Amazon Publishing sales numbers revealed

[fjtorres]

It seems the recent chortling rumors about Amazon cutting back on their first party ventures had one effect: the new boss sat down with the mouthpiece of the enemy camp to discuss sales numbers.
In brief: the "high-minded" boycott by B&N and the indie bookstores has simply shifted sales to Amazon:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/b...nd-mortar.html

So much for the "bookstores are essential for discoverability" meme.

An Amazon Publishing spokesperson said that across all of its imprints, over 10% of the company’s frontlist titles, in a variety of categories and genres, have sold more than 100,000 copies each, and that many have sales over 200,000 copies each, including The Long Way Home by Karen McQuestion, When I Found You by Catherine Ryan Hyde, The Detachment by Barry Eisler, and The Misremembered Man by Christina McKenna.

Durham said Amazon remains committed to publishing, and that anyone who suggests the company is scaling back is incorrect. “We’re a global company with thriving publishing offices in Seattle, New York, Grand Haven [Michigan, home of Brilliance Audio], London, and Munich,” Durham said. She noted that across all 14 Amazon publishing imprints, the company plans to release about 700 frontlist books in 2014.

They may not be in Randy Penguin territory but they are definitely one of the bigger (semi-)traditional publishing houses out there. And that is without factoring KDP Select sales volume. Add all the indie content sales and there is a lot of books selling without "bookstore discoverability" or showrooming.

[kennyc]

Good for them.

and I've never really thought physical bookstores are necessary for discoverablity. I find Amazon's on-line search and samples (in conjunction with other on-line information - wikipedia, book sites, etc) much superior for my 'finding something to read' needs.

[Jessica Lares]

So even indie books are selling more than popular music now?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Jessica Lares

So even indie books are selling more than popular music now?

Yes.
But those aren't the indies--those are Amazon's in-house Imprints that Amazon publishes as well as distributes.

In gaming terms, they're First and Second Party titles, not third party.

[Fbone]

Many of those Amazon published titles have been available for $1.99 or less. This I'm sure boosted sales. Several were a $1.00 during a recent promotion. I don't know what royalties Amazon pays in this case. Is it on the sale price or full retail in which case Amazon throws money into the pot and pays you to buy the book.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Many of those Amazon published titles have been available for $1.99 or less. This I'm sure boosted sales. Several were a $1.00 during a recent promotion. I don't know what royalties Amazon pays in this case. Is it on the sale price or full retail in which case Amazon throws money into the pot and pays you to buy the book.

It is my understanding that Amazon pays full royalties when they are doing a promotion.
It gets reduced when it is the publisher or competitor dropping the price.

[Anthem]

Well, there you go!

You know, I always believed that the ability to browse books at a physical retail store was vastly superior to anything else available. But as the years have gone on (dwindled?!) I have reversed that position. The online stores have gotten significantly better at doing what they do and I now find that I discover the most interesting books online rather than at a B&N.

Go figure.

[frahse]

I take exception to some of this theme.

I still think a "well sorted" physical bookstore is superior to anything on line for browsing.

... but not for searching!

[rdjack21]

And to carry it further lets be honest and state it up front Amazon has the online browsing and new book discovery down. While I really do want to support the other stores I find there store fonts suck compaired to Amazon. I found myself going to Amazon to browse then going to B&N to actually buy what I wanted. My attitude has changed if B&N can't give me what I want the heck with them so now I browse and buy on Amazon.

[frahse]

Originally Posted by rdjack21

And to carry it further lets be honest and state it up front Amazon has the online browsing and new book discovery down. While I really do want to support the other stores I find there store fonts suck compaired to Amazon. I found myself going to Amazon to browse then going to B&N to actually buy what I wanted. My attitude has changed if B&N can't give me what I want the heck with them so now I browse and buy on Amazon.

... well, so there!

[Ninjalawyer]

Originally Posted by rdjack21

And to carry it further lets be honest and state it up front Amazon has the online browsing and new book discovery down. While I really do want to support the other stores I find there store fonts suck compaired to Amazon. I found myself going to Amazon to browse then going to B&N to actually buy what I wanted. My attitude has changed if B&N can't give me what I want the heck with them so now I browse and buy on Amazon.

I frequently do that as well, but with an added twist: when I'm at the bookstore, I usually end up also firing an Amazon app that can scan book ISBNs to provide reviews and recommendations.

[donpapachino]

i believe in a win-win solution for both offline and online bookstore, it should co-exist together.

[Anthem]

Originally Posted by rdjack21

And to carry it further lets be honest and state it up front Amazon has the online browsing and new book discovery down. While I really do want to support the other stores I find there store fonts suck compaired to Amazon.

I agree. Amazon appears to know what they are doing here. Whenever I browse for books on BN.com... I just feel dirty.