It looks like Amazon is getting into a bit of a price war with Overstock. And it looks like this could be very bad for authors and publishers, both in the short-term an as part of a larger trend.

A little while ago I weighed in on the Apple / Amazon model over agency pricing and the ruling that this was a price-fixing deal. At that time I said that I wasn’t sure which side I came down upon with the whole thing.

But if we’re going to be seeing more of this without agency pricing perhaps I do know which side I’m on. I am still unconvinced that agency pricing is that good for small presses or anybody other than Apple and the Big Five. But with that being said, with things like this happening this soon after the court ruling in Amazon’s favour I am beginning to think that, perhaps, Apple and the consortium with the Big Five is the lesser of two evils.

Still very interested to hear other opinions on this. I’m less divided now, but not undivided.

Thanks to Raw Dog Screaming Press for providing the link to the original article.