UK Ebook startup calls on publishers to "do a Pottermore"

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

Authors have the product, publishers are middlemen.
They have grown too powerful, and are being dis-intermediated as we speak.

To the extent that they share risk by financing authors through advances and provide various services that help authors bring their books to market, they aren't middlemen: they are investors and co-creators.
The idea that publishers are purely middlemen is that best a misunderstanding and at worst an idealogical stance not based in fact.

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Would you want to go to six different physical bookstores to find a paper book? What if they were in different parts of town and you had to get in your car six different times and drive to six different locations. And have to use six different credit cards to buy your book.

It is a stupid model.

If I don't know what I want to read, I have to browse six different stores?

No thanks.

Honestly, the idea that browsing six electronic bookstores is the same as browsing six physical bookstores is just wrong. Give that up.
Whether the publishers can minimize Amazon's dominance by creating alternate sales channels and models is uncertain. I'm certain they'll keep trying and the Pottermore model is one option- and a reasonably consumer-friendly one if you are not exclusively an Amazon customer.

[BeccaPrice]

I would really resist having to go to six - or more - publisher-owned stores, trying to remember whether Nora Roberts is published by Penguin or Putnam or whoever... but my bet is that the minute the publishers go to "buy from us or no one" kind of thing, somebody will develop an aggregator to restore one-stop shopping.

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by BeccaPrice

I would really resist having to go to six - or more - publisher-owned stores, trying to remember whether Nora Roberts is published by Penguin or Putnam or whoever... but my bet is that the minute the publishers go to "buy from us or no one" kind of thing, somebody will develop an aggregator to restore one-stop shopping.

As I've pointed out, publishers might just do one megasite with one login. There are a lot of ways to do this other than one publishing house, one website.

[ProfCrash]

Originally Posted by stonetools

Honestly, the idea that browsing six electronic bookstores is the same as browsing six physical bookstores is just wrong. Give that up.
Whether the publishers can minimize Amazon's dominance by creating alternate sales channels and models is uncertain. I'm certain they'll keep trying and the Pottermore model is one option- and a reasonably consumer-friendly one if you are not exclusively an Amazon customer.

No it is not. I want to go to one store and browse and find what I want to find in one spot. I don't want to have 6 browsers open to compare and contrast books.

Just because you do not like Amazon, and apparently BN, Kobo, Sony, Waterstones or any other e-book store out there, does not mean that most people find them convienent and sensible. Most e-reader users buy their books from the eco-system their book is tied to. Make it hard for people to find books, and I consider having to browse 6 websites and have 6 log ins, and have 6 different accounts hard, and people will stop using their e-readers.

The solution to the Publishers problems is not to make my life harder by adding a Publisher website or, worse, 6 publishers web sites. The solution to the publishers problems is to pull their heads out of their asses and realize that they are not going to make the same margins on an e-book as they do a hardback book and to change their model to reflect that. Cut back on the advances, pay better royalties to the authors instead, and look at new forms of marketing. Better yet, improve competition among the bookstores by removing DRM and allowing the bookstores to, oh say, compete. Let me decide if BN sells DRM Free Mobis in bundles that make me want to shop there instead of Amazon.

Agency pricing is not helping competition, it is just tying people to the various eco-systems that exist. Amazon is winning that war in many a country, not just the US, because it is easy to use, easy to shop, and has good customer service. BN, Kobo, Sony, Waterstones and the like can either raise their game and attract more customers or they will become marginal players.

[stonetools]

No it is not. I want to go to one store and browse and find what I want to find in one spot. I don't want to have 6 browsers open to compare and contrast books.

Just because you do not like Amazon, and apparently BN, Kobo, Sony, Waterstones or any other e-book store out there, does not mean that most people find them convienent and sensible. Most e-reader users buy their books from the eco-system their book is tied to. Make it hard for people to find books, and I consider having to browse 6 websites and have 6 log ins, and have 6 different accounts hard, and people will stop using their e-readers.

Er, as I have pointed out, multiple logins and visiting multiple websites aren't necessary. That's a strawman. Even so, lots of people shop multiple ebook stores now. I've purchased from BN, Amazon, Kobo and iBooks this month. If you are not an exclusively Amazon customer, you welcome choice .

Cut back on the advances, pay better royalties to the authors instead

Advances ARE royalties . As for the rest, the publisher's job is to maximize revenues for themselves and their authors. One way is to encourage a diversity of retailers ( Agency pricing was an attempt to do that).
Another way may be to disintermediate the retailers altogether and sell direct to consumers (Pottermore is one way of how to do that. There are others). That, btw, IS a new marketing model-just not one you approve of. And it does include going DRM free or DRM "light".

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Would you want to go to six different physical bookstores to find a paper book? (snip) If I don't know what I want to read, I have to browse six different stores?

Been there, done that. You see, I buy a lot of used books from places that don't even have a catalogue. I can see why people wouldn't want to do that, though I personally find it kinda fun.

Switch to the online world though, and the desire to avoid shopping around is pure laziness. For one thing, it takes 1 minutes to get to another store (not 15 minutes) and it takes 10 minutes to browse the section that interests you (not 1 hour). Shopping from multiple vendors also keeps the ones that you prefer honest since maximizing revenues and minimizing expenses only works if your customers don't walk away.

Oh, and if multiple vendors are really too much trouble for book buyers, there are aggregators.

[MikeB1972]

As far as I remember the publishers used to sell direct until the agency deal (I'm guessing most favoured nation meant they couldn't sell direct anymore), certainly harper collins used to have a store, random house uk still does (rbooks.co.uk).

I doubt they will stop selling at the bookstores/amazon, but putting their own stores back seems quite likely - especially as they can now undercut other stores if they want.

[MikeB1972]

Also, lots of people here already use multiple publishers sites (Baen, Angry Robot, Ridan, Crossroad etc) as well as multiple sites for big 6 books.

[stonetools]

Just to suggest another model, try this:

1. The publishers through a joint venture, create a search engine like Inkmesh.com ( or even just buy Inkmesh)
2. Add to it a recommendation engine (" Like Jack Reacher? Try this").
3. Build that as the front end to publisher sites. Once you log into that search site, you can buy direct with one click.
4. You can download that book to any reading device,. Maybe there's light DRM (watermark, etc) or no DRM.

Possible?

[JoeD]

I don't think multiple stores will be all that big a problem. Publishers will still want to provide their books via Amazon and other one-stop shops too due to already established customer bases. Having their own store will just give them wiggle room when it comes to future negotiations, especially if they can grow their own direct sales base sufficiently.

As for multiple logins, yes it's a pain the first time you setup at each store, I already shop at Amazon, Baen and more recently Kobobooks. Once you're setup though it's not all that much of a problem. In fact, multiple logins isn't an issue, it's more having to setup everything that the DRM required that bugged me the most.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by stonetools

Just to suggest another model, try this:

1. The publishers through a joint venture, create a search engine like Inkmesh.com ( or even just buy Inkmesh)
2. Add to it a recommendation engine (" Like Jack Reacher? Try this").
3. Build that as the front end to publisher sites. Once you log into that search site, you can buy direct with one click.
4. You can download that book to any reading device,. Maybe there's light DRM (watermark, etc) or no DRM.

5. Get sued again.

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

5. Get sued again.

Doubtful.Publishers can engage in all kinds of joint ventures, so long as they don't collude on prices.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by stonetools

Doubtful.Publishers can engage in all kinds of joint ventures, so long as they don't collude on prices.

There are all sorts of things they can't do, not just collude on prices.

[stonetools]

In a post provocatively called "Disintermediatiing Amazon", another call for publishers to sell direct, with some hope for B&M book stores:

Yet Amazon, which has so neatly disintermediated physical bookstores and intimidated publishers, may carry within itself the formula for its own destruction. The one great service it provides is a comfortingly familiar Web site, a Web site that just a few years ago was unknown. And despite all its cash, its forays into publishing seem doomed, thanks to the hatred it engenders among rival stores and sites; it is likely that the fate of its publishing efforts will mirror that of Barnes & Noble’s. What is it selling? Its ability to sell. What if publishers were to sell e-books and print books direct, straight to consumers—and consumers were to get used to the idea of buying direct? Suddenly one can imagine Amazon becoming an anachronism, joining the lengthy list of publishing’s dying or extinct species.

At OR Books, which specializes in nonreturnable, prepaid sales straight to the consumer, we’ve found that, with some effort and increasing success, it’s possible to persuade readers to sidestep the still-young tradition of heading straight to Amazon for purchases. Such a prospect needn’t spell disaster for physical stores, either. Counterintuitively, our growing experience with direct sales has led us to re-examine our bookstore connections.

By creating a buzz around a book online and fostering online communities of readers around each book, we create a small but reliable in-store demand as well.

LINK

Its important to realize that there are other players in book industry beyond the much derided "BPHs" or the dinosaur-like " B&M stores".There are independent publishers. Lots of these guys don't like Amazon either.

More importantly, this seems to open up a chance for the continuing relevance of independent book stores as well. Thoughts?