出版与作家生涯2010kalzumeus.com
四封写给图书业的公开信
Four Open Letters To The Book Industry
导读
这篇公开信围绕电子书定价与发行渠道，讨论 Amazon 与出版商之间的博弈，以及作者、读者在其中的位置。评论补充了渠道垄断、沃尔玛式压价对内容质量的影响和分层定价争议。写作者读它，能更清楚平台权力和定价模式如何影响作品被看见、被购买的方式。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
别把“读者会买”当成渠道策略：读者可能被平台书库锁定，作者也会受制于发行方。
- 02
低价走量的平台逻辑容易把内容推向同质化“垃圾”，写作时要守住质量与差异化，而不是只拼便宜。
- 03
新书高价、后续降价的滑动定价（如精装到平装）可用于规划作品的不同版本与阶段。
- 04
理论上作者可自建网站直销，但发现、支付、信任和已有书库迁移都是成本，应尽早积累可直接触达的读者渠道。
HN 评论精选
警惕渠道垄断：平台锁定会让读者和作者都失去选择。
我对 Kindle 与出版商的争端了解不深，但为 Amazon 建立垄断叫好有点危险。作为爱读书的人，我不希望“我的毒品”被一家公司控制。我不是说出版商一定是好人（大概不是），但这件事关乎市场支配和控制，不是爱书。理论上，每个作者现在都可以把书放到自己的网站上，用任意支付系统卖；Kindle 更像特洛伊木马：一旦我们买了1000本书，就很难离开。作为读者，我不想被 Amazon 或出版商绑架。
Tichy查看英文原文
OK, I am not very deep into the Kindle vs publishers thing, but isn't it a bit dangerous to root for Amazon to build their monopoly? As an avid reader, I am not sure I want one company to be in control of "my drug". Not saying the publishers are necessarily the good guys (probably aren't). But this isn't about loving books, this is about market dominance and control. Not exacty the thing that inspires me to write a love letter to Amazon (though I usually buy from them and I like their service). Ultimately, do we really need Amazon for a proper ebooks distribution? It seems to me in theory every author could put their books on a web site right now, using whatever payment system he likes. The Kindle seems more like a Trojan horse to me - we let it into our lives, and then we can't get rid of it anymore, unless we are willing to let go of the 1000 books we bought, too. I, as a reader, don't want to be held hostage, neither by Amazon nor by book publishers.
低价平台会挤压内容质量，读者不会把廉价同类当经典替代。
Amazon 在这里像沃尔玛：挤压供应商来提供低价。沃尔玛对供应商不友好——想在那里卖，利润会越压越薄，需要越来越高的销量和越来越低的边际成本，结果产品通常变成“垃圾”。对消费者可能好，因为低价好，不想要垃圾可以去别处。若书业也如此，Amazon 会主要卖廉价垃圾，而更贵的在线书店会出现并与更好的作者签独家。Patrick 说“我会从愿意卖书给我的作者那里买书……我读得比你写得快，这让我天生不专一”，我觉得不对：好作品可以替代好作品，但不会用《The Duke's Boardroom Affair》替代《Pride and Prejudice》。
ssp查看英文原文
Amazon is behaving like Walmart here: squeezing suppliers in order to provide lower prices. Walmart is certainly not good for Walmart suppliers, because if you want to sell there, your profit margins will go down and down, and you will need higher and higher volume and lower and lower marginal costs. It's what Walmart does. The resulting type of product is generally known as junk. Is it good for consumers? Probably, because low prices are good, and if you don't want junk, you can go elsewhere. If the same thing eventually happens for books, then Amazon will be selling mostly cheap and trashy stuff, while other, more expensive, online bookstores will show up and get exclusive deals with better authors. In such a scenario, Patrick's comment: I will buy books from authors willing to sell them to me. I might get a little depressed over not being able to read my favorites, but if you haven’t noticed, I read a lot faster than you can possibly write and that makes me promiscuous by nature. strikes me as wrong. While you may substitute other good stuff for good stuff, you won't substitute The Duke's Boardroom Affair for Pride and Prejudice.
争议核心是定价模式而非窗口期；分层降价更贴近出版现实。
我刚把这贴到 Patrick 博客的评论里：我认为你误读了出版商——除了作为对 Amazon 的报复，我没见他们提议“窗口期（windowing）”。主要分歧是价格点，而你的文章其实支持出版商的立场。Amazon 试图给电子书设统一定价 9.99 美元，类似 iTunes 给歌曲 0.99 美元；Macmillan 则想要滑动定价：电子书起始 12–15 美元，再逐渐降价，类似现在从精装到贸易平装、大众市场平装再到清仓书的降价过程。
michael_dorfman查看英文原文
I just posted this to the comments of Patrick's blog I think you’re misreading the publishers, Patrick-- I haven’t seen any of them proposing "windowing", except as a retaliatory move against Amazon. Instead, the main point of disagreement is about the price-point, and your post provides support to the publisher’s position. Amazon is trying to set a universal $9.99 price point for e-books, similar to iTunes $.99 price point for songs. Macmillan, on the other hand, wants a sliding system with e-books starting out at $12-$15, and gradually dropping in price over time (similar to the current system, whereby the price drops as books move from Hardcover to Trade Paperback to Mass Market paperback to Remainders.)
同类还值得读
写书：值得吗？
Writing a book: is it worth it?
Martin Kleppmann（《设计数据密集型应用》作者）复盘写书到底值不值：金钱回报低、耗时极长，但带来了可见度、信任和职业机会。
出版与作家生涯2020 · 642 分 · 287 评4 条写作要点编辑精选写书并不是个好主意
Writing books is not really a good idea
这篇文章讨论靠写书谋生的现实难度，评论区从版税数学、收入预期和写作目标三个角度补充了作者视角。
出版与作家生涯2021 · 577 分 · 609 评4 条写作要点编辑精选如何自助出版一本书：实用资源清单
How to self-publish a book: A handy list of resources
这是一份关于「如何自助出版一本书」的资源清单帖，涵盖从编辑、排版到 ISBN、销售渠道的实操工具与花费。
出版与作家生涯2018 · 558 分 · 88 评4 条写作要点编辑精选我自助出版一本Ruby on Rails书，赚了7万美元
How I Made $70k Self-Publishing a Book about Ruby on Rails
这是一篇 Ruby 开发者自述：他把一套 Rails 性能课程（书＋视频＋答疑）自出版，一年毛收入约 7 万美元，并总结了选题、定价、营销等经验。
出版与作家生涯2017 · 539 分 · 175 评4 条写作要点编辑精选石黑一雄警告年轻作家因“恐惧”而自我审查
Sir Kazuo Ishiguro warns of young authors self-censoring out of 'fear'
石黑一雄提醒年轻作者因“恐惧”而自我审查，即这条帖子讨论的核心。
出版与作家生涯2021 · 396 分 · 641 评5 条写作要点编辑精选