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

[rebecca_herman]

131. What Amazon is doing should be what is illegal

They are engaging in predatory pricing to try and become a monopoly. They are allowed to do this unchecked and even worse, are now helped by the government, while those who try to PROTECT a product THEY PRODUCED are punished. It's completely backwards. Amazon should not be able to destroy the value of something produced by someone else in order to make more money on Amazon's products. How would Amazon like it if someone else started selling something Amazon produced for an extremely cheap price, thereby causing people to refuse to pay Amazon's preferred price? I bet they'd feel EXACTLY as the publishers do now.

If not for the internet obsession, I high doubt any publisher would have touched 50 Shades with a ten foot pole. I've yet to see many other traditionally published books with such poor writing.

And actually, ebook sales are slowing down. They are no longer growing exponentially. Whether they will continue to grow slowly or just even out at some final number, we don't know. But you do not know for a fact that it will end up as you predict. It could go either way at this point.

And yes, that link is speculation based on sales data - but so is your viewpoint. Market research was done, people can speculate what it means but yes, at this point it has slown down. It may keep going up at a very slow rate, it could get fast again, it could plateau. To assume your preferred or assumed outcome is the only possible one is ridiculous. That you claim is wasn't backed up by any study shows you didn't even bother to read it.

"And the numbers don't lie. But to clarify my earlier statement: ebooks are already outselling both hardback and paperbacks on Amazon, and the second biggest retailer of paper books—B & N—is struggling to stay alive."

Well, people are obviously buying paper books somewhere, because print remains 80% of the market. Ebooks are only 20% of the market. When all formats of print are combined from all retailers, they outsell ebooks. Ebooks being cheaper in some cases does not come anywhere close to making up for the fact that print has 80% of the market.

I think it's a great shame if B&N dies, and should that happen I actually would probably only by used books at that point as I refuse to support Amazon. I still mourn Borders. The bookstore was my favorite place as a child. I want my child to be able to experience that someday. Although since no one wants ebooks for children, I suppose somwhere will have to remain to sell children's books (since ebooks are a pathetic 5% of the children's book market).

Either way - it is a fact that ebook growth HAS CURRENTLY SLOWED DOWN. Since you are so big on facts, how else can you interpret the fact that the increase last year was smaller than the year before? The increase was 120% in 2010, down to 60% in 2011, at that rate, there is in fact a good chance it will eventually plateau.