Quote:
Originally Posted by maddz
The ability to download in the format of your choice.
No geo-restrictions (big sore point for me) when it's obvious there is no rights holder in your territory. There is nothing more annoying to find the e-book title you want is only available as a p-book in your territory, and the author has never been published in your territory.
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Those are all good features but *none* are under retailer control.
When Amazon music launched DRM-free it was because the mosic studios were tired of Apple's "one price for every song" policy andare tbey wanted variable pricing; higher for big hits, lower for album tracks.
Amazon helped them get it.
In pbooks, though, publishers aren't helping.
Not that there is much help to give; their overhead is enormous and margins low. They pretty much cornered themselves. (Long story there; short version, they helped Amazon grow from nothing to something and by the time they noticed, Amazon was too valuable to ignore.)
Pbook pricing and catalog size are the only things booksellers *can* (somewhat) control, subject to publisher/distributor volume discounts and book availability. The latter is improving with POD but the former seems to be cast in concrete.
And as long an pbook discounts are tied to order volume, independent book sellers will never be able to match the big boys who, in addition to getting tge books cheaper, get the books direct, instead of via Ingram (who need their own profit) and (Amazon at least) are more efficient.
B&M book retailing is a lousy business for anybody smaller than a regional chain like BAM or Half-Price. Even "destination stores" like Powells and THE STRAND are in deep trouble.