On Fri, 27 Aug 2010 08:31:08 -0700, Darren New wrote:

> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> Sure.  My point is that people didn't think *first* and then act, and
>> that's a troubling trend overall to me in business these days.
> 
> They did. They just didn't think of all of it.  It's not even clear to
> me that Bidzos was involved in the decision.

The reaction to me looked like an "oh, crap, undo, undo, undo!" reaction.

> Note that I'm not saying they didn't screw up. I just don't think it's
> enough of a big deal that it's going to affect my purchasing habits.
> Unlike, for example, how the stories of the app store affect my desire
> to write code for iphones.

A fair point.

>> Quite possibly, though I think if the lawyers were involved, they'd
>> have done a more thorough risk analysis.
> 
> Lawyers don't do PR risk analysis. :-)

My experience is different - well, not PR risk, but a cost analysis is 
part of the process, and the cost of additional PR to control a situation 
is an important part.  Though in my experience as well, the lawyers (the 
good ones) will tell you what they'll be able to defend, and leave the 
decision to the business to make.

>  > But that's from the outside looking
>> in, and the picture from the inside may well be very different from
>> what the public sees.
> 
> Yes. That's kind of my point.

:-)

>>>> Honestly, I think it would be in the best interests of eReader
>>>> manufacturers not to lock consumers in.  You see this with gaming
>>>> consoles as well - someone wants a particular game, they've got to
>>>> purchase a particular game console if there's an exclusivity clause
>>>> in their contracts.
>>> Kindle is, amusingly, doing just the opposite. You can get like 30% of
>>> the sales of your book, or you can get 70% the sales of your book if
>>> you don't rip off Kindle users or lock them into a specific format.
>> 
>> I'm not sure I follow what you're saying here.
> 
> I'm saying that Amazon has two contracts for you publishing books on the
> Kindle. The usual one, where you get some small percentage of the fact
> value of the book, and one where you get a surprisingly large percentage
> of the face value if you're not a dick about it. I.e., if you charge
> less than physical delivery, don't lock the book to a specific platform,
> don't defer the electronic publishing until people who really want it
> have gone out and bought the hardback, etc etc etc, then you get a much
> higher royalty rate.

Oh, I see - that's an interesting approach.

Jim

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