Amazon returns to the dispute between it and Hachette Books with a letter to authors and publishers who adhere to Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Amazon's specific program for self-publishing and small and medium-sized publishing. These are subjects who are not involved in any way in the controversy with Hachette because Amazon's guidelines already apply in the KDP program.
Given the almost total absence of official positions taken by Amazon, going out with an open letter specifically addressed to this area of the business, which is totally under control, would lead us to think that there is too much discontent that is beginning to manifest itself even among those who have chosen Amazon as a platform to which to entrust the fate of one's creative and entrepreneurial activity.
With this letter Amazon raises the tone of the controversy and, above all, seems to reiterate its determination not to reach any compromise on the price of ebooks whose maximum limit must be $9,99, with the exception of some (few, Amazon specifies) titles specialists that may have a higher price, even if not appreciated.
The KDP program
Within the KDP program, Amazon already severely punishes authors who list a price above $9,99 and below $1,99 by rewarding them with 35% royalties instead of the usual 70% that goes to those who place their ebook titles within this price range.
Now Amazon would like even major publishing companies to submit to the 9,99 rule. It's a big "leap of faith" for publishers and they're not necessarily going to fall into the soft. With hardcovers, which are the family jewels, at an average price of 19 dollars, the tangible risk for publishers is to shoot themselves in the foot, that is, to exchange something they control for something that will escape their control.
The same happened to Giolitti when he exchanged Catholics for Fascists. Some large publishers are already ready for this leap and know how to do it; others not yet and, for good reason, need to take the time to develop shared strategies. But Amazon is in a hurry and this time lag between the two major players in the electronic book market is at the root of the current tensions.
Amazon: 10 in merit, zero in method
It's hard to blame Amazon: the price of ebooks is all about developing the market and winning over new readers. The letter explicitly refers to the rule of price elasticity of demand which seems to be the one that regulates the ebook market. Amazon has a quantity of data on the market that nobody has and if it says that a lower price widens the demand bringing economic benefits to everyone, we can believe it without saying a word. Then there is another consideration which concerns the motivation for buying a new media compared to the traditional competing media.
It is evident that the ebook is worth less than the book in the consumer's perception of value. If only an ebook cannot be lent or even resold on the stalls along the Seine. Lending or donating a book taken from one's library is one of the most culturally sensitive gestures. Many university libraries bear the donor's name. The transfer of an ebook is equivalent to a broken contract. Not to mention the fact that with ebooks industrial costs are eliminated. Finally, ebooks are still, partly due to Amazon's fault, photocopies of books and don't add much to the action of reading. The 2.0 consumer is not an inexperienced person and therefore, if he can, he buys the book preferring it to its digital twin. Or he buys them both. But as NYTimes media columnist David Carr says: “How many times do we have to buy the same content?”.
The big publishers, rather than defending the caravan besieged by savages as Amazon says, are trying to manage a reasonable transition that now requires the ebook to remain in a subordinate state. As Rupert Murdoch, the commander in chief of the media industry, has well understood, ebooks are actually a bargain for the book industry as they allow higher margins than the traditional product. The current situation is therefore a transitional situation.
If Amazon has any right to the merits of the dispute, its methods, which appear to be inspired by a pejorative version of Putinism, are reprehensible. Even the "call to action" that closes this letter leaves us very perplexed if not downright disgusted. The "poor" CEO of Hachette, whose email address is disclosed here without his consent, appears to be the "war criminal" who pressed the launch button on the missile that brought down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. Perhaps these Putinian-style brisk methods are inspired by Jeff Bezos, who is ideally as distant from Putin as Pluto from the Sun.
Here the Italian translation of the letter sent by Amazon to users of the KDP service.
