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Let me explain further. Take this scenario: - Amazon continues to drops prices. Great for consumers. - They drop prices so low that either publishers reduce h
by k-mcgrady 12y ago
Let me explain further. Take this scenario:
- Amazon continues to drops prices. Great for consumers.
- They drop prices so low that either publishers reduce how much they pay writers or they go out of business.
- Writers then start shifting publishing to Amazon who can give them a bigger piece of the pie.
- Publishers die out leaving Amazon as sole publisher + distributor.
- NOW they can exploit their power. They can raise prices and we can do nothing as they are the sole publisher and distributor.
- Things are good now for consumers but long term Amazon can increase and exploit their power.
Maybe they are a nice company and won't screw us but that's not a risk we should be willing to take.
- WalterBright 12y agoBeing the internet, it's easy for new competitors to start up, and existing competitors to expand. See oreilly.com, for example.
- cbd1984 12y agoIt's easy unless Amazon has signed people to exclusive contracts, such that your new startup can't get any of the authors people want to read.
- Kalium 12y agoWhich they haven't done and have shown no inclination to do.
- k-mcgrady 12y agoBecause the don't have the necessary power yet! In order to require exclusive contracts they would need to be the only viable option for writers which would happen if they squeezed out publishers, became a publisher, and only distributed through Amazon. It's unlikely this would happen but when you gradually give someone more and more power the risk of abuse gets higher.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- WalterBright 12y agoAmazon doesn't require exclusive contracts. > your new startup can't get any of the authors people want to read. If Amazon is not serving the needs of those authors, they'll be interested in switching horses.
- cbd1984 12y ago> Amazon doesn't require exclusive contracts. ... yet. What's to stop them from doing so when they've killed off a few more of their competitors? > If Amazon is not serving the needs of those authors, they'll be interested in switching horses. Assuming there are horses left which are viable to switch to.
- Kalium 12y agoThen you should embrace Amazon's disruption and realize that they are creating space for new entrants into the market.