Amazon Signs Up Authors, Writing Publishers Out of Deal

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Fbone

So far Amazon's published ebooks have DRM (if desired), geographical restrictions, variable pricing, and exclusivity. One of their latest ebooks is less expensive in UK and France than US.

That generally happens when a book has different US and UK publishers - a very common situation.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by taustin

It's hard to imagine that I'll ever be buying a book in which the various editing and publishing functions have been "farmed out," and if I ever do, it's hard to imagine I won't regret it.

FYI, Taustin, most books you buy had the editing and production services farmed out. I am one of many freelance editors to whom the publishers farm out editing, illustration, proofreading, design, and page composition assignments.

Many years ago all editing, proofreading, design, and illustration was done in-house. But even in the days before computers, 95%+ of publishers farmed out the production of the book to typesetters/compositors and to printers. It was very rare for a publisher to produce a book 100% in-house; few publishers had the facilities to do so and I don't know of any today who have that capability, although there may be some.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by vaughnmr

For a customer like me, Amazon is a good answer.

In contrast, for a customer like me, Amazon is a terrible answer. The very things you like about Amazon are the things that I find more appealing at B&M stores (particularly the browsing experience) or at Amazon competitors like B&N. To each his/her own.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by abookreader

All of them?

All of them refers to those books that Amazon publishes, not all books published in the world. If Amazon publishes a Stephen King book, it will be under contract and likely would give exclusive selling rights to Amazon. It is very unlikely that Amazon will publish a book and then give Barnes & Noble, Sony, Apple, Books on Board, and other booksellers the right to sell the book in competition with Amazon.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

Amazon would come out with an ePub reader, of course, and now people with eKindles, Nooks, Kobos, and Sonys could *all* buy their books at Amazon.

That's exactly the point. It would force Amazon to be an ePub seller and would allow the consumer the choice of where to buy a book because all sellers would sell the book in ePub format with a universal DRM scheme.

[abookreader]

Originally Posted by wannabee

Amazon will drop it's price to match competitor's pricing.

Well, exactly.

But that's the entire argument being used

Amazon will undercut prices, tie up all the authors, drive everybody else out of business and then have a Monopoly on the entire publishing industry. At which point the consumers will be at the mercy of Amazon charging whatever prices they want. That was the entire point of Agency Pricing. It was billed to the consumers as a "We have to raise your prices in order to protect YOU the consumer" kind of thing by the publishers. But that was never true. The consumer has never been in any real danger. Somebody is always willing to meet consumer demand and as long as there is a demand for value priced literature - somebody will supply it. If Amazon stops, somebody else will start. The danger has always been to the publishers and retailer who can't or won't meet Amazon price structures, who find the role they play in the supply chain of author-publisher-retailer-consumer becoming unstable.

Amazon as an evil Monopoly to all literature just won't happen because there is a in practical terms endless amount of books begging to be published every year and setting up a website to sell digital books is technologically simple. If Amazon were EVER to reach the point where customers didn't like what they were doing anymore - then somebody else would jump on that business need and start undercutting Amazon.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

[...]it is pretty clear Kindle has been generating positive cash-flow for Amazon for at least a year, if not longer.

I thought that Amazon keeps that information secret.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by rhadin

FYI, Taustin, most books you buy had the editing and production services farmed out. I am one of many freelance editors to whom the publishers farm out editing, illustration, proofreading, design, and page composition assignments.

Many years ago all editing, proofreading, design, and illustration was done in-house. But even in the days before computers, 95%+ of publishers farmed out the production of the book to typesetters/compositors and to printers. It was very rare for a publisher to produce a book 100% in-house; few publishers had the facilities to do so and I don't know of any today who have that capability, although there may be some.

Exactly what I was going to say.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by taustin

It's hard to imagine that I'll ever be buying a book in which the various editing and publishing functions have been "farmed out," and if I ever do, it's hard to imagine I won't regret it. Even writers with a proven sales history need editors (and if you don't believe me, read the later work of any super famous author, after they got too big to edit), and it's not a trivial job. The publisher invests as much time in a manuscript as the author does. Really. If Amazon doens't do that, with an experienced, well trained, dedicated editorial staff, their product will suck, and die a quick, well deserved death.

It's possible they have a clue, and are planning on doing this right. But I have doubts, given their history of cluelessness is so many other areas.

Maybe they will have a team of editors on the payroll, I suppose it would depend on whether that was more cost effective than just hiring them on a job by job basis, but it wouldn't be essential to have them in-house.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by allinhi/

I think if you look at retailers who try to become content developers in creative fields, for the most part they have limited success. They tend to rely on research and what has sold in the past. 15 years ago paranormal books sold modestly. Trends bubble up, not down almost always. I suspect like music and movies they may have niches they dominate, but publishing in general I doubt it. If Amazon attempts to buy several publishing houses, that would concern me.

A lot of record shops in the late 70s set up their own record labels. Some of those are still going strong now.

[Xanthe]

Originally Posted by xg4bx

i've long questioned why someone like a stephen king or a laurell k hamilton still needs a publisher.

Hamilton still needs a publisher because she still needs their editorial services. - lol.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Xanthe

Hamilton still needs a publisher because she still needs their editorial services. - lol.

And King needs someone to cut out the fluff!

[afa]

Originally Posted by rhadin

It is very unlikely that Amazon will publish a book and then give Barnes & Noble, Sony, Apple, Books on Board, and other booksellers the right to sell the book in competition with Amazon.

I don't agree with that. At the end of the day, a business will do what is best for business. Every once in a while, that includes sleeping with the enemy.

I don't know if it's true anymore, but for a long time Samsung were providing the displays for Sony LCDs, even though they are technically their competitors. And, of course, the A4/A5 chips used in Apple's iOS devices are also provided by Samsung, even though they are competitors, as well. (This may change soon, of course, since their rivalry seems to be taking ever more vindictive turns.)

The idea that Amazon would not give competitors the right to sell their ebooks is a little naive. If and when Amazon has a fully operational publishing business, it will obviously make sense for that aspect of their business to have their books sold as widely as possible. If that means selling Amazon published ebooks via B&N or Kobo, they will do so. And, of course, they will make money of such transactions.

They know that their own Kindle store is the most popular store out there; what better way to rub salt in their competitor's wounds than by not only outselling them, but also by having them give Amazon money for selling ebooks? It's just good business.

[xg4bx]

Originally Posted by Xanthe

Hamilton still needs a publisher because she still needs their editorial services. - lol.

i think she has no editorial oversight as a clause in her contract. based on the reviews of her last dozen books she may want to reconsider

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That generally happens when a book has different US and UK publishers - a very common situation.

Absolutely.

I was referring specifically to Amazon published material. No separate publishers for US and UK. They may be pricing according to local market conditions. And to help promote the Kindle.

To the US consumer I'm not convinced it's better than traditional publisher.