Amazon’s Monopsony Is Not O.K.

Post by alexyes » Mon, Oct 20, 2014, 4:50 PM UTC

josu wrote: post #110

Tyrannosaurs wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not intended as an appeal to accomplishment, more as a suggestion that he would have as much to lose in reputation than to gain by getting involved in such a thing if he didn't genuinely believe his position. EDIT: I'd also suggest that as a default with the participants in this particular disagreement, anyone with self interest at heart should probably think about siding with Amazon. Jeff Bezos doesn't lose too…

In the academic world Krugman-the-journalist has never had that much reputation. It was Krugman-the-academic the one who won the Nobel Memorial Prize. You can check out some of Krugman-the-journalist's most notorious contradictions here: http://wiki.mises.org/wiki/Paul_Krugman#Contradictions

Post by WalterBright » Mon, Oct 20, 2014, 4:59 PM UTC

jasode wrote: post #119

JackC wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Krugman's point is summed up in another quote from the comment you linked to: "Hachette failed to come to mutually agreeable terms with [Amazon]. That's their most important job as a publisher, and they blew it, to the tune of permanently costing their authors 50-60%+ of sales they'll never recover." When one buyer represents 50-60% of sales, the "most important job" of any seller is to come to "mutually agreeable te…

>When one buyer represents 50-60% of sales, ... One party to the negotiation can walk away; the other cannot. I don't follow the logic here. Your fatalistic assessment assumes Hachette (and other publishers) are paralyzed and cannot adapt . However, the business world isn't static therefore Hachette can walk away. (If not this particular contract renewal because of timing pressure then at least the next one -- if the…

Post by awinder » Mon, Oct 20, 2014, 5:11 PM UTC

jasode wrote: post #119

JackC wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Krugman's point is summed up in another quote from the comment you linked to: "Hachette failed to come to mutually agreeable terms with [Amazon]. That's their most important job as a publisher, and they blew it, to the tune of permanently costing their authors 50-60%+ of sales they'll never recover." When one buyer represents 50-60% of sales, the "most important job" of any seller is to come to "mutually agreeable te…

>When one buyer represents 50-60% of sales, ... One party to the negotiation can walk away; the other cannot. I don't follow the logic here. Your fatalistic assessment assumes Hachette (and other publishers) are paralyzed and cannot adapt . However, the business world isn't static therefore Hachette can walk away. (If not this particular contract renewal because of timing pressure then at least the next one -- if the…

Post by michaelq » Mon, Oct 20, 2014, 5:34 PM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #133

jasode wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>When one buyer represents 50-60% of sales, ... One party to the negotiation can walk away; the other cannot. I don't follow the logic here. Your fatalistic assessment assumes Hachette (and other publishers) are paralyzed and cannot adapt . However, the business world isn't static therefore Hachette can walk away. (If not this particular contract renewal because of timing pressure then at least the next one -- if the…

Note that O'Reilly books have their own site, and seem to do rather well.

Post by ender7 » Mon, Oct 20, 2014, 5:43 PM UTC

jasode wrote: post #119

JackC wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Krugman's point is summed up in another quote from the comment you linked to: "Hachette failed to come to mutually agreeable terms with [Amazon]. That's their most important job as a publisher, and they blew it, to the tune of permanently costing their authors 50-60%+ of sales they'll never recover." When one buyer represents 50-60% of sales, the "most important job" of any seller is to come to "mutually agreeable te…

>When one buyer represents 50-60% of sales, ... One party to the negotiation can walk away; the other cannot. I don't follow the logic here. Your fatalistic assessment assumes Hachette (and other publishers) are paralyzed and cannot adapt . However, the business world isn't static therefore Hachette can walk away. (If not this particular contract renewal because of timing pressure then at least the next one -- if the…