Quote:
Originally Posted by Yapyap
If the market was (much) bigger, then I imagine they'd find more incentive to come out with a branded reader and offer only that - but even so, with watermarked epub now being the country-wide standard, they'd have to be extremely confident (or achieve a monopoly) in order to go for a proprietary format and one single brand of device.
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Exactly.
High volume sellers get econony of scale advantages that squeeze out small players, and not just in pricing. Visibility and mindshare matter. That's Kobo's problem in the US: lack of mainstream visibility. In a market without a clear leader, all brands have equal visibility and credibility.
Speaking of mindshare: any activity on the indie publishing front in Estonia? One advantage of indie ebooks is the higher author margins that allow them to make a living off lower prices and low volumes. An author that can get 2-3 books out per year can make a living off sales in the hundreds after 2-3 years. Long tail economics favor low volumes...