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Steve Jobs emails that show how to win a negotiation

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Re: Steve Jobs emails that show how to win a negotiation

#31

Post by jtbigwoo »

There's a great moment in the first Jobs email:

>>4. $9 per new release should represent a gross margin neutral business model for the publishers. We are not asking them to make any less money. As for the artists, giving them the same amount of royalty as they make today, leaving the publisher with the same profits, is as easy as sending them all a letter telling them that you are paying them a higher percentage for ebooks. They won’t be sad.

This was the moment when he won, IMO. He's very deftly showing that he knows the publishers are screwing their authors on ebook commissions (which should be much much higher than for paper books). He's also subtly threatening Murdoch by reminding him that he doesn't control the means of production anymore.

Re: Steve Jobs emails that show how to win a negotiation

#32

Post by josephlord »

smallegan wrote: post #17

I guess it is the capitalist in me that doesn't really get what Apple was doing wrong by trying to set higher eBook prices with the major publishers.

This bit is the one that struck me as legally shaky.

2. All the major publishers tell us that Amazon’s $9.99 price for new releases is eroding the value perception of their products in customer’s minds, and they do not want this practice to continue for new releases.

[Edit to add: This section implies a collective (amongst competitors) view/wish to shift prices being communicated by Apple. It isn't proof of illegal action but it doesn't look good and if there are other communications indicating how Apple acquired the understanding of the industry view they may be in trouble.]

Re: Steve Jobs emails that show how to win a negotiation

#35

Post by anonymous »

gfodor wrote: post #30

The only lesson about negotiation here is that negotiation is easy when you have all the leverage.

Ah, yes, the old "On warfare with a heavy fortress, containing lots of supplies, that can withstand a prolonged siege: be the side with the fortress".

Re: Steve Jobs emails that show how to win a negotiation

#37

Post by anonymous »

This part from Jobs's letter sounded strange to me:

3. Hold back your books from Amazon. Without a way for customers to buy your ebooks, they will steal them. This will be the start of piracy and once started there will be no stopping it.

Publishers must realise that all books are already available in pirated variants, right? Their worst nightmare - everybody being able to download any book without paying them, is already a reality.

Re: Steve Jobs emails that show how to win a negotiation

#38

Post by devindotcom »

jtbigwoo wrote: post #31

There's a great moment in the first Jobs email: >>4. $9 per new release should represent a gross margin neutral business model for the publishers. We are not asking them to make any less money. As for the artists, giving them the same amount of royalty as they make today, leaving the publisher with the same profits, is as easy as sending them all a letter telling them that you are paying them a higher percentage for…

Yeah, this was the moment for me too. It's like he's saying "Who do you think you're talking to? You think we don't know what you people do?"

Re: Steve Jobs emails that show how to win a negotiation

#39

Post by brown9-2 »

skw wrote: post #16

Do publishers and authors not looks at statistics? I'm sorry but ebooks aren't even close to the same value as print books. I have an idea of the production costs involved. Not to mention that with ebooks you're saving trees and reaching larger audiences. If the mobile app market shows us anything it's that micro-transactions are the way to go. Either sell your books for That or an unlimited book (library) subscripti…

Of course they know the economics of the situation. What they have been attempting to do is to cement a price point for eBooks in their customer's heads so that they can continue to charge $10, $14, $16 etc for a megabyte of text for a new release. I think they've been successful so far.

Just because they are doing something illogical doesn't mean they are stupid; they are doing it to make more profits.

Re: Steve Jobs emails that show how to win a negotiation

#40

Post by maxmcd »

gfodor wrote: post #30

The only lesson about negotiation here is that negotiation is easy when you have all the leverage.

Perceived leverage. HC would have been able to operate with greater flexibility without the deal and Amazon now has dominant market share. Jobs argues that Apple's digital subscribers are the important part of this deal when a very legitimate argument could be made (especially in retrospect) that Amazon's ownership of the book market, and book commerce traffic could help it's marketshare even more.

The lesson is to convince someone reading the negotiation that you have all the leverage, and Job's certainly seems to have done that. So much so that you dismiss any lesson as all.

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