(And I disagree with Amazon, once they conceed with Macmillan, the rest will want the same deal)
But who cares? The big publishers aren't the only publishers out there, and it leaves a lot of scope for smaller, more agile publishers to steal business from the bigger ones selling the overpriced e-books.
If Amazon had "won" this one and the big publishers' e-books were all under $10, it'd have done more to hurt entrepreneurs and small publishers since they'd find it a lot harder to compete. Macmillan winning means that, ultimately, they lose.
The longer "established" publishers keep high prices on their e-books, the more opportunities there are for top writers to self publish to these new e-book stores. Wouldn't that be great? More money for the authors and a steadily reducing influence by the publishers. It's started to happen in the music industry..
But who cares? The big publishers aren't the only publishers out there, and it leaves a lot of scope for smaller, more agile publishers to steal business from the bigger ones selling the overpriced e-books.
If Amazon had "won" this one and the big publishers' e-books were all under $10, it'd have done more to hurt entrepreneurs and small publishers since they'd find it a lot harder to compete. Macmillan winning means that, ultimately, they lose.
The longer "established" publishers keep high prices on their e-books, the more opportunities there are for top writers to self publish to these new e-book stores. Wouldn't that be great? More money for the authors and a steadily reducing influence by the publishers. It's started to happen in the music industry..