Brazilian Publishers Wins One Battle Against Amazon

In this format, called distribution, it’s Amazon that sets the price to be charged of the eBooks, without the intervention of publishers. This value is typically about 50% lower than the price of the physical book.

In Brazil, however, the pricing policy doesn’t take it. The difference is that in the United States the company has greater bargaining power with publishers, who have much of their revenue coming from contracts with Amazon. Here, however, the scenario is different, since publishers still do not have any commercial links with the retailer. To enter in the country, the American giant of electronic commerce is having to change their stance this year.

In Brazil, the system used is one in which the publishers themselves define the value of the digital book, which usually remains between 30% and 40% of cover price. “Now, the publishers have control of the cover price. The only request from Amazon is to not give competirors advantages that were not also offered to her,” says Camila Cabete, manager for commercial Xeriph, eBook distributor that works with 163 publishers.

For consumers, this may sound as very bad news, since they will not enjoy the large discounts offered to American readers who purchase with Amazon. However, it can ensure the survival of publishing industry in Brasil, something that in the United States is already a problem. There, many small publishers complain that Amazon is monopolizing the market and leaving it impossible to continue some businesses.

Only time will tell, but it seems that in Brazil, the thing gonna br quite different from what is in the U.S.

Stella Dauer is a designer and eBook evangelist at Simplíssimo Livros, and editor of eBook Revolution. Stella is an expert on gadgets, working with books and research since 2006 and promote the digital book since 2009.