Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?
Ah, the publishing industry… inconsistent, entitled and oh, so clueless… you’ve got to love it. Here’s the latest literature fans, gnatty Macmillan tries to throw its weight around and gets an emphatic butt-swatting from fatty Amazon. Big publishing really, really wants to sell their eBooks for more than the prescribed $9.99, but Amazon keeps pulling out the big leather belt that dictates, “My house, my rules.” Since then, Amazon has taken all of the buy buttons for Mac books off the site and only allows third party vendors to remain active.
A hush has fallen over the crowd. A lone owl hoots mournfully in the distance. Each side has retreated to their respective corners but wait, what’s this? This is incredible ladies and gentlemen, the gloves are coming off! Wait, no, no, not exactly, there seems to be some trouble with the knots on the publishing side… but not to worry, here comes their manager, a newcomer from Apple who seems to be getting everything straightened out. There, now they’ve got it. The fat lady is warming up her vocal chords and it is so on!
This is quickly becoming my favorite daytime drama because just as you think you know what’s going on, BAM, someone gets bitch-slapped with a 10 lb. flounder. Priceless.
For those who haven’t heard, Apple just introduced the newest Holy Grail of publishing innovations: the iPad (another dedicated eReader). It’s not that some revolutionary technology has entered the scene that has big publishing salivating, it’s that the mighty Steve Jobs (MSJ) now has an interest in publishing and they’re hoping to ride his coattails into the Promised Land.
Here’s a question: why didn’t big publishing, after all these years of impotency in bowing down to Amazon, band together and form their own retail co-op which would give them the freedom and control to sell their wares as they pleased? Had the dinosaurs only worked together and organized themselves, much of the stress and whining could have been avoided. I’m sorry, am I rambling? Let’s continue.
There’s no doubt that MSJ is a visionary and knows how to make things happen, but he’s not the most consumer-focused guy in business (DRM on the iPad, Steve? Really? Did we learn nothing from iTunes? And let’s not forget that price-gouging incident with the iPhone…). What MSJ does well is design really cool stuff and continuously innovates to stay ahead of the competition, things that are in direct opposition to the publishing dinosaur belief system which is to maintain their old business model and make this crazy modern world go away at all costs. Dinosaurs reject the idea that having format windows for new releases is a bad thing. They can’t believe that a $15.00, $20.00 or $50.00 basic eBook is unreasonable. They won’t even consider that piracy is a legitimate cost of doing business.
Here’s a taste of what we’re dealing with. One unnamed senior publisher stated,
“Publishers don’t want a monopoly - they want consumers to have choice through a number of partners and channels. They want digital pricing which allows bricks and mortar retailers to survive and thrive alongside a growing digital market.”
What this means is that for the sake of the bricks and mortar retailers, innovation must be curtailed. Even if your business is able to offer consumers what they want, when, where and how they want it, it shouldn’t be allowed because not everyone can compete at that same level. Hello? Does anyone else see how asinine that logic is? Rather than allow the marketplace to force businesses to adapt their business models to remain competitive, the dinosaurs want to enforce the status quo at the customer’s expense. No, publishers don’t want a monopoly; they merely want to control the price of their books, the channels through which they’re purchased and how consumers can use them. The power-mongering is still there no matter how they want to spin it and customer-friendly it isn’t.
Some would say that it is Amazon that is the bully for removing the Mac buy buttons*, that Amazon wants the monopoly. How is this any different from the publishers’ ultimate agenda? Though it wasn’t the most mature way to make a point, what Amazon did wasn’t unexpected either. Think about it: if one of your customers demands you change how you run your business, would that be okay? Amazon drew a line in the sand and said something to the effect of “Not by the hair of my chinny, chin-chin” (but probably much cooler). No one puts Amazon in the corner, my friends! They believe the customer comes first! Good will over profits! Image is nothing, happy faces are everything….
Just a minute everyone, just a minute. Something’s coming in over the wire. It seems that… yes, this is correct Amazon has caved on its decision to defy the publishers. Flipping the chess board around, Amazon apologizes for being forced into a decision that isn’t in their customers’ best interests, but the power of the publishers is just too strong.
Hmm… big publishing claims to be fighting for the rights of bookstores and Amazon claims to champion the consumer. I wonder who’s going to win. This sure is a thinker. I guess we’ll all have to stay tuned.
* Refers back to the Kindle’s douchbag of the moment prize for its phantom deletions.
