When the publishers of #1 bestselling print book Game Change held back the e-book edition instead of issuing it simultaneously with the hardback, furious Kindle owners staged a populist revolt, assigning en masse a mere one star in their Amazon reviews.

Whether or not this tactic discouraged potential buyers from purchasing the book or influenced the publisher to change its scheduling strategies, it demonstrated how strongly Kindle owners feel about the timing and pricing of e-books. It also demonstrated that either they have no patience for the subtle and complex thinking of publishers, or publishers have not done a very good job of explaining the issues to them.

Michael Cader, publisher of Publishers Marketplace, thinks publishers could be doing a better job of demystifying their decision-making processes. “Publishing people who care about these pricing discussions need to get in the online forums and start issuing press releases and find other ways to address readers honestly about price,” he said in a recent editorial. “The price landscape, and shift to an agency model, is honestly baffling to most people and there are a lot of price myths out there.” He also criticizes the media for failing to accurately represent the publisher’s viewpoint.

The task is formidable, largely because Amazon has reinforced the sense of entitlement that many e-book buyers feel. Setting the prices of e-books and timing their release is not only subtle and complex, it is far from scientific. There are as many exceptions as there are rules. (Indeed, because of its timeliness and high media exposure, Game Change might have been a good exception to the wisdom of “windowing” e-prints). All that head-scratching, P&L calculating, market analyzing and soul-searching are no match for the simplicity of an Idea Whose Time Has Come – the one called “$9.99″.

Try to recommend high prices and postponed gratification to someone who wants his $9.99 e-book and wants it now. Amazon is losing money on every sale? Shrug. E-books are the equivalent of mass market paperback reprints? Shrug. The agency model will enable publishers to recover power they conceded to Amazon? Shrug. There are plenty of e-books selling for more than $9.99? Shrug.

Cader is absolutely right that the industry and media must find a way to overcome public misperceptions: “If these things don’t get said, forcefully and clearly, to the press, in forums, and directly to readers by authors and publishers, the messages won’t get heard.”

Richard Curtis