A Monopoly is Not Necessarily Bad

[taustin]

Originally Posted by Shack70

I don't disagree with you but I think the worry is that Amazon will eventually be the only game in town.

That simply cannot happen in a world where a homeless bum, literally, could use a free computer at a library, write a novel, put up a free web site to offer it for sale, and sell an unlimited number of copies.

Anybody can be a publisher these days. Literally, anybody, with virtually no startup costs.

[taustin]

Originally Posted by LuvReadin

I can't think of a single situation in which a monopoly is a good thing - for the consumer, at any rate.

The traditional example is a utility, like an electric company, back in the days when they were still tightly regulated. When the goods/service are extremely important, like societal infrastructure, anything that interferes with the delivery of it can be bad.

[taustin]

Originally Posted by HarryT

ePub is also a "binary format", Jon. Try to open an ePub file in "Notepad" and you won't get very far .

Actually, once you decompress it, you can open it in notepad.

[taustin]

Originally Posted by Sydney's Mom

I read big musicians now have to tour to make money (Michael Jackson).

Michael Jackson is still touring?

[taustin]

Originally Posted by LuvReadin

I agree - it's probably never been easier to open up a retail business than it is now. But I'd be interested to know why you chose those sellers over Amazon.

There are usually three main influencing factors on people's decision to buy: availability, price and customer service. Obviously, we can discount the first - if one stocks it and the other doesn't, the comparison is meaningless.

If the comparison is meaningless, then Amazon is not, be definition, a monoply controlling the industry to the detriment of the consumer, and this whole discussion is pointless.

(And this whole discussion is pointless, since the moment that comparison is meaningful, a thousand independent publishers will crop up and start eating in to Amazon's market.)

[taustin]

Originally Posted by andreabc

Just wanted to link to an article that I read the other day that mentioned that opening an ebook store is probably not that simple (or cheap) because of DRM.

paidContent - DRM is crushing indie booksellers online

I've been an independent book seller (was one of the first, back in about 95 or so), and this is a crock. This is someone who is more interested in pursuing a proven failure of a business model instead of finding a way to make it work.

The distinction between book retailer and publisher has largely disappeared, especially in the independent market. Big publishers don't want you to sell their stuff? Then approach authors directly and cut out the middle man. A lot of well known authors have a back catalog that's out of print they'd love to get back out there making money, and there's always, always, always unknowns looking for a chance.

The problem is that they don't want to sell books online, they want to sell specific books by big publishers online. It's the wrong business model, and doomed to failure. Never compete with a huge company on their own turf. You're guaranteed to lose that way.

[LuvReadin]

But that's my point - the comparison isn't valid in that case. They stock it, Amazon doesn't, hence Amazon isn't their competitor. If Amazon decided tomorrow to stock the same range of jewellery or wool, those shops would be in real trouble.

The internet really is no different from your average high street, apart from the fact that the barriers to entry (i.e. start-up costs, suitable location) are lower or non-existent. However, once the business is in that virtual high street, the same principles apply. The businesses least likely to do well are the ones competing directly with a larger competitor to sell widely available goods (small corner shop vs big supermarket), and the ones most likely to do well are the ones selling specialist or high-value items (antiques, crafts, designer goods). Given that the majority of consumers will spend the majority of their money on goods that fall into the first category rather than the second means that lack of competition is ultimately a really bad thing for everyone. It's one of the big reasons (among others such as crop failure and speculation) why food and fuel, for example, have risen dramatically in the past decade, far outstripping the rate of inflation - there simply are too few players left for their to be any meaningful competition.

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by Namekuseijin

"Even if Amazon had 99% of the market in ebooks, anyone could open up an ebook store at minimal cost."

they sell public domain ebooks usually at the 10 bucks price range. That's clearly not minimal cost. Ebooks will eventually sell full-price as a pbook. How will you know it's alright when they are the only game in town?

All monopolies suck real bad. They are only acceptable when you live in an Idiocracy.

I guess Baen is a figment of my imagination. Because I seem to be able to buy new ebook editions from them for about $6. Yes they sell nothing but SF/Fantasy, but they seem to be doing alright within the Amazon hegemony

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

I guess Baen is a figment of my imagination. Because I seem to be able to buy new ebook editions from them for about $6. Yes they sell nothing but SF/Fantasy, but they seem to be doing alright within the Amazon hegemony

This is true...but isn't Baen selling their own wares? It's no different than if Tor was selling it's own books.

[LuvReadin]

Originally Posted by taustin

If the comparison is meaningless, then Amazon is not, be definition, a monoply controlling the industry to the detriment of the consumer, and this whole discussion is pointless.

No, you're missing the point - a monopoly does not have to control every single aspect of an 'industry' to be a monopoly; it merely needs to control the part of it in which it is the strongest (and eventually only) member. It's also partly down to how wide the definition of an 'industry' is. A chocolate manufacturer doesn't have to control the entire food industry in order to have an adverse effect on the price of chocolate bars - it merely has to control the chocolate part of it.

Originally Posted by taustin

(And this whole discussion is pointless, since the moment that comparison is meaningful, a thousand independent publishers will crop up and start eating in to Amazon's market.)

Again, you're comparing oranges with apples. For those thousand publishers to be in direct competition with Amazon, they would have to stock the same products, and in that case, Amazon would win because of its buying power. Where those publishers might win is if they publish books for a niche market that is too small for Amazon to bother with (or, as with the example of Baen above, that has very specific needs). That doesn't mean that Amazon hasn't got a monopoly on book sales - if it controls enough of the market that it can by itself affect the price of the books it does sell, then it's a monopoly.

[Phogg]

Dictatorship is not necessarily bad.
Imprisonment without trial is not necessarily bad.
Yes, just about everything is not neccesarily bad.
Even cannibalism is sometimes the only way for there to be any survivors.

I tell you what though.
These things function best if all the power is invested in me.
I have others' interests fully to heart.

I am sure you all have the integrity to acknowledge this truth.

Where are Aprilhare and poohbear?

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by MrsJoseph

This is true...but isn't Baen selling their own wares? It's no different than if Tor was selling it's own books.

Well, yes they do, along with other small publishers (Ace, Bantam Spectra, Blind Sided Books, Del Rey, E-Reads, Ford Street Publishing, Gallery, Night Shade Books, Schlock Mercenary, SRM Publisher, Yard Dog Press - They appear to have sold Tor Books - there's a book listing but nothing seems to be for sale). Sounds to me like other publishers could do the same if they wanted to and Amazon gained too much control.

[GreenMonkey]

A monopoly is like a monarchy or even a dictatorship.

It can be benevolent and bring benefits to the people.

But it never stays that way forever. A few leadership changes and it is likely to be exploiting the people instead.

If there was no DRM there would be less reason for Amazon to sell books under cost - it wouldn't guarantee Kindle sales like it did in the beginning.

Now they are almost doing the opposite - selling the devices for cheap to get people to buy books. But it didn't start out that way.

[JD Gumby]

Originally Posted by HarryT

ePub is also a "binary format", Jon. Try to open an ePub file in "Notepad" and you won't get very far .

Not quite. ePub is just a renamed ZIP archive with, mostly, HTML & CSS files in it (plus a JPeG for the cover, usually, maybe an XML file or two, and a few miscellaneous files depending on where you got it from, like an iTunesMetadata.plist). Rename it to .zip instead of .epub and you can easily open it with a double-click to see the goodies inside.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by JD Gumby

Not quite. ePub is just a renamed ZIP archive with, mostly, HTML & CSS files in it (plus a JPeG for the cover, usually, maybe an XML file or two, and a few miscellaneous files depending on where you got it from, like an iTunesMetadata.plist). Rename it to .zip instead of .epub and you can easily open it with a double-click to see the goodies inside.

It is a binary format that (absent DRM) is easy to unpack.