Quote:
Originally Posted by EatingPie
I will bang the drum once more: lock-in is bad because it keeps independent or individual booksellers from cropping up. B&N sells for Nook... period. Amazon sells for Kindle... period. There's no cross-sales. And unless you want to sell DRM-free Kindle/Nook format (which publishers aren't allowing in general), you can't open a store to compete with Amazon or B&N. Very few people have "the goods" to challenge this model, and JKR is the one.
The only "hilarious" thing about lock-out would be the backlash against Apple/Amazon/B&N.
-Pie
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I'm not a fan of lock-in. But the idea that lock-in is preventing independent booksellers is missing a MAJOR elephant in the room.
The reason independent booksellers can't compete is, imho, solely on the publishers. When you have a set price that eBooks can ONLY be sold at, and no coupons or sales on the part of the seller, then there can be no competition between stores.
What can an independent store offer that Amazon can't? Well, intangibles. A nicer storefront, maybe. Better customer service, possibly. But prices and availability are usually what determines a stores' consumer base, and indie stores ALWAYS have to drop "availability" as an option, because smaller stores means a smaller catalog.
Smaller stores are currently offering DRM-free options (Baen), niche appeal (Baen again), indie author (Smashwords), and coupons (Fictionwise, Kobo). But they can only do so much with agency books.
The idea that if lock-in ended tomorrow and B&N books could be read on Amazon devices and vice versa somehow affecting the indie situation at all is very strange to me, to say the least.
