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The Battle of $9.99: How Apple, Amazon, and the Big Six Publishers Changed the E-Book Business Overnight
Little did Apple know when it introduced the iPad in 2010 that it would be setting itself up to land in federal court on price-fixing charges. This blow-by-blow account charts how five of America’s six largest publishers, afraid that bookselling powerhouse Amazon's $9.99 price for Kindle e-books would undermine the industry, spent a few frantic weeks in early 2010 deep in negotiations with Apple to introduce a new business model for e-books, just in time for the launch of the iPad and the iBookstore. The catch is, it all may have been illegal.
From Publishers Weekly senior writer Andrew Richard Albanese comes the story of how the e-book business changed in a heartbeat. Based on voluminous evidence gathered for Apple's trial, it is the story of how corporate titans fought it out behind the scenes and why the case matters to anyone who has ever bought an e-book.
From Publishers Weekly senior writer Andrew Richard Albanese comes the story of how the e-book business changed in a heartbeat. Based on voluminous evidence gathered for Apple's trial, it is the story of how corporate titans fought it out behind the scenes and why the case matters to anyone who has ever bought an e-book.
58 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 20, 2013
12 people are currently reading
122 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
September 12, 2014
I heard bits and pieces of this story, but was interested in getting all the facts as I work in a publishing company. A very thorough account of why a civil antitrust lawsuit was filed against Apple and five of the big six publishers. The author also explains why the publishers wanted to move from a discount model to a commission model (on e-books), even though it meant less money in their pockets. As a consumer I love Amazon, but from a publishing point of view their power is quite scary.
April 27, 2014
I suppose everyone who follows the book business now has made some kind of judgment about the tug-of-wat between Apple, Amazon, and the legacy publishers. (Full disclosure: I got $145 in the ebook settlement, which was used immediately to get more ebooks through Amazon.) Some people seem to adore Apple who can do no wrong, others (while reading and typing on their computers) refuse to ever read off a screen, and still others (me included) love ebooks and Amazon, which started the ebook revolution.
Admittedly, I’m an early adopter and read off my Palm and later even purchased a Rocket Book ereader (it still works but has been superseded.) I remain puzzled by what may be a uniquely American trait that is to begin to denigrate and fear success: big business, Walmart, B&N and Borders (until they tanked), agribusiness, big farms (be they family or otherwise) , MIcrosoft, K-Mart, Sears and Montgomery Ward (until they tanked); the list goes on. Personally, I love Amazon. They are successful because they do things well. When they cease to perform, or someone does it better, I’ll abandon them.
Just before the iPad was released, a high-ranking Apple executive was charged with the task of creating an ebook bookstore. Despite Steve Jobs’ earlier predictions that no one would ever read an ebook, Amazon had released the Kindle and it had become wildly successful. Others had had similar opportunities, but only Jeff Bezos had the foresight to link the Kindle to an online store with wireless (and free) access to a huge selection of books. And, he priced bestsellers at $9.99, a brilliant strategy similar to what other retailers have always done, a form of loss-leader. Jobs wanted to copy that success with the iPad as the device of choice. But he wanted to collect more money. In a move that brought down the wrath of anti-trust regulators, the Apple folks corralled all the major publishers (except Random House) and persuaded them to adopt the “agency” model even though the publishers would get less money. (Under the Amazon model, Amazon purchased the ebooks from the publishers at whatever discount the publisher offered, as with print books, and then sold the ebooks for whatever price they wanted, also as with print books, as all bookstores did.
Apple was very smart in recognizing what the legacy publishers feared - rightly or not - that pricing the books at $9.99 might devalue their profitable hardcover distribution system, so they invented the agency mechanism. Under this system, Apple (and they argued Amazon) would have to sell the ebooks at the price determined by the publisher and act as distributor only rather than reseller.
Walsh’s message underscored the degree to which the publishing community at large had grown to fear Amazon’s pricing. Under the agency model, most authors stood to lose money, as their royalties would now be paid as a percentage of the publishers’ smaller agency cut. In records cited by the government, Macmillan concluded that “the royalty payment for each sale of an e-book with the corresponding hardcover list price of $26.99 fell from $4.04 under wholesale to $2.28 under agency,” for example. And for a $14.99 trade paperback, “the decline was from $2.25 to $1.75.” The math looked like this for the agency model: For a hardcover priced at $30, publishers would set the consumer price at the top tier, $14.99. Minus Apple’s 30% commission, publishers would net about $10.50. Under the wholesale model with Amazon, with a 50% discount, they netted $15.
“Jobs [had] insisted that Apple e-books be priced lower than physical books and “competitively with other e-book retailers.” Unlike Amazon, Apple would not tolerate losing money on any e-book sale, a philosophy consistent with its existing digital content business. Each e-book sale would have to generate a “single-digit net profit” for Apple.” Ironically, Walmart and some other box stores were selling the Steve Jobs hardcover biography for less than the Amazon ebook price.
It’s no spoiler to reveal that this joint move by Apple and the legacy publishers that forced Amazon to adopt the agency model was ruled illegal and a violation of antitrust through monopolistic price manipulation result in substantial settlements to consumers. Apple didn’t settle preferring to go it alone in court, but they have lost all the court decisions to date. Their ebook store has never had close to the success of Amazon’s despite their refusal to permit in-app purchases for all of the ebook apps (including Kobo, Nook, and Kindle) used on Apple devices. Apple’s case was not helped by several comments he made in public and in emails regarding the pricing battle, comments the general counsel for Simon & Schuster called, “incredibly stupid.”
But Apple’s persuasive powers were incredible. “With that, Apple had pulled off a remarkable feat. [Their] business proposal was simply too extraordinary. Not only did it involve a business model foreign to publishing, it included price protections for Apple and less revenue per e-book sale for the publisher. Although Random House remained unsigned, Apple had successfully negotiated identical retail agreements with five of the six largest U.S. trade publishers in less than two weeks. Strikingly, at the time they signed their deals, none of the publishers had yet to even see an iPad or an Apple e-books app. In fact, Apple developers hadn’t even begun working on the Apple e-bookstore until mid-December. “ The iPad wasn’t released until January. No one had even seen it.
The myopia of the Authors Guild and some legacy authors never ceased to amaze me. Rather than attacking ebooks, as they did early on, they should have been going after the used book market and libraries which bring them zero revenue. Ebooks can’t be resold and never go out-of-print, and had the potential to bring them much more revenue assuming they could work out reasonable contract with their publisher (not an easy thing as many have discovered.) But the need of the legacy publishers to support an existing infrastructure by doing things the way they always had, won over early on. (The substantial revenue they are now getting from ebooks has greatly tempered their fear.) And to support the publishers in the fight over agency made no sense for the authors it represented since they were guaranteed *less* under the agency model.
Admittedly, I’m an early adopter and read off my Palm and later even purchased a Rocket Book ereader (it still works but has been superseded.) I remain puzzled by what may be a uniquely American trait that is to begin to denigrate and fear success: big business, Walmart, B&N and Borders (until they tanked), agribusiness, big farms (be they family or otherwise) , MIcrosoft, K-Mart, Sears and Montgomery Ward (until they tanked); the list goes on. Personally, I love Amazon. They are successful because they do things well. When they cease to perform, or someone does it better, I’ll abandon them.
Just before the iPad was released, a high-ranking Apple executive was charged with the task of creating an ebook bookstore. Despite Steve Jobs’ earlier predictions that no one would ever read an ebook, Amazon had released the Kindle and it had become wildly successful. Others had had similar opportunities, but only Jeff Bezos had the foresight to link the Kindle to an online store with wireless (and free) access to a huge selection of books. And, he priced bestsellers at $9.99, a brilliant strategy similar to what other retailers have always done, a form of loss-leader. Jobs wanted to copy that success with the iPad as the device of choice. But he wanted to collect more money. In a move that brought down the wrath of anti-trust regulators, the Apple folks corralled all the major publishers (except Random House) and persuaded them to adopt the “agency” model even though the publishers would get less money. (Under the Amazon model, Amazon purchased the ebooks from the publishers at whatever discount the publisher offered, as with print books, and then sold the ebooks for whatever price they wanted, also as with print books, as all bookstores did.
Apple was very smart in recognizing what the legacy publishers feared - rightly or not - that pricing the books at $9.99 might devalue their profitable hardcover distribution system, so they invented the agency mechanism. Under this system, Apple (and they argued Amazon) would have to sell the ebooks at the price determined by the publisher and act as distributor only rather than reseller.
Walsh’s message underscored the degree to which the publishing community at large had grown to fear Amazon’s pricing. Under the agency model, most authors stood to lose money, as their royalties would now be paid as a percentage of the publishers’ smaller agency cut. In records cited by the government, Macmillan concluded that “the royalty payment for each sale of an e-book with the corresponding hardcover list price of $26.99 fell from $4.04 under wholesale to $2.28 under agency,” for example. And for a $14.99 trade paperback, “the decline was from $2.25 to $1.75.” The math looked like this for the agency model: For a hardcover priced at $30, publishers would set the consumer price at the top tier, $14.99. Minus Apple’s 30% commission, publishers would net about $10.50. Under the wholesale model with Amazon, with a 50% discount, they netted $15.
“Jobs [had] insisted that Apple e-books be priced lower than physical books and “competitively with other e-book retailers.” Unlike Amazon, Apple would not tolerate losing money on any e-book sale, a philosophy consistent with its existing digital content business. Each e-book sale would have to generate a “single-digit net profit” for Apple.” Ironically, Walmart and some other box stores were selling the Steve Jobs hardcover biography for less than the Amazon ebook price.
It’s no spoiler to reveal that this joint move by Apple and the legacy publishers that forced Amazon to adopt the agency model was ruled illegal and a violation of antitrust through monopolistic price manipulation result in substantial settlements to consumers. Apple didn’t settle preferring to go it alone in court, but they have lost all the court decisions to date. Their ebook store has never had close to the success of Amazon’s despite their refusal to permit in-app purchases for all of the ebook apps (including Kobo, Nook, and Kindle) used on Apple devices. Apple’s case was not helped by several comments he made in public and in emails regarding the pricing battle, comments the general counsel for Simon & Schuster called, “incredibly stupid.”
But Apple’s persuasive powers were incredible. “With that, Apple had pulled off a remarkable feat. [Their] business proposal was simply too extraordinary. Not only did it involve a business model foreign to publishing, it included price protections for Apple and less revenue per e-book sale for the publisher. Although Random House remained unsigned, Apple had successfully negotiated identical retail agreements with five of the six largest U.S. trade publishers in less than two weeks. Strikingly, at the time they signed their deals, none of the publishers had yet to even see an iPad or an Apple e-books app. In fact, Apple developers hadn’t even begun working on the Apple e-bookstore until mid-December. “ The iPad wasn’t released until January. No one had even seen it.
The myopia of the Authors Guild and some legacy authors never ceased to amaze me. Rather than attacking ebooks, as they did early on, they should have been going after the used book market and libraries which bring them zero revenue. Ebooks can’t be resold and never go out-of-print, and had the potential to bring them much more revenue assuming they could work out reasonable contract with their publisher (not an easy thing as many have discovered.) But the need of the legacy publishers to support an existing infrastructure by doing things the way they always had, won over early on. (The substantial revenue they are now getting from ebooks has greatly tempered their fear.) And to support the publishers in the fight over agency made no sense for the authors it represented since they were guaranteed *less* under the agency model.
August 14, 2013
If you have an interest in e-books and the controversy over the "agency model", I think you will enjoy this up to the minute account how this came about and the results of the court trial. For me, one of the unexpected consequences of the advent of e-books is the return of short fiction and nonfiction to the marketplace. Yes, I know short fiction and short nonfiction have always been available but that availability seems to have expanded greatly. I know that I am reading more of it and have become a fan of the Kindle Singles (BTW this is a Kindle Single).
August 20, 2015
I'd followed much of this saga as it unfolded as I'm rather obsessed with eBooks and the future of publishing. It was good to see all the behind the scenes pieces fall into place. The narrative was well structured considering the material is admittedly rather dull.
Personally I think that this case highlights some of the flaws of our current legal framework with respect to digital goods and worry a bit about the president set.
It's a quick read and I highly recommend to anyone even marginally interested in the future of publishing or of digital goods in general.
Personally I think that this case highlights some of the flaws of our current legal framework with respect to digital goods and worry a bit about the president set.
It's a quick read and I highly recommend to anyone even marginally interested in the future of publishing or of digital goods in general.
August 27, 2013
Fascinating behind the scenes play-by-play of the Apple eBook drama. With the story still unresolved no major analysis of the events can take place. However, the book does provide additional insights not found in your average news story. Great quick read.
January 29, 2019
Very interesting telling of Apple's entry into the eBook market.
March 29, 2014
The mainstream media never seemed that involved with the e-book wars to me.
I think it's a case of "attention market share". Movies, TV, and music get a lot more of the public's interest than books. There are fewer serious readers in America than there are regular movie goers, for example.
However, I had really expected the Agency Model, which effectively eliminated price competition for the largest publishers, to provoke outrage. It would be like the soda companies getting together and saying that a case of Pepsi would be the same price, wherever you bought it.
It took the Department of Justice going after the publishers, and Apple, to really change the situation. There were other players, but that was the big move.
To me, this is a fascinating story I've followed closely (I blog about e-books and e-publishing).
Andrew Richard Albanese's book, The Battle of $9.99, focuses on the DoJ trial, and is based largely on it.
It's a short work, and does a good job of showing the progression of the situation.
In something with such a tight focus, though, I do expect a very high degree of accuracy...far more than I would in a 300 page book, or a daily blog.
While care has clearly been taken, we do get this:
"...no doubt aided by Amazon's capping Kindle e-books at the low price of $9.99."
That never happened. Right from the start of the US Kindle store, there were e-books which were priced at over $9.99. The first press release, on November 19, 2007, said:
"More than 90,000 books are now available in the Kindle Store, including 101 of 112 current New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases, which are $9.99, unless marked otherwise."
That "unless marked otherwise" was crucial.
That may seem nitpicky, but it's an important point: if a book was a recent release which was, perhaps, $50 in hardback, Amazon would charge the customer more for it than $9.99...although being on the bestseller list would affect that.
Interestingly, the epilogue gives a lot more insight, and may have been written after the rest of the book...with perhaps more care taken to it.
I have rushed to get things published sometimes, and later revised them...I assume that's what happened here.
Overall, I'd say that someone who was curious about the situation but didn't know that much about it would find this book a valuable statement of what happened. If you already know it well, you won't get much depth or new context.
It's capably written, and should be commended for that...but there are no lightning strikes of epiphany for the informed reader.
I think it's a case of "attention market share". Movies, TV, and music get a lot more of the public's interest than books. There are fewer serious readers in America than there are regular movie goers, for example.
However, I had really expected the Agency Model, which effectively eliminated price competition for the largest publishers, to provoke outrage. It would be like the soda companies getting together and saying that a case of Pepsi would be the same price, wherever you bought it.
It took the Department of Justice going after the publishers, and Apple, to really change the situation. There were other players, but that was the big move.
To me, this is a fascinating story I've followed closely (I blog about e-books and e-publishing).
Andrew Richard Albanese's book, The Battle of $9.99, focuses on the DoJ trial, and is based largely on it.
It's a short work, and does a good job of showing the progression of the situation.
In something with such a tight focus, though, I do expect a very high degree of accuracy...far more than I would in a 300 page book, or a daily blog.
While care has clearly been taken, we do get this:
"...no doubt aided by Amazon's capping Kindle e-books at the low price of $9.99."
That never happened. Right from the start of the US Kindle store, there were e-books which were priced at over $9.99. The first press release, on November 19, 2007, said:
"More than 90,000 books are now available in the Kindle Store, including 101 of 112 current New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases, which are $9.99, unless marked otherwise."
That "unless marked otherwise" was crucial.
That may seem nitpicky, but it's an important point: if a book was a recent release which was, perhaps, $50 in hardback, Amazon would charge the customer more for it than $9.99...although being on the bestseller list would affect that.
Interestingly, the epilogue gives a lot more insight, and may have been written after the rest of the book...with perhaps more care taken to it.
I have rushed to get things published sometimes, and later revised them...I assume that's what happened here.
Overall, I'd say that someone who was curious about the situation but didn't know that much about it would find this book a valuable statement of what happened. If you already know it well, you won't get much depth or new context.
It's capably written, and should be commended for that...but there are no lightning strikes of epiphany for the informed reader.
May 3, 2014
I think, like me, many people will have noticed an increase in the price of e-books in recent years. A subset of those people will be, like me, vaguely aware of an antitrust case around the selling of ebooks, involving Amazon selling below cost and Apple trying to disrupt the market. There was news last year that a court had declared that ebook purchasers were due a partial refund, and I felt some excitement at the prospect of a fat Amazon gift voucher (that hasn’t yet materialised). That was about my level of understanding before I downloaded The Battle of $9.99. It was a story that I felt I should know more about, and so I picked up the book to learn.
In this short book, Albanese outlines the revelations from the antitrust court case against Apple. It’s a factual account that seemed fairly balanced in its assessment, and contained some genuinely surprising revelations along the way. For example, publishers whose books were previously sold below cost-price by Amazon now net a lower revenue per title despite increased consumer prices. Indeed, publishers were willing to accept that deal on the basis that the perceived value of books would not be eroded further, on the basis that it protects their profits in the long-term.
It’s only a brief book, so this can only be a brief review, but it was nonetheless interesting. It was well-pitched, introducing economic and legal terms as necessary without either patronising or befuddling me as a reader with experience in neither. I would have liked a little more discussion about why this story had so little traction with the public at large, particularly compared to similar financial scandals in which consumers felt “ripped off”. I’d also be interested to read a similar account of iTunes disruption of the music market, but I guess without a antitrust suit, similar revelations are unlikely to meet public gaze.
Back in the autumn, I reviewed Burning the Page by Jason Merkoski, which examined in much more detail the way in which technology has changed the reading experience. The Battle of $9.99 makes an interesting business-focussed supplement to that book. It’s well worth a read.
This review originally published at http://sjhoward.co.uk/archive/2014/01...
In this short book, Albanese outlines the revelations from the antitrust court case against Apple. It’s a factual account that seemed fairly balanced in its assessment, and contained some genuinely surprising revelations along the way. For example, publishers whose books were previously sold below cost-price by Amazon now net a lower revenue per title despite increased consumer prices. Indeed, publishers were willing to accept that deal on the basis that the perceived value of books would not be eroded further, on the basis that it protects their profits in the long-term.
It’s only a brief book, so this can only be a brief review, but it was nonetheless interesting. It was well-pitched, introducing economic and legal terms as necessary without either patronising or befuddling me as a reader with experience in neither. I would have liked a little more discussion about why this story had so little traction with the public at large, particularly compared to similar financial scandals in which consumers felt “ripped off”. I’d also be interested to read a similar account of iTunes disruption of the music market, but I guess without a antitrust suit, similar revelations are unlikely to meet public gaze.
Back in the autumn, I reviewed Burning the Page by Jason Merkoski, which examined in much more detail the way in which technology has changed the reading experience. The Battle of $9.99 makes an interesting business-focussed supplement to that book. It’s well worth a read.
This review originally published at http://sjhoward.co.uk/archive/2014/01...
January 12, 2015
The publishing business model has its fair share of problems, but I absolutely fucking
hate
Amazon with a passion otherwise reserved for cable providers. I hated them as a bookseller, I hate them as someone who works in (non-Big 6) publishing, and I hate them as a consumer. I'm not wealthy (I do work in publishing), but I will happily pay more to buy books in other places instead of giving Amazon my money. The only reason I haven't abandoned Goodreads yet is because I loved it here before Amazon took over and I have yet to find an alternative.
I simply do not think they offer sustainable, viable alternatives to a flawed system. Their monopolistic business practices do too much damage to publishing companies, the folks who theoretically supply their product. I understand the complaints of people who believe that the Big 6 have too much control over what gets published and I agree that publishing companies on the whole need to reassess their own business models. But forcing publishing companies to play by Amazon's rules or be boxed out of the market doesn't actually do readers any favors. It threatens bookstores and all of the wonderful things they provide communities, it reduces the quality of the books that make it to the market, and it decreases opportunities for discovering new books. So, yeah, as far as I'm concerned Jeff Bezos can go suck a fat, thorny dick.
Anyway. This is a fairly balanced explanation of the legal battle between Amazon, Apple, and the Big 6 over the pricing of ebooks. It's interesting, succinct, and direct. It doesn't tell the whole story -- there's lots of implications that aren't explored, perhaps because the industry hasn't been able to assess those implications yet. It doesn't rely too much on a deep understanding of all the legal or economic issues at stake, thank goodness. It's definitely worth a look if you're at all interested in issues related to the business of publishing.
I simply do not think they offer sustainable, viable alternatives to a flawed system. Their monopolistic business practices do too much damage to publishing companies, the folks who theoretically supply their product. I understand the complaints of people who believe that the Big 6 have too much control over what gets published and I agree that publishing companies on the whole need to reassess their own business models. But forcing publishing companies to play by Amazon's rules or be boxed out of the market doesn't actually do readers any favors. It threatens bookstores and all of the wonderful things they provide communities, it reduces the quality of the books that make it to the market, and it decreases opportunities for discovering new books. So, yeah, as far as I'm concerned Jeff Bezos can go suck a fat, thorny dick.
Anyway. This is a fairly balanced explanation of the legal battle between Amazon, Apple, and the Big 6 over the pricing of ebooks. It's interesting, succinct, and direct. It doesn't tell the whole story -- there's lots of implications that aren't explored, perhaps because the industry hasn't been able to assess those implications yet. It doesn't rely too much on a deep understanding of all the legal or economic issues at stake, thank goodness. It's definitely worth a look if you're at all interested in issues related to the business of publishing.
January 24, 2014
The Battle of $9.99: How Apple, Amazon, and the Big Six Publishers Changed the E-Book Business Overnight is a must for anyone who values the free flow of information, who values books or who is concerned about the future of access to e-books (that is, just about anyone on this site). As a librarian who has followed this issue as a matter of professional responsibility I have always been flummoxed to explain exactly how it was that we, as consumers, ended up with the ‘mess’ that we have when it comes to buying and using e-books. Well, no more. Now I can direct folks to “The Battle of $9.99” to explain, in an engaging way, all of the shady dealings and background maneuvers that have gotten us to the e-book landscape we now have.
Although short this is a very well researched book on a topic that is still very much in play which makes this an ideal resource for those just starting out with the issue. But this is an issue, as I say, that is still being worked out, in fact, just this past week (01/16/2014) the U.S. District Court (New York : Southern District) rejected Apple’s attempt to limit or remove the External Compliance Monitor position that was created as part of the decision that concludes Andrew Richard Albanese’s book. Additionally, since this work was issued Judge Chin of the U.S. District Court (New York : Southern District) sided with Google over the claims of the Author’s Guild (a small but still important player in “The Battle of $9.99") that the mass digitization efforts undertaken by Big G did not infringe on the several author’s rights.
So while there is certainly more to come on this topic from the publishers, from the aggregators like Apple and Amazon and (one hopes) from the consumer side “The Battle of $9.99” helps to explain much of the background and is a valuable introduction to this issue.
August 13, 2013
This e-book details the negotiation between Apple and the major US book publishers, how Amazon was a factor in these negotiations, and how the process eventually led to a price-fixing trail brought on by the US Dept of Justice (Apple lost, the publishers settled)
In a nutshell:
- Amazon was willing to lose money to create an ebook market, by selling bestsellers at $9.99 (hence the title of the book) while paying for more. They succeed, eventually gaining 90% of the e-book market share.
- Major US publishers felt Amazon's low-approach on e-books was cutting into their margins for print books, so they focused their efforts on protecting the print book business, and stopping Amazon at all cost.
- Apple saw an opportunity to take advantage of the publishers' anti-Amazon stance, and lack of understanding of the changing marketplace, used this leverage to negotiate the best deal possible for itself, while using each publisher against each other.
This was an original e-book published by an industry publication, Publishers Weekly; in itself a very interesting business model, and I look forward to more of this type of in-depth reporting as an e-book.
In a nutshell:
- Amazon was willing to lose money to create an ebook market, by selling bestsellers at $9.99 (hence the title of the book) while paying for more. They succeed, eventually gaining 90% of the e-book market share.
- Major US publishers felt Amazon's low-approach on e-books was cutting into their margins for print books, so they focused their efforts on protecting the print book business, and stopping Amazon at all cost.
- Apple saw an opportunity to take advantage of the publishers' anti-Amazon stance, and lack of understanding of the changing marketplace, used this leverage to negotiate the best deal possible for itself, while using each publisher against each other.
This was an original e-book published by an industry publication, Publishers Weekly; in itself a very interesting business model, and I look forward to more of this type of in-depth reporting as an e-book.
August 14, 2013
This is less of a book and more of a long article. It does a nice job of outlining the change that occurred in the ebook industry when publishers moved from the wholesale to the agency model and the resulting antitrust case that involved Apple and the publishers.
If you have ever wondered about why ebook prices have gone up over the past couple of years, this book does a nice job outlining the chain of events.
If you have ever wondered about why ebook prices have gone up over the past couple of years, this book does a nice job outlining the chain of events.
November 30, 2014
Fantastic look at a controversial case
The Apple price-fixing case isn't discussed much in the publishing industry these days--quite bit surprising considering that it was so recent. It also sheds interesting light on the Amazon-Hachette dispute. This is an eloquent, objective and high-level look at this high profile case. If you don't understand the Amazon-Hachette disputes, or you don't know why Apple isn't yet a major player in the e-books business, read this book.
The Apple price-fixing case isn't discussed much in the publishing industry these days--quite bit surprising considering that it was so recent. It also sheds interesting light on the Amazon-Hachette dispute. This is an eloquent, objective and high-level look at this high profile case. If you don't understand the Amazon-Hachette disputes, or you don't know why Apple isn't yet a major player in the e-books business, read this book.
July 29, 2013
This was an interesting account of the e-book price fixing trial recently concluded. Apple was found guilty of conspiracy with the six major publishers to raise e-book prices in order to better compete with Amazon. While I understand and agree with the ruling, I have never been a fan of Amazon and wish their "power" over the book market was curtailed.
August 14, 2013
This a must read for anyone working in the publishing industry, or for anyone who is interested in the emerging, and changing, eBook market. Mr. Albanese has done a very thorough job researching and documenting the event that took place in this case. He lays out the details of the entire event and draws excellent conclusions. Highly recommended!
September 10, 2013
A clear, balanced and very readable blow-by-blow account of the actions leading up to the infamous DOJ suit against Apple and the Big 6/5. Gives you the inside perspective that most of us - let's face it - would never have been bothered to gather from the submitted evidence ourselves. If you have an opinion on this topic, you should probably read this book.
August 13, 2013
The topic was interesting so that's why I gave three stars, but otherwise I didn't much care for the writing - very dry and sometimes a little boring. Still, I wasn't aware of this at all - the lost money on many bestseller sales is such a weird strategy! - so I'm glad I read it.
December 26, 2013
An interesting review of the ebook pricing 'war'. As much as the increase in prices annoyed me, I have some sympathy for the publishers and think that the reduction in Amazon's near-monopoly was a good result.
January 2, 2014
Read this more for work than anything else. The 4 stars are about how applicable this title was for me specifically. I doubt my wife would give it the same. Great material given my current role. Seemed well researched.
December 30, 2015
A fascinating, and informative read on the price fixing of ebooks by Apple and the big 6 Publishers. Also really great insight into the buying/selling of books in general, eg the differences in agency pricing model v. Wholesale pricing model.
June 25, 2013
This gives an overview of the price setting Apple and publishers engaged in at the expense of consumers.
Worth a read if you buy eBooks.
Worth a read if you buy eBooks.
July 21, 2013
Quick, fascinating read from the emails of the publishers and Apple. Besides fascinating anti-trust read/debate, it does remind you how later anyone can read your emails.
July 21, 2013
A quick read. Fascinating look at how the battle shaped up, drawn from the evidence presented in the legal case.
September 9, 2013
Pas particulièrement passionnant, mais permet de savoir un peu ce qui s'est passé dans le procès d'anti-trust d'Apple qui s'est terminé récemment.
October 28, 2013
Short but interesting
October 22, 2013
Interesting look at the e-book industry, specifically the case against Apple and the publishers for price-fixing.
April 4, 2014
Quick but interesting read.
Read
May 3, 2014Interesting, though it could have benefited from another round of edits.
May 27, 2015
Superb account on the wheeling and dealing that went on behind the scenes of the war to fix the price of e-books. A must-read for anyone interested in the subject.
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