WSJ: E-Book Sales Fall After New Amazon Contracts

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Amazon is working on this, at least for Indies (tradpub hates POD ).

Most trad pubs I can think of already use POD as part of their business model. Not sure why you think they hate it.

[MikeB1972]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

It will make them read *your* ten books, rather than your competitor's books.

Which works for indies, but for BWM they are often their own competitors, especially for any genre readers that like a publisher imprint and stick with it (Baen, Harlequin etc)

Originally Posted by eschwartz

If dropping the price doesn't net you more sales, than maximizing revenue means raising the price. The point is not to focus on keeping the price high to offset per-book distribution costs.

Agreed, which could be what they are doing, raising the price and keeping the price high are pretty indistinguishable from a buyers point of view.

Essentially as the ebook market currently stands and the way things are trending it looks particularly grim for the BPH.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I was told there would be no math.

You call that math?

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by MikeB1972

Which works for indies, but for BWM they are often their own competitors, especially for any genre readers that like a publisher imprint and stick with it (Baen, Harlequin etc)


Agreed, which could be what they are doing, raising the price and keeping the price high are pretty indistinguishable from a buyers point of view.

Essentially as the ebook market currently stands and the way things are trending it looks particularly grim for the BPH.

There is a difference between rock-bottom prices where you can squeeze out a few more $$ through undercutting a competitor (unless that is you too), versus keeping prices high at a price point that discourages casual buying. They might decide to only read 9 books that year!

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by MikeB1972

Perhaps, I thought that it was still cheaper to bulk print and ship rather than POD at the current quantities? I could very easily be wrong of course.

There is more to pbook costs than just bulk printing and shipping.
Bulk printed Pbooks have an entire life cycle worth of cost to cover that POD doesn't have. (With the understanding that POD is more than just the Espresso machines.)

POD ala CreateSpace/Lightning Source is cost-competitive enough with bulk printing to be effective for lower volume sellers. Say, midlisters.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

There is a difference between rock-bottom prices where you can squeeze out a few more $$ through undercutting a competitor (unless that is you too), versus keeping prices high at a price point that discourages casual buying. They might decide to only read 9 books that year!

Or buy Fallout 4 and read nothing until they finish it.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Or buy Fallout 4 and read nothing until they finish it.

Well, yes. That too.


I was just pointing out even from an optimistic standpoint of "people will still buy books", it isn't exactly a winning scenario.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Well, yes. That too.


I was just pointing out even from an optimistic standpoint of "people will still buy books", it isn't exactly a winning scenario.

Nope.
It's head in the sand-ing.

It's a circa 1990 GM Exec saying "The best $10,000 GM car is a three year old Buick."

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

65% vs 30% is an odd and ridiculous split.

Overall there will be less money, but the vendor is giving you a disproportionate amount of the pie in scenario #1.

Actually that is what almost every self-published author or small publisher gives Amazon.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by MikeB1972

(and most subscription users only use the subscription to save money - Gym users being the obvious exception).

Gym users still do it to save money. And they only pay a flat fee per month if they use the gym multiple times a week. If you only go swimming (in the gyms that have an indoor pool) once a week it is cheaper to pay the at the gate single time admission for non-subscribers each week.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by darryl

Rubbish. I wonder if Joe Konrath is going to expose this old chestnut as a Zombie Meme. Perhaps it is true of you, and no doubt you are not entirely alone. But for most people the opposite is true. "Best Sellers" are replaceable by other tradpub books. They are replaceable by Indie Books. And they are replaceable by and competing with other forms of entertainment. Even more so among your hypothetical two books per year people, many of whom would probably much rather see the movie in any event.

Bullshit. What evidence do you have for this very strange opinion?

[tompe]

Originally Posted by rkomar

People buy the big best sellers to be part of a large social event. They want to have read that book that everybody else has read, and feel part of the moment. It's a herd instinct. If there was no hot book of the moment, they wouldn't go and buy some other book. They don't need some other book, just the herd experience. That's what drives the masses who only buy one book every year or two.

Exactly. Strange that people here do not seem to understand this.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by tompe

Bullshit. What evidence do you have for this very strange opinion?

It is visibility. I never ever see BPH book advertisement, because I don't look for them. I have to go out of my way to see which books are "hot" with scams like NYT bestseller lists.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

It is visibility. I never ever see BPH book advertisement, because I don't look for them. I have to go out of my way to see which books are "hot" with scams like NYT bestseller lists.

Or even harder find Amazon's best sellers list.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Or even harder find Amazon's best sellers list.

Doubt it. Maybe to get the numbered list, but searches itself priotize bestsellers first. Amazon even conveniently let you see "what customers also bought" - and not just for books. It will be a cold day in hell when I run out of good books to read in KU. But but there is more junk in KU. Don't start with that argument - there is just as much junk with the BPH.