On Oct 7, 2011, at 11:39 AM, John wrote: > Raymond E. Feist <[email protected]> writes >>> At he time we also had the Net Book Agreement. Did that play a part ? >>> -- >>> >> >> In honesty John, I remember the term, but I can't even recall the details of >> it. Was that when books were non-returnable? Or am I conflating that with >> something else. We're talking almost 30 years now, old son. <g> >> >> Best, R.E.F. >> >> ---- > It was where publishers set a price for a title, and stores agreed to sell > for that price, no discounting, and hence cut throat competition. I believe > it also benefited low volume titles which otherwise would not have been > published. Since the agreement was ended in about 1995, competition which is > purported to be good, has seen the demise of many bookstores. > > Now I wonder how long Amazon would last if the agreement existed today > --
Oh, ya, now I remember. I suspect it had something to do with it, but not as much as one might think. It had more to do with forecasting sell-through, because publishers would get the same wholesale price irrespective of the book being discounted or not. Best, R.E.F. ---- www.crydee.com Never attribute to malice what can satisfactorily be explained away by stupidity.
