Books On Board Ceased Operations

[Terisa de morgan]

I had a pre-order due to today, I've been able to download it. There are still another three pending ones, I hope no problem with them.

[Dr. Drib]

The Coming Back Gone Poem

It's gone, but it's going to come back.
Or it's already back, but it never was gone.
But gone is a time long to not come back.
By back, I mean gone but going to return.
And coming back, they had to be gone.






Don

[TallMomof2]

If they come back I sure hope their website is easier to use. I never bought a single book there because of the navigation.

[DianNC]

I loved their discount codes, buying many epubs and audiobooks there. I hope they're not gone for good, but if they are I'll truly miss them.

[Fbone]

At the very least this may help the other epub selling bookstores. I don't know what was BoB's market share but they did have their customers. Hopefully, they will migrate over to Kobo, Sony, Diesel or Google. Or back to B&N for nookers.

[dandelioncottage]

I thought I was singlehandedly keeping them in business!

[DianNC]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Or back to B&N for nookers.

That'll never happen for this 'nooker'.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Or back to B&N for nookers.

Oh you spelled it with an N.
Apache

[Fbone]

Publishers Weekly has an article about BoB including quotes from owner Bob LiVolsi. Basically, he's looking for investors.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/b....html#comments

[GeoffR]

I bought a few books from BoB, but I don't think their discounts were as good as they first appeared. Every book I looked at during their recent 40% off sale could be found at the same price or cheaper at Diesel or Kobo.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

Every book I looked at during their recent 40% off sale could be found at the same price or cheaper at Diesel or Kobo.

Where as in the US they were cheaper than anyone, including Amazon, on most things I checked. Diesel is on rare occasion cheaper and Kobo pretty much never is unless you can find a good code.

[hwlester]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Publishers Weekly has an article about BoB including quotes from owner Bob LiVolsi. Basically, he's looking for investors.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/b....html#comments

Livolsi has been critical of how the switch to the agency pricing model was implemented from the beginning and voiced complaints that it was organized strictly to benefit the big retail players and “devastated,” independent e-book sellers.

Interesting that he says it was organized to benefit the big players when the participating publishers claimed that it was aimed at keeping a level field so that the smaller bookstores could keep in business: keeping the big players with a larger margin from undercutting the smaller ones with a tighter margin.

I agree the agency model hurt the consumer in the end and even with the supposed "demise" of the agency model, I'm not seeing much improvement yet.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by hwlester

Interesting that he says it was organized to benefit the big players when the participating publishers claimed that it was aimed at keeping a level field so that the smaller bookstores could keep in business: keeping the big players with a larger margin from undercutting the smaller ones with a tighter margin.

He's talking about the switch over to Agency as it left stores like BoB without Agency titles to sell for much longer than the big guys.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Where as in the US they were cheaper than anyone, including Amazon, on most things I checked. Diesel is on rare occasion cheaper and Kobo pretty much never is unless you can find a good code.

This has been my experience also. Almost every book on my TBR list is now the same non-discounted price at Kobo, Diesel, Sony and Google. Amazon and B&N also although I don't shop there.

[hwlester]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

He's talking about the switch over to Agency as it left stores like BoB without Agency titles to sell for much longer than the big guys.

The next paragraph after the one I quoted addresses the supposed benefits for the smaller stores, but as we've seen from Fictionwise and others, the consumer is the one who has ultimately suffered. I bargain shop for ebooks just like I bargain shop for other items. That's how I first found Fictionwise (originally for RocketBook, then multiformat), Baen (also originally for RocketBook, then multiformat), Kobo (for EPUB), and BoB (also for EPUB). When an ebook is priced the same at all retailers, I have LESS incentive to buy it from one of the smaller retailers, and in some cases, less incentive to buy it at all, especially if it's as much or MORE than a physical copy.