Paul Carr on Macmillan vs Amazon

Absolutely the best analysis of the several dozen I've read over the last few weeks. In a nutshell: Publishers are resetting of prices of eBooks so they don't cannabalize hardcover sales. Basically, they _don't want_ to sell any eBooks, and the "agency" agreement they are signing with Amazon provides them a mechanism to raise the price on eBooks high enough such that nobody will buy them. The key insight that Paul Carr provides (And it's his unique position as a previous Publisher, and now Author that allows him to do this) - is the following:

A) Hardcover Books don't cost much more than softcover to manufacture

B) As Such, Hardcover Books provide a _lot_ more margin that softcover boooks.

C) Most importantly, the people who used to buy those (High Margin) Hardcovers, were now moving to eBooks.

So, basically the publishers are trying to shut down the eBook market so people will buy Hardcovers instead.

I really like this guy's articles... But he seems to have two styles: 1) When he doesn't have much time he'll bang out an amusing, readable rant. 2) When he gives himself space, he writes better than anyone else on TechCrunch. More of 2) !

This is probably the first Paul Carr article that I've ever been able to fully read. Excellent analysis of the current situation.