And new champeen!

[rolanni]

Macmillan wins, via Teleread, who has it from Boing-Boing.

Money quote: . . .we will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan’s terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles. . .

Um, what?

No, never mind. I'm very, very tired of both combatants, now.

"I'm a victim!"

"No, I'm a victim!"

"Mom! He's looking at me!"

And these are the people who control the paychecks of writers.


Edited to add: Scalzi does the weekend wrap-up

Comments

[pedanther]

Macmillan winning means I'll have to pay thirteen-fifteen bucks for an ebook when there's a paperback out for eight dollars

Has this specifically been stated anywhere that you could point me to?

The impression I got from the official Macmillan statement was that ebooks would start at fifteen dollars when the hardcover was released, and then get cheaper when the paperback came out.

[dellaster.livejournal.com]

The Macmillan statement is vague. Some ebooks will be cheap (backlist? unpopular authors?), new and bestselling ebooks will be $13-$15 (bestselling even if the paperback is out?), there will be a change over time (how much time until the ebook drops to paperback price -- after the paperback goes out of print, maybe?).

Fortunately we don't have to parse Macmillan's statement. They've already had an Agency deal going for ebooks for years, at Mobipocket.com (they sell ebooks at exactly what the publisher wishes). Take a look at the Tor ebook list prices: http://tinyurl.com/yjxoabg

$14-$15 for the vast majority, of which many/most have been in paperback for years. Macmillan could have implemented tiered pricing at Mobipocket if they actually wanted to do that kind of deal. They didn't; they don't. Clearly.