Alas, my expectations for large scale drama were dashed when the Amazon/MacMillan fight to the death ended with a whimper. There was hope that the excitement would continue when, after saying it was going to comply with Mac’s pricing demands, Amazon didn’t return the buy buttons and likely won’t until March when the new terms are official. Oh, so passive-aggressive and oh, so right…? Anyway, to show that it is not amused, Mac has taken out ads for one of its new releases stating “Available at bookstores everywhere except Amazon.” Ooh, snap on that, sister! Amazon, you’ve been served.

Yeah, this is going to be a great relationship.

The first trickle of consumer response is starting to materialize and, according to the NY Times, it’s not looking good. Publishers are feeling pretty shiny at the moment, looking forward to this time of great eBook pricing experimentation; something to the effect of, “Hey, let’s try $14.95 for a year and when the trade paperback comes out maybe we’ll roll it back to $9.99. Everybody wins.”

Heh Heh Heh. In a way the starry-eyed optimism is kind of cute, like a toddler who believes in Santa Claus, but you know one day those tears will come and the fallout won’t be pretty.

I think a taste of that fallout can be best summed up by Kindle owner, Joshua Levitsky.

“I just don’t want to be extorted.”

Does that sound like consumers and publishers are on the same page?* Does it sound like people who have accepted $9.99 as the default price for a couple of years would embrace a greater cost for the same product? Has anyone been paying attention to iTunes since they raised their per song fee from $.99 to $1.29? Sales have slowed, which should be obvious to anyone with a basic understanding of economics. I’m not saying that publishers don’t get this, but they’re trying to work around it. They believe that eBooks are still in the early stages of adoption, and because of that new adopters will be ignorant of what eBooks have typically cost. The majority of these users will just be happy their eBooks cost less than a hard cover.

Did someone forget to tell publishers that millions of people now own Kindles, let alone other eReaders? We keep hearing that no one reads anymore, so my question is: Of the people interested in buying eBooks, how many more do they think haven’t adopted the technology yet? Even if they haven’t purchased a device, they’re still likely to know the approximate cost of an eBook. But let’s assume they don’t. The early adopters, however, do and they’re vocal. That information won’t be kept secret. They’ll complain LOUDLY to Amazon who will then fire back, “Hey, it wasn’t our idea. The book publishers made us do it.” The end result: book publishers will piss off consumers and subsequently suffer their wrath.

Until, that is, publishers start offering really cool deluxe books that make the most of eReader technology. Adding value to a product justifies a higher price that many consumers will be happy to pay. But the static ink on a screen being offered now does not and will not and publishers need to understand that. Anyone want to place any bets on when that will happen?”

*Ouch, pun attack. -2 points for me.