Alas, "should" doesn't factor into it, Ken. Their business model is to sell what they can and take huge chunk from new books and a pretty sizeable chunk of the used market. I'm not sure if authors have taken this up with Amazon before but it seems highly unlikely that they're going to cut off a revenue stream just because we as creators don't get a piece of it.

They're in business, they're not "artistes" or creators or authors; they're just in the profit-making mode. And I doubt that's going to change.

Posted at 12:38 AM on July 24, 2009

I've noticed that after the first "splash" or rush of sales, copies start appearing secondhand on Amazon almost at once ... some readers only seem to buy a book so they can sell it and then buy another, in an endless series of buy/sell maneuvers. This is all well and good, and is good news for readers -- but it definitely cuts into sales.

The *only* good thing I can find about this is that discount copies give readers a chance to sample our wares are more affordable prices; and if a reader discovers they really like what we do, for half price, they might come back and buy another few books at the full price ... if they can afford it. We all buy cut-price books from Amazon to save money. Most people are counting their pennies these days. Except for Amazon, of course; and they are making so much money, one hardly knows what to say about it! Consider a Kindle sale: $11.99 gross ... $3.50 goes to the publisher, and affiliates are paid nada. 0%. This is fair???

Posted at 1:37 AM on November 1, 2009