Saturday, November 15, 2014

Amazon and Hachette Bury the Hatchet

Amazon and Hachette Bury the Hatchet

Sort of...

Amazon and Hachette have abruptly ended a very bitter months long battle over pricing, just in time for the holidays!

However, Amazon and Hachette have not disclosed the terms of their new multi-year deal, that goes into effect early next year.

Originally Amazon wanted to set a $9.99 price ceiling on e-books, while Hachette, wanted a range of prices between $12.99 and $14.99. We won't know what prices we'll get until January of 2015. In the meantime Hatchette titles will become available without delay before the new terms take effect. I'll believe that when I see it!
Amazon was also asking for a larger cut from each sale, they wanted up to 50% for each e-book sold. Again, the actual terms have not been disclosed, as such I view this as a rare victory for the publishing industry!
Dave Naggar, Amazon's Vice President of Kindle, said in a brief statement that - “Amazon is pleased with this new agreement as it includes specific financial incentives for Hachette to deliver lower prices, which we believe will be a great win for readers and authors alike.” Despite this statement, the agreement in fact allows Hatchette to set prices.


As far as I am concerned here, e-book prices should never be above $10 and I don't care who writes them. E-books are digital replications and are not worth more. Even at $9.99 they are terribly overpriced!

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