Quote:
Originally Posted by Kali Yuga
That depends on what one means by "work."
Tor is a genre publisher; as such, they have a much better chance of launching their own store than, say, a general interest publisher.
However, they do face a few challenges.
• The users will need to get the Tor ebooks onto their devices. In comparison, the big players (Amazon, B&N, Apple) all have free delivery directly to the devices.
• They need to execute at a very high level, or face irate and vocal complaints.
• This may deepen ties to their existing consumer base, but won't necessarily improve broader brand awareness.
In general it's a good thing, and I do expect we will see more of it. However, it's not a magic bullet, and I suspect that many consumers underestimate exactly how hard it is to run one's own store.
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Agree there. Frankly, I think the store will fail unless they offer something extra to get consumers to come to their store, even if they execute well. My guess is that the only thing that they could offer is exclusivity- either that only Tor.com books are sold there or that Tor.com books are sold there for a limited initial period. In the end, that's where Tor.com will end up.
I think that Stross and the anti DRM crowd have a rosy tinged view of the future, whereby if you eliminate DRM, somehow a healthy, competive and diverse marketplace will naturally bloom and the small retailers will somehow be able to compete against Amazon and the big retailers absent DRM lock-in. Bollocks, in my view, but there it is.