4 ms·
Yes, it does seem like publishers want two contradictory things from Amazon: 1. Don't you dare discount our ebooks! 2. Don't you dare stop discounting our pap
by fpgeek 12y ago
Yes, it does seem like publishers want two contradictory things from Amazon:
1. Don't you dare discount our ebooks!
2. Don't you dare stop discounting our paper books!
However, these positions are perfectly consistent. They're just consistent in a way that I suspect wouldn't occur to most HN readers.
What publishers really want from Amazon is simple: "Reverse, stop, or at least slow down this damn ebook transition!"
They don't say it that way for obvious reasons, but it is the common thread underneath their apparent insanity.
- Turing_Machine 12y agoYou are absolutely correct. They're like the entrenched interests at Kodak that tried to stop the development of digital cameras (which Kodak actually invented) to support film sales. All they managed to do was ensure that the digital cameras were developed by companies other than Kodak, and now Kodak is bankrupt. The same thing is happening with ebooks. In many genres, 50% or more of the best-selling ebooks are either indy or small press. This doesn't end well for the big publishers, I'm afraid. It sure as hell didn't end well for Kodak.
- TorKlingberg 12y agoI have to ask: In what way did Kodak try to stop digital cameras? They failed to remain relevant in digital photography, but I don't remember them trying to stop it.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- nl 12y agoI think the OP meant they stopped to development of digital cameras inside Kodak.
- Turing_Machine 12y agoExactly. Managerial elements within Kodak did their best to strangle digital photography at birth. If your little corporate fiefdom is based on film sales, you're going to try to stop digital even if that's not in the long-term interests of the company, or so the story has it.