Macmillan - 1, Amazon - 0.

In an interesting piece of news today, Amazon.com was forced to capitulate to the e-book pricing terms set by Macmillan. Gasp! Moan! Oh, how will the giant survive? PFHTTT! Who cares! Read the whole story here.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6717182.html?desc=topstory

I'm just so jazzed that Macmillan stood up to the big, bad, wolf and won. This proves that we indies aren't exaggerating when we say that Amazon is a predator out to control the industry. They have proved it here by taking away the "buy" button on their site of all Macmillan titles (which has still not been restored even after the settling of the dispute) like a spoiled child. All the publisher(s) were asking was for control of THEIR OWN PRODUCT. Amazon is not a wholesaler (even though they have somehow negotiated wholesaler terms . . . hmmm), they are a retailer. Since when did retailers get to dictate the price to the publisher, and therefore, the authors? Why did they allow Amazon to have that much power? Well, not anymore. Hopefully the rest of the major publishers will follow suit and be successful, therefore paving the way for the smaller presses in the future.

Although this victory has no real bearing on my life now, I'm sure that it will in the future because let's face it: ebooks are part of the future whether we like it or not. And for the publishers to be able to dictate the price rather than Amazon dictating it to the publishers, it is a better situation for all of us. Because really, if the publishers lose, who are they going to take it out on . . . Amazon? No, the Indies. Think about it.