Amazon Relents, Allows Macmillan to Increase E-Book Prices

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Posted January 31, 2010 at 11:56pm by iClarified

Amazon has relented to Macmillan's demands and is letting them charge higher prices for e-books sold through the Amazon Store.

They have written a letter to customers to express their disappointment with the situation.

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Dear Customers:

Macmillan, one of the "big six" publishers, has clearly communicated to us that, regardless of our viewpoint, they are committed to switching to an agency model and charging $12.99 to $14.99 for e-book versions of bestsellers and most hardcover releases.

We have expressed our strong disagreement and the seriousness of our disagreement by temporarily ceasing the sale of all Macmillan titles. We want you to know that ultimately, however, we will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan's terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles, and we will want to offer them to you even at prices we believe are needlessly high for e-books. Amazon customers will at that point decide for themselves whether they believe it's reasonable to pay $14.99 for a bestselling e-book. We don't believe that all of the major publishers will take the same route as Macmillan. And we know for sure that many independent presses and self-published authors will see this as an opportunity to provide attractively priced e-books as an alternative.

Kindle is a business for Amazon, and it is also a mission. We never expected it to be easy!

Thank you for being a customer.
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Apple has also been rumored to make bestselling e-books available through the iBooks Store for $12.99 to $14.99.

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Amazon Relents, Allows Macmillan to Increase E-Book Prices

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Mazz1 - February 1, 2010 at 9:57am

This is absolute BS. I will never buy a MacMillan book that costs over $9.99 or an ebook that costs more than the paper version.

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Steve - February 1, 2010 at 2:21am

Jobs did say that their prices would be the same as Amazon's. I have never liked the kindle but I think its going to be bad for them now that the iPad is coming out. I would rather pay $14.99 and get the book on the iPad then pay the same price and get it on a black and white ebook device.

Domo - February 1, 2010 at 10:34am

Sure, all else equal, I would too. but you are missing something fundamental: all else is not equal. The kindle costs $250. The ipad with 3g will be $630 plus monthly fees for data. And he kindle is designed as a reader, I.e, has e-ink instead of a backlit display for easy readability for long periods of time. Is the kindle as slick as an ipad? No. But it's extremely good at what it does. Before the issue of which format you'd rather spend your $14.99 on is an issue, you have to decide to shell out the big bucks for an ipad, plus subscription fees. And the big question I see is how many folks are going to do that, particularly if they are after a serious shook reader.

Steve - February 1, 2010 at 3:29pm

Haha I made my decision to by it since the day I heard Apple was planning on making a tablet device. Personally, I think the common e-book reader is ugly and has only one real purpose. The iPad (as horrific of a name as it is) will offer a lot of things that e-books just can't do. I will be one of the ones waiting in line to get the iPad.