5 ms·

What practice of Hachette is amazon objecting to? The article doesn't specify the cause of the conflict.

jasode 12y ago
In the 10th paragraph: "Amazon, which is under immense pressure from Wall Street to improve its profit margins, is trying to get better terms on e-books out of Hachette," Amazon also previously used this playbook with MacMillan Publishing.
dragonwriter 12y ago
> What practice of Hachette is amazon objecting to? Amazon isn't publicly objecting to any Hachette practice. Per the earlier article on the dispute linked from the source article, [1] Amazon is seeking more favorable contract terms with Hachette (and neither side seems to be disclosing what particular terms are at issue), and is working to discourage sales of their books -- and promote alternatives to people specifically seaching for Hachette books -- to force Hachette to agree to Amazon's preferred terms. [1] The earlier article: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/10/technology/writers-feel-an-amazon-hachette-spat.html http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/10/technology/writers-feel-an...
- waterlesscloud 12y ago
  Yes, of course the publishers wouldn't want authors to see the details of their Amazon deals.
smackfu 12y ago
Probably e-book pricing. Hachette doesn't really have any reason to come out publicly and says they are trying to keep e-book prices high, since while that is good for authors and Hachette, it's bad for the consumer pocketbook.
- tsunamifury 12y ago
  Can we stop with the mindless idea that the point of capitalism is only to drive down the price for consumers. The point is to provide an equilibrium between suppliers and customers. The difference between 12.99 and 9.99 doesn't hurt consumers and provides significant difference in paying authors. Amazon is unfairly trying to kill the suppliers for short term gains at the expense of the industry.
  - hershel 12y ago
    In a similar vain, one could say that selling ebooks at $9.99 and sharing profits between authors and retailers[1] is a better result all around. [1]Of an amazon monopoly on retail is a bad result, but in principal that has nothing to do with publishers
  - sib 12y ago
    I'm sorry, but the difference between $12.99 and $9.99 is precisely a cost (hurt) to the consumer of $3. It's certainly a reduction in consumer surplus and, when multiplied by the millions of books sold every year, is a meaningful impact.
    - DerpDerpDerp 12y ago
      Except that the hurt is widely distributed at the higher price, but not at the lower price (where it's felt by a few large publishers). This kind of unequal distribution can cause the slight lessening of pain for a large number of people to mortally wound the few actually producing content, leading to a serious destabilizing of the market, which requires that both parties have something to provide. Which was the point of the GP comment, and something you didn't even remotely address, instead making a pedantic point about words chosen for effect.
    - spacemanmatt 12y ago
      Not only is this measurable, but laws of supply and demand are pretty well established economic theory. I'm honestly surprised to see such gesticulation about economics in a start-up oriented forum.
  - 12y ago
chrismcb 12y ago
The practice of not giving Amazon even more money.

In the 10th paragraph: "Amazon, which is under immense pressure from Wall Street to improve its profit margins, is trying to get better terms on e-books out of Hachette," Amazon also previously used this playbook with MacMillan Publishing.

dragonwriter 12y ago

> What practice of Hachette is amazon objecting to? Amazon isn't publicly objecting to any Hachette practice. Per the earlier article on the dispute linked from the source article, [1] Amazon is seeking more favorable contract terms with Hachette (and neither side seems to be disclosing what particular terms are at issue), and is working to discourage sales of their books -- and promote alternatives to people specifically seaching for Hachette books -- to force Hachette to agree to Amazon's preferred terms. [1] The earlier article: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/10/technology/writers-feel-an-amazon-hachette-spat.html http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/10/technology/writers-feel-an...

waterlesscloud 12y ago
Yes, of course the publishers wouldn't want authors to see the details of their Amazon deals.

smackfu 12y ago

Probably e-book pricing. Hachette doesn't really have any reason to come out publicly and says they are trying to keep e-book prices high, since while that is good for authors and Hachette, it's bad for the consumer pocketbook.

tsunamifury 12y ago
Can we stop with the mindless idea that the point of capitalism is only to drive down the price for consumers. The point is to provide an equilibrium between suppliers and customers. The difference between 12.99 and 9.99 doesn't hurt consumers and provides significant difference in paying authors. Amazon is unfairly trying to kill the suppliers for short term gains at the expense of the industry.
- hershel 12y ago
  In a similar vain, one could say that selling ebooks at $9.99 and sharing profits between authors and retailers[1] is a better result all around. [1]Of an amazon monopoly on retail is a bad result, but in principal that has nothing to do with publishers
- sib 12y ago
  I'm sorry, but the difference between $12.99 and $9.99 is precisely a cost (hurt) to the consumer of $3. It's certainly a reduction in consumer surplus and, when multiplied by the millions of books sold every year, is a meaningful impact.
  - DerpDerpDerp 12y ago
    Except that the hurt is widely distributed at the higher price, but not at the lower price (where it's felt by a few large publishers). This kind of unequal distribution can cause the slight lessening of pain for a large number of people to mortally wound the few actually producing content, leading to a serious destabilizing of the market, which requires that both parties have something to provide. Which was the point of the GP comment, and something you didn't even remotely address, instead making a pedantic point about words chosen for effect.
  - spacemanmatt 12y ago
    Not only is this measurable, but laws of supply and demand are pretty well established economic theory. I'm honestly surprised to see such gesticulation about economics in a start-up oriented forum.
- 12y ago

chrismcb 12y ago

The practice of not giving Amazon even more money.