Just read my dear friend Morian Jovan's very sharp take on the latest Amazon adventure. (Read it for gosh sake, it's short and you'll be a better person for it).
Therein, in a nutshell, MoJo advises big publishers to quit being babies and just take their ball and go home. Yes, I've mixed metaphors, as is my wont to do. But, her point is well taken. If you don't like the rules, dear big publisher, set up your own game. It's not that hard.
What's that you say? You don't wish to be bothered with the running of games?
That's cool. No, really. It really, really is. If some publishers don't necessarily want to get to know their customers on that personal of a level, that does not necessarily make them evil.
Consider if you will: big (and other sized) publishers have long gone the retailer route because, in its ideal form it provides a lovely and convenient way for publishers to stay in touch with their customer base without requiring an intense amount of their time - thereby allowing them to (supposedly) use every waking moment finding, polishing up, producing and marketing fantastic authors and books.
Plus, a retail intermediary provides the added benefit of not requiring publishers to handle change or smile too much. OH, and readers get the benefit of all those fantasticaly knowledgeable retailers telling them all about the perfect book for them, yadda yadda.
So, let's consider: Big publisher has decided he doesn't really want to be in the retail game, but he'd love to pay a nice retailer to act on his behalf. "Here you go, sonny. Here's a few bucks, show the reader a nice time, make sure she finds something she likes, and let me know how the evening goes."
It's kind of like having your friend take your girl out when you are too busy. Something only advisable when you really trust your friend.
You don't have to look far to see this working fairly well -- many brick and mortar stores, and many online e-tailers, are showing readers a fantastic time. Not coincidentally, a lot of these retailers (both on and offline) are indies, and are earning their market share by providing excellent customer service (to both their reader AND their publisher customers).
However, in particular cases -- really big cases -- disintermediation has ceased to provide certain value to the disintermediated, and I'm talking both ends of the chain. Publishers aren't getting any knowledge about customers, and readers aren't getting very good service finding books they want -- what they are getting are artificially-induced and unsustainable low, low prices on a relative handful of titles. And that, like shiny objects to a child, can be very attractive (or distracting, anyway) to readers.
So, for publishers who don't want to play retailer, that's cool. You are forgiven for not taking your reader to the dance, but - be careful who you get to play the part on your behalf. They may not have either your, or your readers' best intentions at heart.
