Thread: Authors United, allies, demand government intervention
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Old 07-22-2015, 07:36 AM   #115
fjtorres
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AnemicOak View Post
Apple and B&N probably, maybe Kobo, Google(?). Big publishers for the most part aren't that used to thinking of small bookstores (or individuals) as customers in that way. Their main customers are big stores that buy enough to go direct and distributors like Baker & Taylor and Ingram (where the other stores get their stuff) so places like Diesel and BoB weren't likely high on their list of things to do individually. Although I'm not sure if Diesel & BoB, etc would need a contact with each pub or if that would be handled through agreements with their distributors (OverDrive, Ingram/Lightning Source, etc.) It took OmniLit/AllRomance a long time to build their catalog back up and I'm not sure if they ever got back to having all big publisher titles or not.
With Agency, every publisher contract had to be renegotiated individually.
I'm not sure they even knew how many small, growing Adept ebookstores were out there. Especially the specialty ones just ramping up in late 2009/2010. If they had done nothing, the market for hardware-only ereaders could have supported dozens if not hundreds of generic ebookstores from the larger indie pbookstores and epub interoperability could have quickly eroded Amazon's position. They would've been like Apple amidst a sea of PCs in the 80's.

The BPHs were so hung up and panicked by Amazon's mythical 90% market share (which was never real) they completely misread the market. If they understood technology even minimally they would've understood that market pioneers act as icebreakers; they start with 100% market share and then go down as challengers emerge and are noticed. They also had no faith in B&N or Kobo; they jumped straight into conspiracy even though they knew B&N and Borders/Kobo were getting into the game in 2010.

They never gave the market a chance to develop naturally, the way the PC market went from 100% IBM to one dominated by indies (clones) in less than 5 years.

Oligopolies and cartels really don't understand open markets which is why they wither away so fast when faced with one.
Last edited by fjtorres; 07-22-2015 at 07:42 AM.
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