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The Giants are hot in Chile. This weekend we completed the presentation of "The Invitation: small Giant Diving Bell and his uncle, huge puppets that the company Royal de Luxe brought to the streets of Santiago to star in an entertaining search and a tearful reunion. But not all is love between giants. In trying to define the prices of electronic books, also armed mochas.
(Photo: Flickr alter_nati_va )

our friend is no doubt that Amazon is now the "giant" electronic books. However, is having some hectic days, with the help of the American publisher Macmillan. According this blog KT Bradford, editor of LAPTOP magazine, discontent is that Amazon does not sell electronic books to more than $ 9.99. And obviously, Macmillan wants to sell more expensive (about USD 15, according to this article New York Times). "Duel of Persian carpet sellers so far, with little to do with a struggle gulliveriana? OK. But it is interesting to deepen the subject.

books at Amazon and $ 10

Willing to regulate the prices of electronic books appears laudable reasonable levels, besides the fact that it is probably the only way to ensure the business. However, Amazon has the bad habit of wanting to keep the lion's share. In fact, for each book sold on their website, they stay on average for 50% of the purchase price. The rest of the proceeds of the sale is shared between the publisher and author. Under these conditions, force publishers to reduce their profits to obey a strict pricing policy is probably not the best way to ensure the business. In addition, on the other hand, Apple offers through its iStore, to publishers more advantageous: a price of USD 15 and a sharing of proceeds from the sale of 30/70 between the platform and the content owner.

The editor, actor sensitive electronic book business
Indeed, in the electronic book business, you have to take care of the editor. It is the heart of literary activity, in the sense that it is he who supplies the blood (produced by the writers) to their veins (distribution networks). The costs of publication of an electronic book are a bit more lower than those of a physical book, but the levels are not very different: according to Bradford, the printing costs only represent 10% of the total cost of publication. Apparently, Amazon realized this and is beginning to change its rules, as we explained a few days at the end of this Article . Also reached an agreement with Macmillan, where they stop to this editorial choice of a price ranging between 13 and 15 dollars.

A interesting question to ask is why Amazon, which ultimately is nothing more than a reseller, is allowed to unilaterally set prices? Finally, prices "should not determine the law of supply and demand?

Anyway, this battle of giants is proving that the economic model of electronic books is still traveling the road to maturity. Just like a little doll who was wandering the city streets in recent days ...