I use Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP, Amazon’s publishing arm)
to self-publish my fiction writing; and as a result I periodically receive
emails from KDP regarding any manner of items they believe important to share.
Sometimes it’s an interview with a self-published author who has hit it big
using KDP; sometimes it’s a list of tips for getting your work discovered; and sometimes
it’s a list of improvements the company has made to its service.
Generally, I ignore what I receive from KDP. That is until a
few weeks ago when I received an entirely new form of correspondence from them:
a plea to me, as a KDP user, to email the CEO of Hachette Publishing on KDP’s, i.e.
Amazon’s, behalf.
You can read Amazon’s letter here.
In reading the letter, one brimming with passion and
multiple bolded sentences, I couldn’t help but laugh.
The crux of matter: KDP/Amazon believes that Hachette
Publishing (a sub-division of Legardere) is charging too much for the digital
versions of their newest book releases and Amazon would like for me, along with
the rest of its self-published authors, to email Hachette CEO, Michael Pietsch with
the following points and requests.
- We have noted your illegal collusion. Please stop working so hard to overcharge for ebooks. They can and should be less expensive.
- Lowering e-book prices will help — not hurt — the reading culture, just like paperbacks did.
- Stop using your authors as leverage and accept one of Amazon's offers to take them out of the middle.
- Especially if you're an author yourself: Remind them that authors are not united on this issue.
The letter also details the lengths Amazon
had gone to in an attempt to meet on some middle ground with Hachette and work
to lower the entry prices for its digital copies. Amazon noted that Hachette
was found guilty of colluding with other companies to keep digital book prices unnecessarily
high, that, in fact, lowering digital-book price points creates more profits
because far more sales are made, and that a “healthy reading culture” needs
cheaper reading materials to compete with other popular media forms.
Hachette, the letter explains, flatly rebuffed
Amazon. Digital books prices, though far cheaper than physical copies, would
remain the same.
Hachette’s refusal to work with Amazon
left Amazon no choice but to place sanctions against Hachette and its authors. That’s
Amazon’s belief, not this author’s.
On first blush, the matter smacked of
the usual exorbitant greed companies too often seem to have. Anyone who has
even a sliver of understanding about digital versus physical copies understands
that the former costs next to nothing to deliver to customers.
Again, on first blush, Hachette comes
off as both greedy and flat-out wrong.
So, what made me laugh?
Well, it was taking that half moment
before deciding what to do next to pause and ask: What does Amazon have to gain
from this letter campaign? They want me to believe, as a customer, I’ll be part
of a group that topples a heartless company and trumps a wrong. Fact is, Amazon’s
real gain is more obvious: more book
sales and therefore more money for them. There is also a secondary –almost as
valuable- benefit, which I share later.
Human skepticism runs stronger and
stronger each year, it seems, and I’m confident more than a few of you reading
this also questioned Amazon’s true motivations. Making money is after all what
companies do. A company is an insatiable money earner and I believe we all
grasp this.
What’s amusing is that Amazon didn’t
quite admit this in its letter. No, the letter was saturated with noble intent
and sentences possessing a tone of good versus evil. To Amazon’s credit, they
listed among their many solutions to getting Hachette to crack the following.
- authors [would] receive 100% of all sales of their titles until this dispute is resolved
- [Amazon] would return to normal business operations if Amazon and Hachette's normal share of revenue went to a literacy charity
Hard to see why Hatchette would balk at either of these
offers. Amazon seems awfully sincere, dedicated even to providing the best for
readers everywhere. And yet, I was chuckling quite a bit at this point.
Amazon is not leading a revolution with their Hachette
letter. They’re manipulating the propaganda machine to their benefit.
Amazon is a company; by definition this means profits are
central to its being. Leading its customers and users to believe that it’s
basically a white knight fighting solely on their behalf and not its own greed
is silly. [For proof of this consult with my wife who heard me laughing several
times as I read and reread the letter. Weak reasoning, I know, but I couldn’t
resist.] Worse is that Amazon doesn’t admit that it would stand to earn quite
the altruistic shot in the arm if it can lay claim to getting Hachette to lower
its prices to the benefit of readers the world around. That second, unwritten, goal
is the other benefit a company like Amazon hopes to gain from its letter
campaign. Of course, it’s somewhat hard to embrace Amazon’s magnanimity when it’s
calling for author works to be available to all and also cutting off Hachette’s
books until it gets what it wants.
And so… amid chuckles I decided to write a letter to
Hachette CEO, Michael Pietsch, though not fully in the spirit Amazon asked of
me.
Hello-
As you likely know, Amazon is making a tremendous push to have
independent authors(hacks, really) like me reach out to your company with the
expressed aim of having you reconsider your stance of charging hardcover prices
for electronic copies of the same title.
Initially, I was whole-heatedly in agreement with Amazon.
Of course, I'm not exactly balking one hundred percent either.
They are correct in noting that digital copies incur far less expense
to make and send; and continuing to ask for hardcover prices in this instance
is ridiculous. Amazon also correctly points out that in many instances lowering
the price point results in more sales and more profit in the end.
However, that's where I begin to see altruistic flaws in Amazon's
request of me.
Let's face it both of your companies are worried about the bottom
line more than the customer. Amazon stands to profit a ton too with lowered
price points on books coming from your publishing house and others. Honestly, I
don't care which way your company goes with its prices. Business is business
and I'm under no obligation to buy your product. However...
...it might interest you to know that I have in the past 3-4 years
held a limit-to-what-I'll-spend-for-a-digital-copy attitude. Essentially, I'm
unwilling to pay more than 9.99 for a digital book -with a very few exceptions
for favorite authors. One, it is next to nothing for you or Amazon to get that
too me. Two, I realize that digital amounts to "renting" not owning
an item. When I buy a physical copy of something, that's forever. Not so with
digital. Amazon can pull that copy right off of my Kindle or Amazon account.
It's happened to others. Amazon could also go belly up. That's happened to
companies too. So, I won't pay too much to rent.
In the end, the market will settle this matter. If I were a
betting person, I'd say you'll end up lowering your price point. Buyers will
make that happen with their dollars.
Well, thanks for letting me drop my thoughts into your electronic
well.
Somewhat sincerely,
Ralph
Yes, it’s a smart-alecky email and, no, I did not receive
direct feedback from anyone at Hachette, but anyone who has half his or her
sense can see through the true intents of Amazon’s letter. Or, so I hope.
In time, I did receive a letter from Hatchette. Same form
letter response, I’ll gather, every other KDP user who directed emails to Mr.
Pietsch got.
You can read his reply letter here, but I bulleted the key
ideas below.
Among the notable highlights of his and Hachette’s reply
are:
- 80% of Hachette’s digital copies are sold below a 9.99 price point
- costs for printing, promoting, shipping physical books is off-set by higher digital price points
- digital piracy cuts into earnings
- higher price points for specific titles come down with paperback version
- both Hachette and Amazon are big businesses and neither should claim a monopoly on enlightenment
I put the last highlight in red because I cannot help but
applaud Mr. Pietsch for being truthful with me where Amazon seemed to want to
avoid that. Amazon asked me, and its
users, to run off like a pitch-forked mob and demand justice for Hachette’s
evil practices; and that was uncalled for.
I do feel, as I wrote in my email to Hachette, that this
will all settle itself with lowered price points in the end. Money speaks
loudest to companies. If nothing else, Amazon’s letter has sparked a fiery
discussion, one that doesn’t fool too many, however. Customers know what
companies want –dollars and more dollars.
Some final notes:
On principle, I don’t agree with high price-points for
digital copies of materials –especially because I truly do not own these “books”.
I won’t get into too much detail here but pretty much any digital item one buys
today is simply a long-term rental of that item. Amazon has removed purchased
copies from customers before and can do so at any time. Unlike a physical book,
which I can hand down from generation to generation, that’s not the case with
digital versions. Thus, do I make every effort to buy items I wish to read at
rock-bottom prices.
Also, on principle, I don’t have issue with companies and
their modus operandi of earning profits. As written, that’s what they are and
do. How can I find fault this? Where I find fault, and oodles of humor, is when
companies work to paint that truth away and expects its customers to now know
any better. Believe me, I would have respected
Amazon’s letter request far more if they’d just written: we want cheaper price
points for all books because we want make more money. Oh, and, by-the-way, you
too will benefit greatly.
Any other ploy…?
Well, it is to laugh.
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