You are probably right, but you (and Hastings) may not be. If I am a negotiator at Amazon, I am cutting the following deal: - Titles we provide free to our cu

You are probably right, but you (and Hastings) may not be. If I am a negotiator at Amazon, I am cutting the following deal: - Titles we provide free to our customers - Titles we provide for a charge which we split the fee with content producer at some ratio - Placement of those for pay titles on the site so they are bought more I'd sum the value of the contract and show how even though Amazon will not give as much cash in the deal, the content producer will net a bigger positive number. Obviously this is speculation, but I could see that playing out easily.