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Publishers Warned On Ebook Prices

Posted by timothy on from the some-people-hate-free-markets dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The DoJ says Simon and Schuster, Hachette, Penguin, Macmillan and HarperCollins conspired to raise the prices of ebooks. The report originates from the WSJ, but the BBC adds comments from an analyst bizarrely claiming increased prices are somehow a good thing and thinking otherwise is the result of 'confusion'. I'd like to see an explanation of why the wholesale model, while continuing to work fine (presumably) for physical books, somehow didn't work for ebooks and why the agency model is better despite increasing costs for consumers."

1 of 352 comments (clear)

  1. Don't Need? by jimmerz28 · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Could someone explain exactly why an author (which I am not) of a written work is unable to release his/her content to the masses without the need of a publisher?

    I imagine I can publish a document to an ebook store (which I am assuming is not considered a "publisher" since it is a "store") or even a website for purchase and bypass the need for these publishing companies.

    Of course my imagination can be rather wild so maybe this ease is out of the scope of reality.