In a move that many will see as an attempt by Amazon to keep its market-share of eBook sales while soothing tensions between itself and the authors and publishers it ‘serves,’ the Internet eBook giant is going to offer them a bigger piece of the action. June 30 will see authors’ and publishers’ percentage (royalty, share) of a book’s price sold through Amazon bumped up to 70 percent (exclusive of delivery costs). See the full story here at ChannelWeb.
Isn’t that nice–oh wait, here’s the fine print. (Why can’t they just be nice?)Â The new percentage only applies to discounted books ranging in price from $2.99 to $9.99. Additionally the book must be listed at least 20 percent below “the lowest listed price for the physical book.” So, the deal has strings attached.
Apparently authors generally received a royalty of 7 – 15 percent on ‘actual’ books and 25 percent on eBooks. So this story only sounds fantastic until you read the fine print. Then it sounds like more manipulation by a jaded corporate giant–justification for the ill will that has long permeated the pre-digital publishing world. With that thinking, they deserve what Apple’s Tablet is going to give them, yah?
