Amazonium Codexorum
On July 29th, Amazon made the following statement in defense of its position vis a vis its fight with publisher Hachette. This fight, once you strip away all the verbiage, boils down to the fact that Amazon does not wish to purchase any E-books via the agency model from publishers and wants more MDF as well. I write about the in the fight in this post.
Amazon's defense of its current pricing position can be read here in its entirety. The post is extraordinary on several levels, not the least for its incredible analysis of optimal book pricing. If you know anything about medians and data analysis, the entire section equals up to the number 42. More information in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy . In fact, the entire statement can be thought of as a work of Vogon poetry.
But the line that caught my eye in particular was this one:
+++ Is it Amazon's position that all e-books should be $9.99 or less? No, we accept that there will be legitimate reasons for a small number of specialized titles to be above $9.99. +++
This amazing statement means that Amazon is proposing to put in place a system where certain books will be placed on a special list, a pricing codex, of titles approved to cost more than $9.99 and, one presumes, will be allowed to remain on Amazon's pricing codex as long as the legitimate reasons are adhered to.
This leads me to ask some questions:
What the "legitimate reasons?"Where can I apply for the codex?When can I apply to be listed on Amazonium Codexorum.Who maintains the codex?What are the codex rules?How will the codex be administered? Maybe there will be a committee an indie writer has to meet with? Maybe Jeff Bezos will preside wearing a robe and pointy hat a la the inquisition? Will there be candles in the room?How will I be punished if I violate the codex? I certainly hope no auto da fes are involved! That would be awful.
What are the legitimate prices?Does the existence of the Codexorum mean an implicit recognition by Amazon that the 35/65 retail usage fee imposed on indie publishers who price above $9.99 and below $2.99 is illegitimate?
The final question I have to ask is does anyone think that a $75 billion dollar company that currently controls 65%+ of the digital download market for E-books has any business acting as the price police?
By the way, don't bother asking these questions on sites such as David Gaughran's. I was just kicked off it for honing in on this point and after a whole lot of shucking and jiving and Amazon ankle diving, he dealt with the question by refusing to answer it and "banning" me from the forum.
Also, if you'd like to comment, I do have one request. Unless you are an Amazon representative, I don't want you tell me that Amazon has the right to price its products anyway it wants. I'm not the person who said:
+++ Is it Amazon's position that all e-books should be $9.99 or less? No, we accept that there will be legitimate reasons for a small number of specialized titles to be above $9.99. +++
They are. In July. It's time for them to start building out the codex.
Amazon's defense of its current pricing position can be read here in its entirety. The post is extraordinary on several levels, not the least for its incredible analysis of optimal book pricing. If you know anything about medians and data analysis, the entire section equals up to the number 42. More information in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy . In fact, the entire statement can be thought of as a work of Vogon poetry.
But the line that caught my eye in particular was this one:
+++ Is it Amazon's position that all e-books should be $9.99 or less? No, we accept that there will be legitimate reasons for a small number of specialized titles to be above $9.99. +++
This amazing statement means that Amazon is proposing to put in place a system where certain books will be placed on a special list, a pricing codex, of titles approved to cost more than $9.99 and, one presumes, will be allowed to remain on Amazon's pricing codex as long as the legitimate reasons are adhered to.
This leads me to ask some questions:
What the "legitimate reasons?"Where can I apply for the codex?When can I apply to be listed on Amazonium Codexorum.Who maintains the codex?What are the codex rules?How will the codex be administered? Maybe there will be a committee an indie writer has to meet with? Maybe Jeff Bezos will preside wearing a robe and pointy hat a la the inquisition? Will there be candles in the room?How will I be punished if I violate the codex? I certainly hope no auto da fes are involved! That would be awful.
What are the legitimate prices?Does the existence of the Codexorum mean an implicit recognition by Amazon that the 35/65 retail usage fee imposed on indie publishers who price above $9.99 and below $2.99 is illegitimate?
The final question I have to ask is does anyone think that a $75 billion dollar company that currently controls 65%+ of the digital download market for E-books has any business acting as the price police?
By the way, don't bother asking these questions on sites such as David Gaughran's. I was just kicked off it for honing in on this point and after a whole lot of shucking and jiving and Amazon ankle diving, he dealt with the question by refusing to answer it and "banning" me from the forum.
Also, if you'd like to comment, I do have one request. Unless you are an Amazon representative, I don't want you tell me that Amazon has the right to price its products anyway it wants. I'm not the person who said:
+++ Is it Amazon's position that all e-books should be $9.99 or less? No, we accept that there will be legitimate reasons for a small number of specialized titles to be above $9.99. +++
They are. In July. It's time for them to start building out the codex.
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