Paula Reed's Blog - Posts Tagged "amazon-vs-mcmillan"
Caught in the Middle
If you have gone to Amazon recently in hopes of purchasing Hester, you will note that Hester Prynne is caught in another bind. This time, she has been taken hostage in a skirmish between Amazon and my publisher, MacMillan. With the release of the iPad (a name that warrants its own entry, perhaps), the ebook market has been blown wide open. For several years, Amazon has had the premium e-reader, the Kindle, and Amazon set the rules, including the price at which publishers could sell digital books for the Kindle. MacMillan has never been happy about this and does not release all its books in Kindle format. Now, with Apple jumping in, MacMillan has pushed Amazon for the right to set its own price for digital MacMillan books. Amazon has responded by pulling all of MacMillan’s books, including print ones, from its website. The “buy now” button has been replaced by a request to be notified when the book becomes available.
I have no idea what will happen to orders for Hester placed before the battle lines were drawn. I have an order in myself. At the moment, I’m just hoping the whole thing is settled prior to the book’s release date. As for the cause of the skirmish, I think the publisher has the right to set the price for its books and ebook readers have the right to decide how much is too much. The market usually straightens itself out. If the publisher charges too much, people won’t order the book, and the price will come down.
Poor Hester. She has it tough. By the way, you can still get the book on the Barnes and Noble site or at your local bookstore beginning the 16th.
I have no idea what will happen to orders for Hester placed before the battle lines were drawn. I have an order in myself. At the moment, I’m just hoping the whole thing is settled prior to the book’s release date. As for the cause of the skirmish, I think the publisher has the right to set the price for its books and ebook readers have the right to decide how much is too much. The market usually straightens itself out. If the publisher charges too much, people won’t order the book, and the price will come down.
Poor Hester. She has it tough. By the way, you can still get the book on the Barnes and Noble site or at your local bookstore beginning the 16th.
