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Take the Agency Ebook Pledge

I was thinking this morning about Hachette introducing Agency pricing in the UK, and I’ve decided it’s time that I wrote down what I’ve been doing with Agency ebooks. Here is the Agency Ebook Pledge:

So long as some publishers chose to artificially raise the price of ebooks, and artificially reduce price competition (aka "the agency model"), I vow to:

  1. Never buy an Agency priced ebook.
  2. Never buy a new paper book from an Agency publisher if a used copy is available.
  3. Never buy a paper book from an Agency publisher if I can check it out of the library.

It’s not a terribly complicated pledge, so it should be easy to follow. If you want to copy and share the pledge, please feel free.

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Comments


Mike Cane September 21, 2010 um 9:59 am

Well, I won’t buy paper, period, so I’m already halfway there. And I do notice on Amazon when it says "The price was set by the publisher." I won’t buy any of those until there’s price competition again.


Opozycja wobec modelu agencyjnego Hachette UK czyli co robi? klienci, którzy lubi? niskie ceny | eKsiazki.org September 21, 2010 um 1:11 pm

[…] "screw you" wystosowanym w stron? klientów. TDR idzie nawet o krok dalej, publikuje równie? Agency Ebook Pledge: So long as some publishers chose to artificially raise the price of ebooks, and artificially […]


igorsk September 21, 2010 um 3:09 pm

The last two items still support the publisher, if indirectly. Demand for used books makes it more likely someone will buy a new book and resell it after reading. Demand for library books means that library is more likely to buy more books.


fjtorres September 21, 2010 um 4:17 pm

My position is simpler.
I buy nothing from the Price Fix Five. No e- no p-. Not new, not used.
6 months and counting.


Bernadette in Australia September 22, 2010 um 12:23 am

As I am a new e-reader (only got my first device a week ago and it isn’t a Kindle) how do I know what is an agency priced ebook? I’ve done a smattering of shopping via a few different ebook stores such as Waterstones, Book Depository etc but I would have no clue if they were agency priced or not.

Nate the great September 22, 2010 um 7:22 am

At this point, the only market with Agency priced ebooks is the USA. If you buy from Amazon, avoid the ebooks that say "Price was set by manufacturer".

But if you want to buy ebooks from another US ebookstore, the publishers to avoid are: Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Penguin, and Hachette. That doesn’t help you much, though, because each of those 5 publish under quite a few different labels.


Bernadette in Australia September 22, 2010 um 8:41 am

Thanks for that. I’ve done all my buying from UK stores ('cos they let me) but I’ll be wary of those publishers anyway.


What’s wrong with Agency pricing | The Digital Reader February 28, 2011 um 6:04 pm

[…] it clear elsewhere, I hate the Agency Model. I think it’s anti-customer, and I long ago took a pledge not to buy any Agency Priced ebooks. But I’ve never really explained why I hate […]


Jen May 12, 2011 um 6:57 pm

I am taking the pledge. I also suggest that all authors start publishing their own books. Give "Big 5" a run for their money. With the technology being so advanced it’s not hard to publish yourself and make oooooodles without paying a % to publishers. What would the publisher’s do without authors let alone readers?


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