Amazon Kindle Macmillan eBook Pricing Issues [Amazon Offer a Response: ‘Expressed Our Strong Disagreement’]

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Just at the end of last week we reported that Amazon had acted to remove Macmillan books for their Kindle Store and now, as the dispute over eBook pricing apparently escalates, Amazon have offered a statement concerning where they stand – and Amazon aren’t pulling any punches.

So, if you’re new to this, what exactly is the issue? In short, Macmillan acted to rise the price of its best sellers to $14.99 a pop and Amazon aren’t happy about it (let’s be honest here, there’s no paper, no printing costs, what gives?). Amazon are, to their credit, defending their customers (that is Amazon Kindle owners) is citing the higher cost as ‘too high’ for an eBook (who would say that’s not a valid point?) and have offered the following statement:

Dear Customers:

Macmillan, one of the “big six” publishers, has clearly communicated to us that, regardless of our viewpoint, they are committed to switching to an agency model and charging $12.99 to $14.99 for e-book versions of bestsellers and most hardcover releases.

We have expressed our strong disagreement and the seriousness of our disagreement by temporarily ceasing the sale of all Macmillan titles. We want you to know that ultimately, however, we will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan’s terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles, and we will want to offer them to you even at prices we believe are needlessly high for e-books. Amazon customers will at that point decide for themselves whether they believe it’s reasonable to pay $14.99 for a bestselling e-book. We don’t believe that all of the major publishers will take the same route as Macmillan. And we know for sure that many independent presses and self-published authors will see this as an opportunity to provide attractively priced e-books as an alternative.

Kindle is a business for Amazon, and it is also a mission. We never expected it to be easy!

Thank you for being a customer.

Really, we try to remain on the fence about such disputes, but $14.99 for an eBook? Are Macmillan serious? Macmillan need to get over themselves and realise that consumers aren’t fools. The publishing of an eBook has markedly less associated overheads than publishing a ‘physical’ book.

Our message to Macmillan is simple. Stop taking the piss, take a reality check and respect that we, as consumers, a) weren’t born yesterday and b) have long memories.

Your thoughts welcomed.