10-17-2011, 03:01 AM | #1 | |
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Amazon Signs Up Authors, Writing Publishers Out of Deal
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10-17-2011, 03:48 AM | #2 |
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Interesting...
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10-17-2011, 03:54 AM | #3 |
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Not only interesting, but a little worrying. I publish my books at Amazon (and everywhere else through Smashwords). Amazon accounts for more than 90% of my sales; however, I don't like the idea of a monopoly, which seems to be where we're heading. How will Amazon be pricing books when the competition has disappeared?
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10-17-2011, 04:26 AM | #4 |
Are you gonna eat that?
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i've long questioned why someone like a stephen king or a laurell k hamilton still needs a publisher.
i don't think amazon would be a jackbooted monopoly.i'm sure they have data that i can only dream of that considers what peoples price "breaking point" is. if they push too far sales will suffer. |
10-17-2011, 04:49 AM | #5 | |
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10-17-2011, 05:53 AM | #6 |
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Saw that coming, the thing that Amazon really wants is a near-total monopoly, and been fairly apparent for a while now.
And yo'll thought they were just a nice bookstore ! |
10-17-2011, 06:07 AM | #7 |
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I don't see how Amazon could have a monopoly. They are not the only e-book sellers. Other major online stores are probably going to start doing the same thing (if they see that it works for Amazon).
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10-17-2011, 07:41 AM | #8 | |
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The publishers do have a counter if they only had the gumption to do it: All they have to do is refuse to allow any ebookseller to sell any of the publisher's ebooks in any format other than ePub with specific Adobe DRM. Doing this would mean that readers could safely buy from any ebookseller and be able to read on on any device. Just like buying a DVD. That would take the wind out of Amazon's sails. |
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10-17-2011, 08:15 AM | #9 |
Is that a sandwich?
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So far Amazon's published ebooks have DRM (if desired), geographical restrictions, variable pricing, and exclusivity. One of their latest ebooks is less expensive in UK and France than US.
Not sure how different they are to the large traditional publishers from the consumer's end. |
10-17-2011, 09:39 AM | #10 |
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Well the thing about Monopolies is that they are impossible to maintain once they increase their prices dramatically in an industry with low barriers to entry.
So say Amazon runs the Publishers out of business and then increases the prices on all Amazon published books to $20 or whatever. What would happen? Somebody would set up a website to start selling eBooks at $9.99 and their business would boom. |
10-17-2011, 10:13 AM | #11 | |
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10-17-2011, 11:00 AM | #12 |
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Amazon will almost certainly want all the writers they sign up to be Kindle exclusives, so the other ebook sellers won't be able to compete with those titles. If they are giving 40% royalties compared with the 15% that normal publishers give (which is what I read) they will attract writers with that.
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10-17-2011, 11:19 AM | #13 | |
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And, Zanshin, note I said "near" monopoly - obviously, they won't worry about niche publishers, or indeed anyone they don't see as a threat. And don't forget their attack is on two fronts as far a books are concerned - they have the market leader device, the stroke of genius they cooked up, as well as trying to get "exclusive" authors. And cost - they'll beat any competitor if they feel they need to. I think you'll see, over the next few years, more and more authors signing up/being poached, and - perhaps more annoying/dangerous, more and more sole rights being purchased by Amazon. Sadly, I reckon they have a very clever strategy, which is working beautifully Remember when it was just books we were worried about ? Well, nothing got in their way then, or when they realised just how profitable ebooks could be - and started to make people think ereader = kindle. |
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10-17-2011, 11:21 AM | #14 |
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10-17-2011, 11:38 AM | #15 | |
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