Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you suggesting that Nobel Prize Winner Paul Krugman is speaking out against Amazon because Hachette have drafted him for some sort of PR campaign?
Yes he is, and it looks like that to me as well. What's the deal with Paul Krugman being a Nobel Prize winner? [1] [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_accomplishment
Amazon’s Monopsony Is Not O.K.
71–80 of 208 posts
Re: Amazon’s Monopsony Is Not O.K.
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
A part of me welcomes this. I am sick of the noise. Browsing the Amazon (Kindle) bookstore, I wish that 90% of the junk didn't even appear in my search results. Rather read works by people who are creating for the sake of art, and not money. This does not mean that I believe authors should not be correctly compensated, but has more to do with the impetus for action itself and the resulting quality of work that is pro…
> Rather read works by people who are creating for the sake of art, and not money. So basically the independently wealthy.
As someone who is earning a living by writing, I typically produce a book a year, plus change (sometimes up to two books per year).
If downward pressure on production costs results in me having to seek work elsewhere, then of course I won't stop writing ... but I'll write a lot less.
Amazon's strategy of driving down prices by leaning on publishers to cap prices across the board works on the assumption that all books are created equal. It's commodification, equating work of serious artistic or literary merit, or work that lots of people like, with work that is neither artistic, meritorious, or even popular. If the monopsonist gets their way, then all authors take a haircut. Even if you're a market fundamentalist, this has problems: Amazon may be sending a price signal, but it doesn't apply to the individual SKU but instead to the manufacturers' entire product range across the board. Any useful information is thus lost in the noise ...
Re: Amazon’s Monopsony Is Not O.K.
#73So apart from stop buying from Amazon, what else one common citizen of Internet can do?
Yeah, we can buy elsewhere, but they charge more for shipping and oh yeah, your CC is not working here...
If I recall correctly, in Seattle the University Bookstore has (had?) free shipping according to some deal or condition, and if not you can have it delivered there, and then get out of the house and sniff books.
But most of my book buying these days is DRM-free pdfs from O'Reilly.
Re: Amazon’s Monopsony Is Not O.K.
#74Capitalism is based on grow and destruction. It is just as absurd to argue against Amazon as it would have been to argue for Blockbuster. Netflix comes along, and Blockbuster disappears. Markets are brutally efficient, and crying over the losers is a waste of time at best, and if this bleating results in government regulation, harmful.
Re: Amazon’s Monopsony Is Not O.K.
#75I normally love Krugman, but it seems like he skipped a step here. Amazon is squeezing publishers to push prices down, which is bad becuase... why? I mean, the apocalyptic end game here is that publishers are forced out of business entirely and Amazon ends up buying content directly from authors, I guess. That doesn't sound so bad to me, nor like something that's going to "hurt America". Maybe then they might squeeze…
"Walmart is squeezing manufacturers to push prices down, which is bad becuase... why?"
Re: Amazon’s Monopsony Is Not O.K.
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
Disrupting editors does not mean eliminating them. Successful self-publishers pay for, among other things, their own editors. Readers are not stupid. Between descriptions, reviews, free samples and so on assessing quality (both abstractly and personally) isn't hard.
How are self-publishers supposed to pay editors if Amazon keep pushing prices down?
Re: Amazon’s Monopsony Is Not O.K.
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you suggesting that Nobel Prize Winner Paul Krugman is speaking out against Amazon because Hachette have drafted him for some sort of PR campaign?
I am suggesting that Paul Krugman is speaking as a New York Times Op Ed writer whose duty is to sell newspapers, rather than as an academic.
Re: Amazon’s Monopsony Is Not O.K.
#78I normally love Krugman, but it seems like he skipped a step here. Amazon is squeezing publishers to push prices down, which is bad becuase... why? I mean, the apocalyptic end game here is that publishers are forced out of business entirely and Amazon ends up buying content directly from authors, I guess. That doesn't sound so bad to me, nor like something that's going to "hurt America". Maybe then they might squeeze…
The standard monopsony effect is on quality. Monopsonies push the price below the cost of production, so producers cut production costs to an unreasonable level. In the case of books, you'd see that by cuts in editing, by authors shortening the amount of time that they spend writing a book, and through authors dropping out and leaving the field to less talented writers with fewer alternative income sources. The textb…
Worse, the argument is over pricing on e-books, not physical stock, so Hachette's stance makes even less sense.
As usual, Paul Krugman sees everything through a political lens, so naturally Amazon is evil and must be beaten down.
Re: Amazon’s Monopsony Is Not O.K.
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
Shipping costs dont't matter, do they? Reading a book takes a while. Why do I care whether it comes free of charge or costs a few cents? Books still are great value for the money. I can read 2 or three a month, maximum. Shipping cost for books are really a negligible point in my total budget. Finally, you always pay for shipping. Either with cash or, as we see, by amazon squeezing the price from someone else. It is n…
If they don't matter to you, perhaps you'd be willing to pay mine. I'd gladly buy paper books from http://www.powells.com/ and have them shipped here to Italy, but it's expensive and slow.
Re: Amazon’s Monopsony Is Not O.K.
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you suggesting that Nobel Prize Winner Paul Krugman is speaking out against Amazon because Hachette have drafted him for some sort of PR campaign?
Yes he is, and it looks like that to me as well. What's the deal with Paul Krugman being a Nobel Prize winner? [1] [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_accomplishment