Amazon vs Hachette

The New York Times, and Stephen Colbert on the Colbert Report, both have cast the dispute between Amazon and the Hachette Publishers as involving Amazon vs. book authors.  They are portraying Amazon as a despicable monopolist crushing the ability of authors to sell their books.  They are ignoring other parties to this dispute, publishing corporations, and e-book readers like me.  And the New York Times and Stephen Colbert have not been speaking for me.

The marginal cost of an e-book is some electricity.  Amazon is working on behalf of readers like me by forcing publishers to realistically price their books on the basis that selling a thousand e-books cost them little more than selling one.  That should mean a seriously reduced price for an e-book.  I demand The New York Times and Stephen Colbert to speak for readers like me.

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