Amazon has finally decided to offer 70% of the sales price of Kindle ebooks to the content providers. This is the similar model followed by Apple for AppStore. However, there is a catch. Amazon put some conditions to get that 70% share. The AppleInsider elaborates:
- The author or publisher-supplied list price must be between $2.99 and $9.99
- This list price must be at least 20 percent below the lowest physical list price for the physical book
- The title is made available for sale in all geographies for which the author or publisher has rights
- The title will be included in a broad set of features in the Kindle Store, such as text-to-speech. This list of features will grow over time as Amazon continues to add more functionality to Kindle and the Kindle Store.
- Under this royalty option, books must be offered at or below price parity with competition, including physical book prices. Amazon will provide tools to automate that process, and the 70 percent royalty will be calculated off the sales price.
The speculation is that Amazon has decided to go with such plan fearing Apple will follow the similar plan for upcoming iSlate to be announced next week. There is still some debates on whether such move by amazon will benefit or attract big publishers if they are forced to follow the conditions. However, amazon’s move will certainly help indie authors.
Kindle Wireless Reading Device (6” Display, Global Wireless, Latest Generation)
Kindle DX Wireless Reading Device (9.7” Display, U.S. Wireless)
