Waterstones (UK) may break even

[jehane]

http://www.theguardian.com/books/201...nt-waterstones

Certainly, the trade has stabilised. More people than ever before are reading, in all formats. In Britain, ebook sales, which have now peaked, account for about 30% of the market. “Waterstones can make a living from the 70% that’s left over,” says Daunt.

[fjtorres]

And what if it hasn't peaked?
What if the establishment simply has no idea of how many ebook sales are going to indie ebooks?

Just wondering...

[Shades]

That 70% could go down rapidly. I'm not seeing digital (eBook) sales going anywhere but up. They're just a lot more convenient.

Pbooks will probably never go away fully, but it wouldn't surprise me if some years down the road those statistics got reversed, 70% eBooks and 30% pbooks.

[elcreative]

More to the point is the make-up of the 30% - is that 30% of all book sales and, if so, what proportion of the 30% is made up of fiction.

It seems that eBook sales are dominated by fiction and best-selling fiction tends to fund bookshop sales of all books so if the percentage is predominantly fiction (likely) then it will have a bigger knock-on effect on profitability than an even spread across all types of books...

[chrisridd]

I'm still boggled that Waterstones can even think that selling devices in their stores that direct users to another book store (i.e. Kindle and Amazon) is a good thing.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by chrisridd

I'm still boggled that Waterstones can even think that selling devices in their stores that direct users to another book store (i.e. Kindle and Amazon) is a good thing.

It doesn't matter. If you are going to buy an ereader you can always buy online. But if you plan to go to Waterstones with the only intend to buy an ereader then you may end up buying something else as well. A sale is a sale. Waterstones cannot prevent ereaders being sold by not selling them themselves. They can make some money of them though. They might make epub readers attractive enough that you get a better deal than with a Kindle. They could for example give out an coupon for buying ebooks from Waterstones with each ereader.

[chrisridd]

Yes, any sale is of course money coming in, which is good for your immediate bottom line.

But giving someone a reason to never come back to your store seems like a problem for the future. You can't even sell to them from your own ebook store!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by chrisridd

Yes, any sale is of course money coming in, which is good for your immediate bottom line.

But giving someone a reason to never come back to your store seems like a problem for the future. You can't even sell to them from your own ebook store!

It certainly used to be the case - I don't know if it still is - that Waterstones Kindles were not normal ones; they had Waterstones-branded screensavers. It may very well be that Amazon pay Waterstones a percentage of all book purchases made from such a device.

[Shades]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It certainly used to be the case - I don't know if it still is - that Waterstones Kindles were not normal ones; they had Waterstones-branded screensavers. It may very well be that Amazon pay Waterstones a percentage of all book purchases made from such a device.

In that case, that could be a pretty sweet deal. They don't have to build a huge eBook store since amazon has that and they get a cut of the pie. That being said, it's only a good deal if they get a cut, otherwise amazon is taking their potential customers away from them.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It certainly used to be the case - I don't know if it still is - that Waterstones Kindles were not normal ones; they had Waterstones-branded screensavers. It may very well be that Amazon pay Waterstones a percentage of all book purchases made from such a device.

That, in fact, was the deal.
Amazon offers similar terms to any indie bookstore willing to stock Kindles.
It's called Amazon Source.

http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/amazo...kindle-source/

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

That, in fact, was the deal.
Amazon offers similar terms to any indie bookstore willing to stock Kindles.
It's called Amazon Source.

http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/amazo...kindle-source/

Thanks for confirming that!

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Thanks for confirming that!

I Gotta be good for something.

[chrisridd]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Thanks for confirming that!

Yes, thanks! Waterstones isn't quite as dumb as I was thinking :-)

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by chrisridd

Yes, thanks! Waterstones isn't quite as dumb as I was thinking :-)

Maybe B&N should start selling B&N branded Kindles and give up on Nook completely.

[MikeB1972]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

It doesn't matter. If you are going to buy an ereader you can always buy online. But if you plan to go to Waterstones with the only intend to buy an ereader then you may end up buying something else as well. A sale is a sale. Waterstones cannot prevent ereaders being sold by not selling them themselves. They can make some money of them though. They might make epub readers attractive enough that you get a better deal than with a Kindle. They could for example give out an coupon for buying ebooks from Waterstones with each ereader.

Waterstones sell kindles and, rather bizarrely, epubs.

It used to be that they sold epub readers. I still think they are shooting themselves in the foot in the long term, the loss of business to amazon will surely cost more than the referral fees they gain.