Letter from Scott Turow: Grim News
The Justice Department has been investigating whether those publishers colluded in adopting a new model, pioneered by Apple for its sale of iTunes and apps, for selling e-books. Under that model, Apple simply acts as the publisher’s sales agent, with no authority to discount prices.
We have no way of knowing whether publishers colluded in adopting the agency model for e-book pricing. We do know that collusion wasn’t necessary: given the chance, any rational publisher would have leapt at Apple’s offer and clung to it like a life raft. Amazon was using e-book discounting to destroy bookselling, making it uneconomic for physical bookstores to keep their doors open.
Boldfaced emphasis added by me.
Turow would have every one of you — and the AG membership — believe that revisionist bullshit.
And I want everyone to notice his weasel wording: “making it uneconomic for physical bookstores” — not, “making books more affordable for customers.”
Let’s see just what the history of book publishing and pricing — before Amazon ever existed! — was really like.
Continue reading →