Comments on: Amazon vs. Big Publishing: 800 lbs vs. 798 lbs.

By: James

James — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 11:13:15 +0000

Great information! Was very refreshing.

By: Jacob Rishalu

Jacob Rishalu — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 05:15:15 +0000

Perhaps you would rather a publisher handle the production and distribution of your book. The secret is to match your manuscript to the publisher. Better publishers specialize in one or two niche markets. They know their subjects and do not have to send your manuscript out to a reader for evaluation. They also know how to reach the potential buyer and can jump-start your sales by plugging your book into their existing distribution system to specialty shops.

By: Veronica

Veronica — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:20:20 +0000

First, Amazon accounts for about 60% of all paper books sold in the US, not 30%. That right there should terrify publishers. But back to your point, all Amazon has to do to crush this boycott is make the kindle non-exclusive. Once they do that, they will be able to sell their ebooks on the NOOK, and B&N won’t have any reason not to stock the Amazon Imprint books on their shelves.

This war was lost a while ago, and all B&N, ABA, and the independent stores are doing is showing their true colors. They obviously don’t care about books or authors, they only care about the bottom line. Amazon cares about Books, readers, and authors, what they don’t care about is the bad business model the traditional publishers are grasping onto while the entire industry sinks.

The boycott is really cute, but it’s waste of time.

By: Rick Askenase

Rick Askenase — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:55:56 +0000

I am not suggesting (or advocating) an Amazon exclusive. Just that it is foolish to give a B & N/Kobo exclusive for the very simple reason that you won’t sell as much through them as through Amazon, and, AFTER the exclusivity window lapses, no one will remember your book or then buy it from Amazon- you will have lost the initial publicity push to sell books, and won’t get it back. So you will have lost 70% of the potential market AND the pibulicity. Doesn’t make sense to me.

By: Jacqueline Wilson

Jacqueline Wilson — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:27:43 +0000

Frankly I think that the anti-trust, price-fixing lawsuit that should be brought to court is against the big 6. They have set the price across the board for all their the e-books not allowing the normal discounts provided in-store. I really hate having to wait for the paperback and then find it not discounted at all.

I used to go to my local BN store to by the hard backs of my fav authors on the release date. I can no longer afford to do this even at 50% off because I no longer have the funds or the room to store them. Having said that, most of my fav authors are not on the best selling list, so I only get 20% off. I read on both a Kindle and a Nook Color. I have downloaded almost 900 books for free on my Kindle. There are not nearly as many for the Nook. But — these free books are not the ones I want to be reading as they are not by my fav authors and I do not want to forgo the pleasure of their company.

The actually purpose of this rant is – I want my discounted books online! I don’t care who I buy them from – either BN or Amazon – but I want my discount! I can’t believe that the authors are getting any more money from this and they are the ones who should be. I would not complain if that were so. The Big 6 are the ones who need to get a clue and a new business model. I am also of the opinion that Amazon is trying to be the Google of the publishing world. Then there will be war — Google versus Amazon.

By: americaneditor

americaneditor — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:51:57 +0000

I guess, Rick, your notion of a good idea is to kiss Jeff Bezos’ feet and thank the deities for everything he does, leaving it at that. The trouble with views such as yours is that they encourage Amazon to say to publishers “if you want us to sell your books, you cannot let anyone else sell them” (which is the thrust of exclusivity). Why you think it is alright for Amazon to insist on exclusivity for 90 days or longer but not for anyone else to do the same eludes me.

Although Amazon is the largest single retailer, it is not the controller of the market — yet. It is working to that. Amazon has 70% of the U.S. ebook market, but less than 30% of the book market as a whole.

And as to why B&N and Kobo should be given exclusive deals, I should think the answer obvious: To help them battle Amazon, to keep the publishers relevant, and to keep competition in the book market alive.

By: Rick Askenase

Rick Askenase — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:24:51 +0000

This is a stupid idea, and, again, another of your anti-Amazon diatribes. Why give an exclusive to B & N/Kobo? You’ll sell FAR more ebooks through Amazon since they own the iion’s share of the market. And, if you window it on Amazon, you risk pissing off your customers/readers and selling less. ALSO, (why windowing is such a stupid idea in the first place) all the publicity you receive when first launching a book is lost several months later (book tour over, reviews now old and hard to find, etc), and your potential readers and have forgotten/moved on to other, newer books.

Bad idea.

By: Amazon to save the high street! (Unverified) « Front of Store

Amazon to save the high street! (Unverified) « Front of Store — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:11:48 +0000

[...] chains have decided not to carry Amazon books; now publishers need to show similar mettle, as the American Editor blog argued persuasively earlier this [...]

By: Winston P

Winston P — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:22:40 +0000

publishers need to play hardball since that’s what Bezos plays.

By: Amazon vs. Big Publishing: 800 lbs vs. 798 lbs. - The Digital Reader

Amazon vs. Big Publishing: 800 lbs vs. 798 lbs. - The Digital Reader — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:04:33 +0000

[...] puts a lot at stake. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.reposted with permission from An American Editor /**/ Tags:No Comments so far ↓There are no comments yet…Kick things off by filling out the [...]