It isn't magic: Amazon takes a loss on certain Kindle books with the goal of changing customer behavior, in much the same way that WalMart loses money on most new titles it sells to bring customers in the door.  MacMillan would rather they dictate prices to Amazon so that they can avoid channel conflict.<p>To enforce this, they told Amazon that if Amazon doesn't play ball with their dictated prices, MacMillan will use their strict legal monopoly on sale of MacMillan books to make it impossible for Amazon to sell them in the crucial post-release window.  Amazon said "Two can play at that."<p>(MacMillan doesn't "need" $12 to $15 to make money, but if they demanded it, Amazon would pay $2 a book during the new release window to make boku bucks on the hardware, midlist/backlist titles, and non-book services.)