When a Jaeger shoots itself in the foot…

I don’t think I’m alone in the sense that when I watch an action movie, like Pacific Rim, I often find myself wondering what part would I play in a real world version of what is playing out on screen.  Would I be the hero of the story who must overcome his fears in order to save the world?  Would I be a fellow pilot, respected in my own right, but one who must die in some horrible way in order to 1) show how badass the villian is and/or 2) to give the hero the required motivation to kick ass in the final battle?  Would I be someone on the technical crew making sure the pilots and the tech are ready to rock and roll when the time calls?

Well… if recent events are any indication, I’d be the poor peon on the street trying just to survive and get the hell out of the way of the battling monsters only to fail and get smushed, crunched, eaten, or otherwise killed in the blink of an eye.

What the hell am I talking about, you ask?

Amazon vs Hachette.

This has been going on for a while and a lot of bloggers, writers, publishers, and people with opinions have weighed in on their various platforms.  I, however, have chosen to remain more or less silent.  Leaving my opinions on this matter to private conversations as I run down the street trying to avoid the giant feet, seemed to make sense given how small and insignificant I am in regards to this battle of the titans.  No… seriously.  I’m small and insignificant here.  There is very little I can say or do that will affect how this plays out…  so why spend the energy.

But after one of the combatants picked me up and asked me if I wanted to be thrown at the other in some attempt to knock down their opponent via millions of small little wounds, I, like many of my colleagues, have found myself drawn into a fight.  So..  Here we go…

For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about with Amazon vs Hachette, here’s a brief TL:DR version of WTF is going on.  For those of you who do know… well here’s a refresher

In 2012, the Department of Justice brought a lawsuit against Apple and the Big 6 publishing houses.  In this lawsuit they alleged that these parties colluded with one another to keep the prices of their E-books artificially high.  AKA, they were accused of Price Fixing.  Here’s an Article on the lawsuit.
Ultimately the DOJ won their suit and as a result, publishers needed to re-negotiate a pricing strategy with Amazon
Hachette is the first of the companies to undergo this re-negotiation.  Both sides have dug in their heels on their various positions.  Amazon wants lower price points so as to better serve the needs of it’s customers.  Hachette wants higher price points because…well… I don’t actually know.
Both sides have resorted to some…questionable tactics in order to influence public opinion to their sides.
The clash of these proverbial titans continues.

So now you’re more or less up to speed on what’s going on.

So why am I breaking my silence now?  I am not a Hachette author.  I have no plans to become a Hachette author.  Well I’m here because… I got dragged into this conflict.

I recently recieved an E-mail sent to me from Amazon Kindle Desktop Publishing (KDP).  As you know I am a KDP author with Cybrosis: A Codename Ciris conspiracy.  I am not the only KDP author who has received this E-mail.   Several of my friends and colleagues have as well.  So, I am hardly being singled out.  In this, fairly long, E-mail which you can read in it’s entirety here, amazon calls it’s readers and KDP authors to action by petitioning Hachette to agree to lower their prices.

Well now.

I think one Jaeger just shot itself in the foot.

First and foremost, as Starla Huchton so eloquently put it in a related facbook post – “I’m not a Hachette author, so why would they even care what I have to say?”

As I said earlier… I’m nobody.  In the grand scheme of things, I am a small voice, with a relatively small platform as an independent author (remember that for a moment) who has no association with Hachette whatsoever.  Why on earth would they care what I have to say as an independent author?

Second… From a traditional business model, it is not Amazon’s place to try and force one of their suppliers to sell at a price they want to pay.  A supplier supplies a product, they set a price.  And those who wish to buy it may do so, or attempt to negotiate for a lower price.  Now, Amazon is trying to do the latter, and that’s fine.  But their way of going about it is horribly distasteful and is very reminiscent of the way companies like Wal-Mart try to do business by snapping up as much consumer market share as they can get, and use that leverage to force their suppliers to sell at prices that they are unwilling to sell at either because they can not recoup their costs/earn a profit*, or because they simply don’t want to sell at that lower price point.  This is called Monospony, and just as broken and unfair in practice as it’s functional opposite- the Monopoly.

*Now a brief side note about profits.  The argument that big publishing is living in an antiquated business model and is fighting tooth and nail to hold onto something ‘traditional’ despite the changing of both times and technology is well represented and not an argument I’m interested in getting into.  As an independent author and an accountant, I am well aware that the majority of the costs involved in Ebook sales are fixed, not variable, and considerably lower overall.  Thus I am aware that a lower price point would still permit a decent profit on a per unit basis.   Implications of market collusion notwithstanding, this is not intended to be an endorsement or a condemnation of the ebook pricing strategy used by the big six, simply an acknowledgment that this is what they’re using.  The debate on the practicality of such thing is best suited for a separate conversation.

Now another side note – as a reader, I am all for lower prices.  I don’t believe the next Stephen King E-book should cost me $20 or worse, so from that perspective go Amazon! Stick it to them!  But this is not the way in which Amazon chose to approach me.  They approached me as an independent author… more importantly… one of THEIR independent authors.

Lets look at that for a moment… and lets de-construct this…  I am an independent author published through Amazon.  I have a title on both their KDP and their Createspace Platforms.  Eventually I will have titles on their ACX/Audble platform as well.  I do not have the resources to put a marketing plan together like the Big 6 do.  I do not have the resources to churn out a new book every 6 months or less like the big six do.  I do not have the following or the success stories of some of Amazon’s biggest indie authors.  As I said earlier… I am nobody.

In fact, there are only three ways I can hope to successfully compete with Big publishing – 1) Customer(reader) Service and Interaction, 2) Producing a product of comparable or superior quality and 3) Price.

Price.  Price. PRICE.

Amazon, why on earth would I, an independent author want to help you pressure big publishing into selling books at a lower price point?  Lets try to follow this logically –   If we accept that the target customer will not pay any more than $10 for an E-book and we also accept that I sell mine for $3.  Why would I want to help you to force a competitor who has chosen to price themselves out of the market (at say $15) to reduce their price against their will AND become a more direct competitor for reader dollars?  Why would I help you encourage competition against me that I have no chance of overcoming?

Nope.  Nope.  Not going to do it.

Now obviously, as I said before, I am nobody.  Amazon doesn’t care about my titles or me as an author.  I don’t move enough volume.  The big six do and the more volume they move, the more money Amazon makes and the more ebooks they move for their kindle platforms, the more money they make selling their kindle tablets, phones, and whatever else they end up building in the future.

So… I get it.  I honestly and truly do.  But Amazon… seriously.  Try not to be so transparent when you try to manipulate your own indie authors into competing with themselves.  We’re not stupid.

Hachette… rock on with your bad self.  Stay stubborn and continue to rely on an antiquated business model that has a limited shelf life if you want to stay in business.  The longer you price yourselves out of the E-book the better for me and other indies.    If you two want to shoot yourselves in the foot… go right ahead.

Just don’t ask me to join in your fight.   I’m not interested in letting myself be stepped on.

 

Until next time…