Agents, and Authors, and ebooks

Oh my!

Nathan Maharaj

@nrmaharaj

ebooks

and newspapers & magazines

200 "countries"

aka. ISO territory codes

>4MM users

~18 months

Apps everywhere!

<

Director, Merchandising

aka. "head bookseller"

30 minutes

April 1, 2010

$2.99

$9.99

John Locke

No, not that John Locke.

January 27, 2010

The Agency Model

Agency vs. Wholesale

Wholesale:

• Publisher sets List Price.• Retailer pays publisher a

% of List Price for every unit.

• Retailer sets Sell Price. • Retailer owns the whole

transaction.• Just like how print works

(except publishers get paid only on units sold).

Agency:

• Publisher sets List Price. • Agent (fka. Retailer) is

granted a commission as a % of List Price.

• Agents don't set Sell Prices. Publishers do. It's the same as the List Price.

• Agents transact on Publishers' behalf. (Tax implications).

• Legal?

April 1, 2010

Price

Mike Shatzkin on how publishers set prices

"Smart agents will be watching this carefully. They’re all aware that the ebook royalty they collect is the percentage they work so hard to negotiate times the revenue the publisher receives. Now the revenue is clearly affected by the publisher’s ability to set prices that capture the most possible consumer dollars. It will become clearer over time that changing those prices intelligently is necessary to maximize the revenue which maximizes the royalty. The publishers who figure this out first and best will have a powerful argument that publishing with them puts extra coin in their authors’ pockets."

http://www.idealog.com/blog/dynamic-pricing-what-it-is-and-what-it-isnt

Direct Publishing

70%  35%

70% Royalty

$2.99 $9.99

MFN

35%

John Locke