Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres
...(Didn't one of the BPHs quit NZ a year or so ago? Or was it just a threat?)
|
Hatchette did, comment was due to erosion of pBook sales by eBooks and parallel importing of pBooks by consumers at much cheaper prices, but hard to know how true that was (eBooks and pBooks, like most everything else can be parallel imported). May have just been a sensible cost decision in reality due to small market?
Harper Collins moved warehousing distribution to Australia also around the same time but that was stated to be just for cost savings.
While there was some gnashing of teeth at the time by the usual noisy people who feel they have to fill a column inch or two in the news media, driven by their own selfinterest reasons, I don't think it has made any difference, just part of the changing world with better communications, etc.
Also has to be seen in the context that while there is a highish readership level in NZ it is in a very, very small market. Population of the whole country is roughly just that of Sydney, and even the biggest city, Auckland is only around the size of Adelaide. Also the population is not concentrated it being spread across many small cities so not easy for most to get access to big bookshops; consequently internet sales are popular and once one is on the internet who cares where the book comes from as long as the price is right.