As the Apple iPad bookstore opened this weekend with a new agency model for eBook pricing, it left some booksellers in a difficult position. Today’s guest on the Morning Media Menu was Books on Board founder Bob Livolsi, talking about the difficult transition to an agency model for eBook pricing.
Press play below to listen.
Livolsi explained the shift. “I’m delighted to see the publishers take a hard swing against Amazon and Barnes & Noble’s predatory pricing practices. And that is allegedly what this about. At the same time, the way this has been implemented–with very short notice to the wholesalers … that lack of concern for the wholesalers and independents is really troubling. At the same time, when the smoke clears on this thing–and I think it’s too early to know for certain–it will ultimately be a good one in terms of its intent.”
He concluded: “But [I disagree with] the lack of notice and the nature of the implementation–everybody except for the very large companies (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple) do not have books today available from these publishers … Of the 400,000 books for sale that we carry, about a 140,000 were affected and currently are not available from us or through any of the independents that have classically taken products through the wholesalers. This should be fixed in the next few days, but that’s a pretty significant gap — fundamentally it left the door wide open for Apple (and the people that they were allegedly building this to block, Amazon and Barnes & Noble) to take our customers away from us. And that’s disappointing.”