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anamardoll · 05-17-2011, 04:45 PM

I don't like having to keep track of 30+ sites for buying my ebooks, and I suspect other people feel the same way. Inkmesh has helped a LOT in that regard, but in order for me to really end up at a non-"single source site" (Amazon, B&N, Koby, Sony, whatever flavor you prefer), there would have to be some other draw. There are a lot of things to consider...

1. Availability. Obviously, if you can't buy the book at a single-source site, you have to buy it at the publisher. But this is a huge loss of sales for the publisher - a HUGE amount of what I buy I first learn about through Amazon Recommends and similar "purchase history" algorithms.

2. Reviews. Amazon got to where it is today in part because it because THE go-to place to read customer reviews on books and really understand if it's something you like. Sure, you can get these elsewhere, but again, single source is important. Furthermore, I'm skeptical that reviews on a publisher site will be considered as unbiased as ones on a "distributor" site like Amazon.

3. Pricing. If a book I already want is cheaper at the publisher site, then it might be worth buying there instead of at my single source. But how is this model going to work? Are the publishers going to undercut their own books at their own site? (I.e., a book is $10 at Amazon, $10 at B&N, and.... $7.50 at the publisher site.) Won't this just fuel customer rage and Kindle bombs on the single source sites?

4. Infrastructure. If the publishers want to cut out the middleman, it's going to take a lot more than some guy designing a website. Not only will they need a decent Customer Service department, they'll need to stand out from the single-source suppliers who currently hold some trust value in the sense that they are a known commodity. (For example, I used the Borders ebook site ONCE before immediately quitting. I had run into a problem getting a free ebook that was featured here, and my email to CS was answered in a very annoyingly idiotic fashion. I wasn't going to stick around for that when I know I can get slightly better service elsewhere.)

It seems like really this boils down to an OPEC problem - the only way this would work to "undercut" Amazon would be if ALL the big publishers agreed to do it at once and didn't try to double-cross each other. And... for what? The relationship between Amazon and publishers may be contentious at times, but it's still a VERY profitable relationship for the publishers. Even the $10 thing sold more ebooks - the publishers just didn't like the cut into their pbook profits, AFAIK.

05-17-2011, 04:45 PM	#42
anamardoll Chasing Butterflies Posts: 3,132 Karma: 5074169 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: American Southwest Device: Uses batteries.	I don't like having to keep track of 30+ sites for buying my ebooks, and I suspect other people feel the same way. Inkmesh has helped a LOT in that regard, but in order for me to really end up at a non-"single source site" (Amazon, B&N, Koby, Sony, whatever flavor you prefer), there would have to be some other draw. There are a lot of things to consider... 1. Availability. Obviously, if you can't buy the book at a single-source site, you have to buy it at the publisher. But this is a huge loss of sales for the publisher - a HUGE amount of what I buy I first learn about through Amazon Recommends and similar "purchase history" algorithms. 2. Reviews. Amazon got to where it is today in part because it because THE go-to place to read customer reviews on books and really understand if it's something you like. Sure, you can get these elsewhere, but again, single source is important. Furthermore, I'm skeptical that reviews on a publisher site will be considered as unbiased as ones on a "distributor" site like Amazon. 3. Pricing. If a book I already want is cheaper at the publisher site, then it might be worth buying there instead of at my single source. But how is this model going to work? Are the publishers going to undercut their own books at their own site? (I.e., a book is $10 at Amazon, $10 at B&N, and.... $7.50 at the publisher site.) Won't this just fuel customer rage and Kindle bombs on the single source sites? 4. Infrastructure. If the publishers want to cut out the middleman, it's going to take a lot more than some guy designing a website. Not only will they need a decent Customer Service department, they'll need to stand out from the single-source suppliers who currently hold some trust value in the sense that they are a known commodity. (For example, I used the Borders ebook site ONCE before immediately quitting. I had run into a problem getting a free ebook that was featured here, and my email to CS was answered in a very annoyingly idiotic fashion. I wasn't going to stick around for that when I know I can get slightly better service elsewhere.) It seems like really this boils down to an OPEC problem - the only way this would work to "undercut" Amazon would be if ALL the big publishers agreed to do it at once and didn't try to double-cross each other. And... for what? The relationship between Amazon and publishers may be contentious at times, but it's still a VERY profitable relationship for the publishers. Even the $10 thing sold more ebooks - the publishers just didn't like the cut into their pbook profits, AFAIK.