers do not want to pay more than $10 for an e-book. They are deluding themselves if they believe jacking-up ebook prices is a good idea. Higher ebook prices do not translate into more ebooks sales. And higher ebook prices are not exactly helping hardcover sales.
So who does benefit from the agency model? Well . . . digital pirates for one. Why pay $16 for a an ebook version of a bestselling book when you can download it for free on a torrent site? Sure, there will always be a market for pirated material, but most readers would pay for those books if the price was friendlier to consumers.
Second, self-publishers are also benefitting from the agency model. Readers looking for new books to read on their Kindle are going to be a bit more willing to try a new author selling an e-book for $1.99 than mainstream bestseller priced equal to or above the trade book price. Over the long haul, the more mainstream publisher fight for the agency model the more it will hurt them.
Border’s Reality
Published September 7th, 2011 | Barnes and Noble’s greatest fear is now Border’s reality as the last of its megastores prepare to close forever. In its heyday, Border’s was a living example of Social Darwinism as it killed off mom and pop indie book stores one by one.
But then, it became the endangered species as online e-tailers overtook the brick and mortar behemoth with deeper discounts, higher volume and better overall customer service. And let’s face it, an online book store doesn’t have to run a real store in a shopping center. It doesn’t have to deal have to pay cashiers, or stock people or hire managers. It doesn’t have to spend as much on advertising. And it can drop ship books directly to its customers. On those terms, an online book store doesn’t have to be Amazon to compete with its offline counterpart. Hell, it can even be an unknown site in Canada.
Of course, Border’s failed for many reasons, not just because of the Internet and the rise of the e-book. Border’s was horribly mismanaged. Indeed, if the Border’s closest to my location is any example of the way the rest of the chain was run, I am surprised they lasted this long.
