
The Literate Geek: Seriously, Amazon, WTF? - datacharmer
http://literategeek.blogspot.it/2012/09/seriously-amazon-wtf.html
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cstross
It's probably not Amazon; what the blogger hasn't realized is that the books
he's looking at probably have different publishers (with different pricing
policies) in different countries. Not to mention different rates of VAT, from
0% (the USA doesn't have VAT) to 20% in the UK and even higher levels
elsewhere.

~~~
datacharmer
I know that it's the publisher, or at least I am aware that Amazon puts the
blame on publishers, but I am baffled that Amazon, which is THE BIGGEST online
bookseller, has to bend to such insane demands.

~~~
cstross
If Amazon stop bending to those "insane" demands, you're going to see a wave
of publishers going bust and then a _steep_ decline in the availability of new
high-quality product[1]. AMZN are not the authors' friends, let alone the
publishers'. And if they ever establish a monopoly on the supply chain,
they'll stop being the customers' friend as well.

[1] Authors don't get to support themselves by touring. And those of us who
try to supply good quality product can't do nearly as a good a job if our cash
flow is being throttled, or if we're forced to take on the elements of
workflow that our publishers currently handle for us.

