Even during Lockout, Amazon Still Makes Money on Macmillan Titles

Though both Macmillan and Amazon are losing money in the current dispute, they are not losing it equally. Amazon's losses are ameliorated by the revenue generated by hosting the sale of new and used Macmillan titles by third-party booksellers. Amazon's commission on those sales is (from all we have been able to find out) somewhere between 3-4%. The publisher receives nothing from such resales, nor does the author.

Take for example The Politician by Andrew Young, a major casualty of the conflict. Published in January by St. Martin's Press, a division of Macmillan, this account of the John Edwards's sex scandal was blindsided by Amazon's removal of Macmillan's Buy buttons. You simply cannot buy it retail from Amazon. You can however buy it from Gkygrl, Rusty Cavalier, Gohastings or Johnglad. Those are the handles of booksellers offering new and used copies of The Politician on Amazon's buy-page for the book. Amazon will make a commission if those copies are sold. Not a large commission, true, but a commission nonetheless.

As of this writing there are 19 copies for sale via Amazon at prices ranging from $28.00 to $38.93, all above the St. Martin's $24.99 list price and ridiculously higher than Books-a-Million's $16.66 online price ($14.99 if you're a club member).

And that's just one Macmillan book on Amazon!

Richard Curtis