Don't mess with my....

Have you heard that MacMillan publishing is trying to force up the price of ebooks (read more here)?  In response Amazon has temporarily pulled MacMillan’s books (digital & other from their site).   No doubt, there is more than a one side to this story.   As a reader, here is mine:

A couple of months ago I got tired of waiting to have enough money to buy an eReader.   In a fit of pique, I sold off the last of my ex-husband’s jewelry, cashed in my coin jar (for real!), sold a thing or two on Ebay, and bought myself a Nook (disappointing) which I almost immediately exchanged for a Kindle2 (which I love).

I am an avid (sometimes book-a-day) reader.   I read in bed, while I wait for my boys, while I knit (and wait for my boys), in public, and at home.   Books have been my cave for as long as I can remember.   I worried that I might not like the eReader format (too sterile?), but I was wrong.   I love, love, love, my Kindle.  A big part of this love/love relationship is being able to carry lots of books (there are knitting books!) with me sans back/shoulder pain.   

Like so many, I am on a budget, with a set amount put aside for books each pay check.    Accordingly, the lower price of Kindle books allows me to buy more books.  I had hoped that Amazon would stand firm, thus preventing MacMillan from forcing up eBook prices, but apparently that is not to be (read more here).    

MacMillan has prevailed at our, the readers, expense (literally),  but the ultimate outcome will be up to us, their customers.   Businesses, and publishing is a business, run with what works for them.   If we shrug our shoulders and pay their needlessly high prices, we will make MacMillan and others like them very happy.    If we give preference to the publishers that are charging reasonable ($10 or less) prices (there are quite a few), and buy the higher price books only when necessary (i.e text books), we will make those same publishers unhappy, thereby discouraging them from making it harder for those of us who must watch our pennies, to continue feeding our minds.

Think about it….