The feud over ebook pricing between publisher Hachette, and Amazon, is over. Recode:
On the surface, the deal appears to be a win for Hachette, which will set prices for its electronic books sold through Amazon. But Amazon is offering “financial incentives for Hachette to deliver lower prices,” Kindle exec David Naggar said in a statement.
The whole thing was weird to begin with, and the feud points to two things.
- Amazon thinks they can dictate terms, but they might bit have such a firm grasp of the (ebook) market as they, and everyone else, initially thought.
- Big publishing still acts like big publishing, which means they’ll go to any length to get their agenda through.
Consumers and authors are caught in the crossfire.