In a post provocatively called "Disintermediatiing Amazon", another call for publishers to sell direct, with some hope for B&M book stores:
Quote:
Yet Amazon, which has so neatly disintermediated physical bookstores and intimidated publishers, may carry within itself the formula for its own destruction. The one great service it provides is a comfortingly familiar Web site, a Web site that just a few years ago was unknown. And despite all its cash, its forays into publishing seem doomed, thanks to the hatred it engenders among rival stores and sites; it is likely that the fate of its publishing efforts will mirror that of Barnes & Noble’s. What is it selling? Its ability to sell. What if publishers were to sell e-books and print books direct, straight to consumers—and consumers were to get used to the idea of buying direct? Suddenly one can imagine Amazon becoming an anachronism, joining the lengthy list of publishing’s dying or extinct species.
At OR Books, which specializes in nonreturnable, prepaid sales straight to the consumer, we’ve found that, with some effort and increasing success, it’s possible to persuade readers to sidestep the still-young tradition of heading straight to Amazon for purchases. Such a prospect needn’t spell disaster for physical stores, either. Counterintuitively, our growing experience with direct sales has led us to re-examine our bookstore connections.
By creating a buzz around a book online and fostering online communities of readers around each book, we create a small but reliable in-store demand as well.
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Its important to realize that there are other players in book industry beyond the much derided "BPHs" or the dinosaur-like " B&M stores".There are independent publishers. Lots of these guys don't like Amazon either.
More importantly, this seems to open up a chance for the continuing relevance of independent book stores as well. Thoughts?