Amazon offers indie authors reward for going exclusive

[ProfCrash]

It is not harsh. If other bookstores sold things in Moni I would look there. Call me lazy, I know how to remove DRM and convert but why bother if I can skip the step.

Mind you, I download and strip the DRM off of all my Amazon books. I just don't load those ones onto my Kindle. I use the books stored in the cloud because it is easier.

[ScalyFreak]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

I would happily move from Amazon to another website if prices were competitive and there was no DRM.

Omnilit and their division AllRomanceeBooks sell DRM-free Kindle formats. So does Smashwords, and most eBook publishers sell direct. Samhain Publishing sell without DRM, I don't know about any of the others since I haven't tried to buy from them and thus have not had a need to contact them and ask about it.

There are lots of alternative sources for eBooks, but sometimes it takes time and effort to find them.

[ProfCrash]

They don't sell the books I buy. I tend to buy books sold by the major publishers. I only buy Independent authors when they come highly recommended and I rearely read romance. (shrugs)

What I need is an alternative site that sells DRM free books in Mobi from the major publishers. That is what I tend to read and that is what my Mom reads. Without that, I have Amazon because I don't have to do anything to read those books or EPUB bookstores that sell the books for the same price as Amazon that I have to strip and then convert to put on my e-reader.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

They don't sell the books I buy. I tend to buy books sold by the major publishers. I only buy Independent authors when they come highly recommended and I rearely read romance. (shrugs)

Which is fine, but it does mean that -- for reasons and choices that are entirely, 100% yours to evaluate and make -- you're not helping towards the "encourage indies not to be Amazon exclusive" problem.

So it sort of comes down (in my mind) to either: Worry and proactively help to fix it, or don't worry.

Because the alternative is "worry and don't proactively try to fix it" and that sounds unpleasant.

[ScalyFreak]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

What I need is an alternative site that sells DRM free books in Mobi from the major publishers.

Wouldn't Amazon charge them a fee for using their format? Can't the Kindle read ePub?

[ProfCrash]

The Kindle does not read EPub and the Nook/Sony/Kobo do not read Mobi.

I am not worried about the exclusivity problem. I don't read most of those books in the first place and I have a Kindle so it is not a problem for me. I value competition and I see it as BN/Kobo/Sony to be the ones making things competitive. If they are not willing to do so, why should I do their job for them?

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

The Kindle does not read EPub and the Nook/Sony/Kobo do not read Mobi.

Actually, the Kobo Touch does read Mobi, as long as it's DRM-free (see their official tech specs here). But according to some posters in the Kobo forum, it does so rather badly, which is unsurprising since Mobi is an undocumented proprietary format which everyone else has had to reverse-engineer.

[JSWolf]

What would be good for all is if the publishers decided to go ePub only and didn't sell to anyone not using ePub. It's a lot easier (IMHO) to force Amazon to go ePub then it is to get everyone else to go Mobi. But if the publishers insist on DRM, then let them insist on adept DRM only. The publishers could go a long way to making things more even since the big 6 seem to be against Amazon. By forcing Amazon to go ePub, that evens the playing field which is what Agency pricing is supposed to do.

[ProfCrash]

ummmm Yeah that would work. (rolls her eyes)

Amazon dominates the US market. I read a report in the Guardian that said 75% of all e-readers in the UK were Kindles.

So why would the Publishers want to piss off the supplier of the vast majority of their e-books?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

ummmm Yeah that would work. (rolls her eyes)

Amazon dominates the US market. I read a report in the Guardian that said 75% of all e-readers in the UK were Kindles.

So why would the Publishers want to piss off the supplier of the vast majority of their e-books?

Two reasons.. One, if Amazon isn't selling the eBook, the hardcover may sell better and by forcing Amazon to go ePub, it means publishers only having to make one format and thus, more profit.

[ProfCrash]

Because it costs them so much to convert?

Or they could sell only using Amazons format, which is more widely read then EPub. Same effect without pissing off the largest e-book store in the world with the largest market share.

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by rhadin

The one question that is always avoided in these discussions, probably because it is speculative and because indie authors mostly want to believe it will not matter, is this: What will Amazon do once it has a monopoly of the ebook market?

This is not a question that is always avoided. This is a question that is always brought up. And the fact is that low price retailers that get a dominant position in an area through low prices don't jack up their prices. They just don't. Wal-mart didn't. Borders and B&N didn't. Best Buy didn't...and neither did any of the other Big Box retailers. And Amazon won't either, for at least three reasons: (1) there is always some competition; (2) books are a leisure activity, and people can always choose to do another activity if this one is too expensive; and (3) raising prices invites more competition, and the barriers to entry for an online retailer aren't that high.

(An exception to the not jacking up prices principle might be gas stations, since individuals can't really substitute anything for gasoline.)

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

By forcing Amazon to go ePub, that evens the playing field which is what Agency pricing is supposed to do.

If you even the playing field, the strongest player will win. And making it so that everyone who now has an epub reader could shop at Amazon would not exactly harm Amazon or strengthen the publisher's position vis-a-vis Amazon.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

This is not a question that is always avoided. This is a question that is always brought up. And the fact is that low price retailers that get a dominant position in an area through low prices don't jack up their prices. They just don't. Wal-mart didn't. Borders and B&N didn't. Best Buy didn't...and neither did any of the other Big Box retailers. And Amazon won't either, for at least three reasons: (1) there is always some competition; (2) books are a leisure activity, and people can always choose to do another activity if this one is too expensive; and (3) raising prices invites more competition, and the barriers to entry for an online retailer aren't that high.

Borders went out of business.
B&N is in a critical financial position.
Best Buy is having serious financial issues and closing stores with layoffs.
They may not have raised prices because they weren't in a dominant position or they should have raised prices to take advantage of their dominance.
Walmart does have some competition (Kmart, Target, dollar stores) which may keep prices stable. However, instead of raising prices they demand further wholesale discounts further stabilizing retail prices.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Someone will figure out how to build a decent e-book bookstore to compete with Amazon. There is money to be made in this industry and a smart person or group of people will figure out how to make a more main stream website that sells books in Mobi and E-Pub at competitive prices.

Unlikely. Amazon doesn't compete "fairly" in the sense that Amazon is willing and able to have profits made from the sale of TVs and DVD players, for example, subsidize the book division. Someone who came along to build a bookstore couldn't do that.

In addition, the idea that there will always be someone willing to take on Amazon nationally is flawed because it ignores the realities of business building and financing.

Once Amazon has a monopoly, it will be free to raise prices and make a generous profit. XYZ sees an opportunity to underprice Amazon and so wants to build a new national bookstore. Amazon fights back by lowering its prices again, forcing XYZ out of business, and then raises its prices again. The only way to prevent such a scenario would be with Department of Justice intervention, as was done with IBM and Microsoft.

Also consider this. To build a business competitive to Amazon cannot be done in 24 hours; it would take years. How many of us really believe that Amazon would give such a competitor a free ride for years. And where would the competitor get the necessary financing to build an infrastructure to compete with Amazon's already-in-existence infrastructure? Venture capitalists would be unlikely to see any possibility of success in the absence of DOJ intervention and so would be unlikely to invest the billions of dollars necessary to give a shot at success.

As long as Amazon is in a position to subsidize losses in its book division, there is no chance that a new competitor could succeed in the United States. After all, the draw to a new competitor would have to be price, which would have to be a price lower than Amazon's price, yet Amazon has demonstrated a willingness to lose money on books for years in order to dominate the market.

Thinking that a new competitor could come along and immediately challenge Amazon is pie-in-the-sky dreaming.