Price controls

[Janet]

I came across this article on Ebook Bargains UK Blog:

http://ebookbargainsuk.wordpress.com/...

Any comments? Does anyone know what US law stipulates?

[Nick]

Not illegal in the U.S.

[Janet]

But apparently illegal in other countries. I have read before in this Group that Amazon and Smashwords prices have to be the same, so is this true only for authors living in the States? I'd be interested to hear about other people's experience.

[Nick]

Just like any company doing business outside of its headquarter borders, Amazon is very careful to follow the guidelines for the rules of business in other countries.

What is legal in the US may not be legal in other countries, or protected, so Amazon in some cases will not sell in those countries...

And as to pricing, self published writer on Amazon do not have to match price with Smashwords or any other distributor. Only if you enroll through KDP and even then, the self published writer is granting Amazon the right to match price.

But of course, reading and understand the terms of the publishing contract is a bit too much for some writers...