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Originally Posted by Barcey
If they sell direct they would be vilified by the legacy retail chain just like Amazon.
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If they sell direct as suggested in the OP, and "get together and build their own e book store," they should be, I won't say vilified, but I will say criticized. I'm unsure of the legality of the proposal. But it requires the big five to agree on terms of sale, something that -- regardless of the actual terms -- would inevitably, and reasonably, be interpreted as the firms conspiring to gain more profit at the expense of customers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phogg
I would go to special order something and a bookseller tied directly to the publishers couldn't get it, so don't even try to go there.
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This illustrates why a big-five collaborative bookstore, even if legal, wouldn't work well. In order to be a successful bookseller, you need an extremely large selection -- this being the not-so-secret reason that Borders and Barnes & Noble put so many independent book stores out of business. To be successful, the big five collaborative ebookstore would need to stock not just their own titles, but also those of smaller publishers, Amazon Publishing, and Kindle Direct Publishing.
Amazon got their dominant position in US book retailing by creating an excellent web site with an enormous selection. That doesn't give them a moral right to keep their dominant position or engage in bullying of Hachette and of
indie authors outside the Amazon Direct Publishing umbrella. Inspiring the big five to emulate Amazon is not a good plan.
Was the idea that the big five agree/conspire to not sell their eBooks through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, etc.? Could that possibly be legal?
Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres
It is easier than trying to deal with the fact that readers actually know what they like and they are the ones who have the final say.
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You're making a good point, but:
So far, what readers are saying -- not through words, but through actions -- is that they are willing to pay more for a major publisher book than for the overwhelming majority of those that are self-published.
Contrast this with the newspaper situation, where paid circulation is collapsing because readers not just say they won't pay the price of traditionally published newspapers -- they actually will not pay it.