Authors call on FTC to investigate Amazon’s alleged monopoly in bookselling

[John F]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Yes they do.

So if they do, I'm not seeing much difference between Amazon Imprints and other companies having house brands.

Other then Amazon has a lot of market share.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by John F

So, does Amazon own the imprints?

An imprint is just an alternate sign on the book, not even as different as a "house brand". It's not usually as separate as Innocent / River Rock (Coca Cola) or Ben and Jerry (Unilever) or Beats (Apple), mostly an imprint is for a different demographic or genre, just like alternate pen name. A subsidiary (a publisher wholly owned by another Publisher) isn't an imprint, but might become one.

A "house brand" isn't produced by Walmart, Tesco, Lidl or Aldi even if it's their recipe (which is rare).

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by John F

So if they do, I'm not seeing much difference between Amazon Imprints and other companies having house brands.

Other then Amazon has a lot of market share.

You can buy alternate bake beans, or shampoo. If you want a particular book in a particular country it will ONLY be from one publisher.
Yes, you can read a different book from another publisher, but that's like as if ONLY Walmart had ANY brand of baked beans and elsewhere only had kidney beans, or chickpeas.

Or imagine only Microsoft had a spreadsheet program, no-one else was allowed to program a similar utility/prorgam. And they only sold it for Windows! (Kindle Unlimited via KDP exclusive).

[John F]

Originally Posted by Quoth

You can buy alternate bake beans, or shampoo. If you want a particular book in a particular country it will ONLY be from one publisher.
Yes, you can read a different book from another publisher, but that's like as if ONLY Walmart had ANY brand of baked beans and elsewhere only had kidney beans, or chickpeas.

Or imagine only Microsoft had a spreadsheet program, no-one else was allowed to program a similar utility/prorgam. And they only sold it for Windows! (Kindle Unlimited via KDP exclusive).

I'm not sure I agree with your differences. If I like a particular House Brand, and no one else is selling the same thing, to me that is the same as an Amazon Imprint author.

I'm assuming that some house brands have contracts where the outsourced manufacturer cannot duplicate exactly the item.

[Quoth]

I doubt there is any "house brand" that has the uniqueness of a particular book.
Any "house brand" is simply a version of a widely available product. It might be slightly different due to quality, but it's not a monopoly product.

An Amazon imprint title is otherwise totally unavailable. There will not be a single chain store "house branded" item that doesn't have a close enough equivalent. A detective book from Author "B" published by Penguin is not an alternative to a detective book from Author "A" published with amazon, it's in addition to, like you can buy carrots and peas.

You might as well say it doesn't matter which film, book, or music you consume. If someone wants Taylor Swift giving them Shania Twain or Dolly Parton won't do. You can't say it doesn't matter if your favorite singer is on Spotify and you have no internet, or you don't want to sub just for one artist.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by John F

I'm assuming that some house brands have contracts where the outsourced manufacturer cannot duplicate exactly the item.

I've never seen that in any contract for a house brand. One example is Costco whose Kirkland house brand batteries are made for it by Duracell and yet Duracell continues to sell those battery sizes under their own name. If nothing else, the courts are likely to get involved in deciding the legality of such a contract.

[Aleron Ives]

Originally Posted by Apache

That was Apple not Amazon. Amazon was the target Apple was targeting.

I see. Even so, doesn't Amazon now essentially use that fixed price for new books?

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

I see. Even so, doesn't Amazon now essentially use that fixed price for new books?

No. Not at all. Individual publishers have not allowed Amazon to discount their ebooks to $9.99 for quite some time (at least not the main traditional publishers). The publishers decide how little Amazon can charge for their ebooks (new or old).

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I've never seen that in any contract for a house brand. One example is Costco whose Kirkland house brand batteries are made for it by Duracell and yet Duracell continues to sell those battery sizes under their own name. If nothing else, the courts are likely to get involved in deciding the legality of such a contract.

Or the batteries are made by some Chinese company. Energisers are. Duracell are premium price and here they sell a cheaper Value branded Duracell in some supermarkets. But no "house brand" battery here is Duracell, Energiser/Eveready or Panasonic. I've tested and taken apart batteries.
There are loads of "label" brands, just cheapest Chinese with Grundig, Ford, JCB, Polariod and Kodak branding. B&Q/Kingfisher has their own in house Dial brand (cheap Chinese).
I don't know who makes the Lidl and Aldi own brand, but they, Varta and Panasonic are good. Panasonic are priced to match Duracell & Energiser. the three expensive brands, but the Panasonic are good quality.
I can't think why anyone would buy and rebrand Duracell.

If you search sites testing batteries you'll see the most premium feature of Duracell is price. They leak if the spring in the battery holder is too strong as the bottom seal fails.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by John F

So if they do, I'm not seeing much difference between Amazon Imprints and other companies having house brands.

Other then Amazon has a lot of market share.

Yes, and I answered that back in post #16:

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Yes. But when Amazon as publisher refuse to let other stores sell copies of their ebooks and they control 80% of the ebook market I could see the government giving them a critical eye.

Basically, Amazon's big push for exclusivity might not be a big issue if they didn't also control the US ebook market.

Really, the whole 'what's the difference between a house brand and an imprint' was just a distraction.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I can't think why anyone would buy and rebrand Duracell.

Probably that Duracell gave them the best price/quality point? They don't buy and rebrand, that is all done at the factory.

The batteries at the local Ikea look exactly the same as when they were made by Varta though they are made in China these days.

[cfrizz]

Quite frankly, I'm not seeing a problem. No one is forcing anyone to buy any kind of Amazon Book. I purchase all of my books from Kobo, and as far as I know, Kobo is going strong with ebooks & readers!

No one is forcing any writer to put their books on Amazon, if the writers choose to do so that is on them. They know when they sign up that their books will be exclusively on Amazon for a length of time, if they don't like it, don't sign up! This isn't rocket science, just business!

I will say that Amazon is very good at scooping up deceased writers catalogs, which is a good thing otherwise readers wouldn't have access to their books anymore!

Amazon continues to offer what people want, if we grow tired of them, we will stop using them.

So far for ME, Amazon continues to offer good value for my money, when it ceases to do so, I will stop using them.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

I will say that Amazon is very good at scooping up deceased writers catalogs, which is a good thing otherwise readers wouldn't have access to their books anymore!

Some are PD simply indy republished off IA or Gutenberg
Some are indy books violating copyright.

I can't say I've noticed actual Amazon published ones.

[cfrizz]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Some are PD simply indy republished off IA or Gutenberg
Some are indy books violating copyright.

I can't say I've noticed actual Amazon published ones.

I'm not interested in public domain books so I wouldn't know about that. However, I was able to purchase books that Amazon put under their Curtis Brown Digital label back in 2014. The author died all the way back in 2003. I loved her books and would never had been able to purchase the books I had in paper now in ebook format if Amazon hadn't scooped them up.

The same with Leslie Charteris The Saint series under their Thomas & Mercer label.

As far as I'm concerned, this is a good thing for readers.

[Quoth]

Until you can only buy books from Amazon.