Great Britain: Amazon Embraces Free Market, Publishers, Agents & Society of Authors Whine

Across the pond, publishers, agents and the Society of Authors sound just like old-media American publishers, agents and the Authors Guild. PS: Waterstones.com is not going to "work." theBookseller.com:

"Amazon is offering exceptional discounts on key autumn e-books as it seeks to drive Kindle sales ahead of a change to agency terms and the launch of rival devices. The highly aggressive pricing could mean a 'game-changing autumn' for the high street, according to literary agent Jonny Geller ...

One agent said while publishers have now broadly accepted the view that an e-book price will be 20%–25% cheaper than the print r.r.p., they are unhappy with Amazon’s massive discounts on top titles. "Amazon is setting the e-book price and they just have to lump it. It gives them no pleasure," he said.

Jonny Geller, m.d. of the books division of Curtis Brown, said the situation was "a re-run of the mid-’90s removal of the Net Book Agreement" with a retailer vastly reducing price as it looked for market share. "I think this autumn is going to be carnage," he said. "I suspect it is all about selling the hardware and Apple don’t seem to be as engaged [with books] as Amazon. It’s an extremely strong autumn for titles, I don’t remember such a good one, and this is time to have the war." He warned: "On the high street it is going to be a game-changing autumn. Waterstones.com has got to work."

Literary agent Ed Victor commented: "Amazon is educating consumers to think £7 is the price of a new hardcover book and we have an industry that has educated consumers to think it is worth twice that. They will end up ruining the industry as e-readers take hold." Tom Holland, chair of the Society of Authors, said: "I think it’s a huge mistake. It’s trashing the brand."