13 October 2012

Thanks to Amazon, I am rich.

I just got an email from Amazon today.

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Dear Kindle Customer,

We have good news. You are entitled to a credit for some of your past e-book purchases as a result of legal settlements between several major e-book publishers and the Attorneys General of most U.S. states and territories, including yours. You do not need to do anything to receive this credit. We will contact you when the credit is applied to your Amazon.com account if the Court approves the settlements in February 2013.

Hachette, Harper Collins, and Simon & Schuster have settled an antitrust lawsuit about e-book prices. Under the proposed settlements, the publishers will provide funds for a credit that will be applied directly to your Amazon.com account. If the Court approves the settlements, the account credit will appear automatically and can be used to purchase Kindle books or print books. While we will not know the amount of your credit until the Court approves the settlements, the Attorneys General estimate that it will range from $0.30 to $1.32 for every eligible Kindle book that you purchased between April 2010 and May 2012. Alternatively, you may request a check in the amount of your credit by following the instructions included in the formal notice of the settlements, set forth below. You can learn more about the settlements here: www.amazon.com/help/agencyebooksettlements

In addition to the account credit, the settlements impose limitations on the publishers’ ability to set e-book prices. We think these settlements are a big win for customers and look forward to lowering prices on more Kindle books in the future.

Thank you for being a Kindle customer.

The Amazon Kindle Team
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You're welcome Amazon.

Looking back at my Kindle purchase history I have purchased exactly 20 items since I got my Kindle back in March of 2011 so that means I could potentially reap TWENTY SIX DOLLARS AND FORTY CENTS.

Most importantly, where oh where will I sock away all that cash?

Of only fleeting importance, what's the backstory about all the publishers that had to cough up this dough? Here is one hypothesis.

Publisher #1: "OMG, how do you spell cash cow? E-BOOK my brother. We better jack up the price so that people equate their value with a printed book."
Publisher #2: "Sounds good to me!"
Queue Mo Money Mo Problems.

Attorney General: "Not so fast guys..."

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