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Yesterday, Amazon.com pulled from its virtual shelves all books published by Macmillan, one of the largest U.S. publishers with imprints that include Farrar, Straus & Giroux, St. Martins Press and Henry Holt, because of a dispute over eBook pricing. Macmillan doesn’t want its eBooks priced at $9.99; Amazon does. So Amazon.com, the biggest online book retailer, pulled Macmillan’s catalog.
Meanwhile, Macmillan is available via the Apple store, iBooks. Apple allows publishers more latitude in pricing.
So who’s going to win out, do you think?
Here’s what I think. Macmillan, as the producer of the product, should charge whatever they want for their books. (Macmillan wants their eBooks sold from around $15.) If Amazon wants to sell those books at a discount for $9.99, then, as a retailer, they should be able to…at their own loss. No retailer should have the right to dictate price to the manufacturer (even though I know that the Wal-Marts and Coscos and Targets of the nation do just that…if the manufacturer wants their product in those stores). Retailers do have the right, however, to dictate the price of the product in their stores, though, gaining or losing profits at their own registers. So the manufacturer can sell it to that retailer for $10, and, if that retailer wants to then sell it for $5, they can go right ahead.
Personally, I hope Macmillan sticks to its guns. I hope that all the major publishers join Macmillan in demanding the right to price their own books. And if Amazon pulls all the major publishers’ catalogs, I hope that those major publishers ignore Amazon’s actions. Amazon will ultimately come around as it loses sales and customers as consumers go elsewhere to buy the books they want.
Of course, we all know what will probably happen. Macmillan and other major publishers will look at the short term losses and bend to Amazon’s will…which is what Amazon is betting on.
Tags: book pricing war, ebook pricing war, Macmillan versus Amazon, major publisher versus major retailer
