Amazon to Cut E-Book Prices, Shaking Rivals (making Amazon a Monopoly)

[WeekendWarrior]

103. What people forget or don't realize is

that Amazon has single-handedly saved many authors from losing their livelihoods. The Big 6 publishing companies pay authors 17.5% of each ebook sale, taking the lion's share of the profit for themselves. During the economic crunch, many midlist authors (think mystery and thriller writers) were let go by the publishers so that they (the publishers) could continue to pay their staffs and promote the big name authors.

Many authors found themselves unable to make a living (although most authors have day jobs) until Amazon offered them a doorway, and a chance to not only re-publish their backlists, but self-publish new work. This has been a boon to many authors I know, because Amazon pays 70% royalties on their ebooks.

That's 70%. And the AUTHORS set the price of their books based on guidelines set by Amazon. And many of them have been able to quit their day jobs, thanks to Amazon.

As a result, self-publishing authors are now taking the lion's share of the profits and are able to actually make a living doing what they do best.

All Amazon has done is remove the middle man. The big 6 are bitching and moaning because they have a dying industry and they're doing everything they can to keep themselves relevant and pumping up prices so that they can maintain their Manhattan office suites and staffs.

Books are vastly overpriced because there's a middle man who needs to be paid. Eliminate the middle man and both readers and authors benefit.