As a young writer and aspiring novelist, the news of an e-book pricing battle between Hachette, a large book publisher, and entertainment titan Amazon has captured my attention.
According to TIME, Amazon wants to lower the price of e-books while Hachette refuses, accusing Amazon of cyberbullying by making it harder for consumers to find products from producers with which Amazon is negotiating.
Amazon, for its part, claims e-books should be priced lower due to less overhead cost and argues that the high price elasticity of demand for e-books actually means
more profit from lower prices. This sort of battle is not new: Big-box retailers like Wal-Mart have previously been accused of trying to force producers to accept lower sale prices. While consumers would undoubtedly appreciate lower e-book prices, publishers and authors are understandably wary of Amazon's growing power.
Could Amazon become a big, bullying retailer, forcing publishers and authors to accept pennies in earnings when they used to earn dollars?
Nine hundred authors have signed a letter urging Amazon to back off, including popular authors like Stephen King, Lemony Snicket, and Jon Krakauer.
But what about new authors looking to break into the biz? Previously,
I was upset at Amazon's idea for Kindle Unlimited, which would offer readers unlimited e-book downloads for a set monthly fee. Kindle Unlimited will hurt new authors by removing pricing as a consumer consideration in selecting e-books: Why download the new author's book when, for your $9.99 per month, you can download as much Stephen King, John Grisham, or J.K. Rowling as you want? Gone is the new author's advantage of offering a lower price.
Hachette is similarly hurting new authors by insisting on keeping e-book prices higher. Turning off the public by refusing to compromise on pricing means fewer people have the chance to discover new authors. If other publishers feel they must keep e-book prices high as well, they may be less willing to accept new authors whose books they would have to price lower. Basically, fighting to keep e-book prices high will likely disadvantage aspiring writers.
Aspiring authors are the lifeblood of literature and should be given more of a chance. Though I respect the arguments of both Amazon (as an economics teacher, I appreciate their use of price elasticity) and Hachette, I wonder if either side has considered the position of aspiring and rookie authors. If they have not, they need to.
