Quote:
Originally Posted by ratinox
If the costs really were minimal then ebooks would be almost pure profit. Yet every player in the industry struggles. Yes, even Amazon, which posted in the black for the first time in 2015. Peanut Press went bankrupt. Amazon acquired (and dismantled) MobiPocket. Sony sold off their ebook business to Kobo.
You are technically correct: running a 1M+ hit per day web site isn't expensive. But I'm not talking about running a 1M+ hit per day web site. I'm talking about running a profitable business.
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I'm talking about running a profitable business. That's what I do for a living.
The primary issue for ebook stores is Amazon and Apple. They control the vast majority of the ebook market in the US. It's pretty hard to steal customers from Amazon. You will never be able to beat them on price.
The next issue is inventory. As far as selection goes, there is Amazon and everyone else. Developing the necessary contracts with all those publishers and bringing in the backlist authors is a very difficult task.
Last is giving people a reason to use you rather than Amazon or Apple. People can buy books from Amazon or Apple directly from their eReader and have them automatically show up. Pretty hard to beat that. You need a major difference maker.