Quote:
Originally Posted by ZodWallop
I meant to address this earlier, but I was at work.
Indie E-Book Retailer Books On Board Halts E-book Sales - Livolsi has been critical of how the switch to the agency pricing model was implemented from the beginning and voiced complaints that it was organized strictly to benefit the big retail players and “devastated,” independent e-book sellers.
Indie ebooktailers and the Agency Model: Where Are They Now? - It’s ironic that the publishers who were going to level the playing field amongst retailers pretty much now only have their titles available on B&N and Amazon.
RIP Fictionwise? - Looks like Fictionwise is becoming more obsolete by the day. During the spring they discontinued their membership program in the face of the agency pricing changes. |
I did say many, not all. Small indie booksellers, both paper and ebook come and go. Of the two that are specifically mentioned, one was bought out in 2009, the other went out of business in 2013. Agency pricing didn't actually hit the streets until late 2010. It was revoked in 2012. It didn't come back until the Amazon/Hatchette deal in 2014.
I suspect that closer inspection would show that agency was more a convenient excuse than a real reason. Most small bookstores have a very narrow margin of profit. The number one reason small businesses go under is under capitalization, i.e. they simply don't have enough cash on hand to weather a downturn. Fictionwise was purchased by B&N back in 2009 and eventually shutdown by B&N. It's pretty likely that B&N planned to fold the Fictionwise customer base into the B&N store from the beginning.