“We’re in Amazon’s Sights and They’re Going to Kill Us”

[morriss003]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

When you can see a slow-moving freight train coming at you from miles distant, perhaps you should come up with a plan that includes contingencies other than sitting down in the middle of the tracks and weeping.

"The higher you go up in an organization, the more computer illiteracy you find."Stan Morris

There was absolutely no reason why the big publishing houses could not have created their own digital content and their own digital website long before Amazon was a blip on the radar.

[ProfCrash]

Heck there is no reason that they don't do it now and offer deals that are only available at their websites. Bundles for series, discounts if you buy a certain number of books. It really wouldn't be that challenging.

[FizzyWater]

When I read the headline I couldn't help roll my eyes and think of Chicken Little.

But it's been great fun reading all the comments.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Heck there is no reason that they don't do it now and offer deals that are only available at their websites. Bundles for series, discounts if you buy a certain number of books. It really wouldn't be that challenging.

Of course they're bound to Agency pricing agreements just like everyone else, so they'd have to drop that to offer specials like you mention. At least the discounts (or they'd have to let the competition do it too). I suppose they could offer bundles and not offer them though any retailers, but they'd have to offer them DRM free for it to really work well.

[robko]

+1 to most of the threads on this.

The part I found most interesting is that he said if they went digital they would need to lay off 40% of their staff. And e-books cost so much more why??

[=X=]

great article..

[ProfCrash]

It might be that they won't need as much staff in order to do the work. Formatting for an e-book is different than formatting for a hardback or paperback. Maybe they think there would be less marketing.

I don't think the numbers would be that high but I could see folks being laid off. I think once they did it and the number of e-books increased they would be able to hire more folks. Especially if they opened some specialty lines. An author could come to them for editing and proof reading help for e-books only. If things go well, than they could offer a paper book contract. That might help them attract the Independent Authors, help improve those books, sign them to a specialty label so people know that there is a difference between the main branch and the e-book branch. Move the best into the main branch.

It would cut back on their recruiting issues and help them find new authors.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by cjr72

We've seen this movie before in other industries, most recently Kodak in the face of digital photography. When there's technological upheaval in an industry the established players would rather dig in their heels and close their eyes to reality . . . .

Kodak largely invented digital photography (although others would have it they had not). Kodak sold a lot of digital cameras, even though other companies were traditionally stronger in the camera business. There is nothing they could do about the fact that digital cameras don't needed film and developing.

Digital cameras are closer to film cameras than film and developing are to computers. That's why a company like Nikon could transition to digital a bit easier than Kodak (although Nikon closed its Japanese factories just like Kodak closed theirs in New York State).

Eyes open to reality does not mean you can save your company. It may just mean you can see the disaster coming sooner.

One way the popular music industry has adjusted to low prices for recorded music is to charge much more for live performances. This is not just for concert musicians. A broadway musical ticket today can cost dozens of times more than an Amazon MP6 album download! I guess the equivalent for authors would be selling tie-in gear and going on lecture tours, but I think potential there is much less than it was for music.

[sabredog]

One word to the agency publishers...

EVOLVE

We all know what happened to the Dodo.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

One way the popular music industry has adjusted to low prices for recorded music is to charge much more for live performances. This is not just for concert musicians. A broadway musical ticket today can cost dozens of times more than an Amazon MP6 album download! I guess the equivalent for authors would be selling tie-in gear and going on lecture tours, but I think potential there is much less than it was for music.

I would say appearances at genre conventions (with photo ops, writers workshops, and Q&A sessions) is the closest equivelent. I met John Steakley and C J Cherryh at conventions before reading either of them.

[caleb72]

Personally - I'm thinking it's time for a change anyway.

I don't really think Amazon is going to take over the world of publishing. In the digital world, no matter how big the biggest player is, there's always room for innovators.

At this stage, it doesn't look like it's going to be the existing big publishers, although you never know if the urge for survival is going to eventually breed a new approach.

[speakingtohe]

I think that ebook business models will evolve when established authors decide that they can make more money with a different model and care enough to make the effort.

Publishers are only as profitable as their client list permits them to be and the money seems to be in popular prolific authors.

While it is the choice of these authors to support whatever the publisher decides, things will change slowly. And I admire an author who is loyal to the company that got them started and/or helped them to achieve fame and monetary security.

Still, I think eventually decisions will be made that will change the way ebooks are sold and that the most significant will be author driven. Contracts will expire, and authors will experiment.

Not too likely to happen overnight though.

Helen

[rkomar]

I'm not a "Big Publisher" fan, but I can sympathize with them. I assume that the people employed there are generally into literature, and want to play their part in bringing more into the world. Scanning their backlists and re-publishing them as e-books doesn't require anyone with literary sense. You need a cheap scanner and converter, a proofreader, maybe an artist for the cover, and a manager or two. Plus some scripts for creating the actual files. The literary work was done when the book was first published. I'm sure these people want to work on their dreams, and are digging in their heels over dropping what they love to do and replacing it with assembly-line work. So, the backlists aren't a priority for those currently in the biz.

The problem I see is that, if the backlists become a priority as many here want, many of those who specialize in creating new books will gone. Sooner or later, their loss will have an impact on our developing culture.

[speakingtohe]

I fail to see that backlist titles will a significant impact on newer titles. It is a specialized market, geared towards the older set or a connoisseur of the author/genre in question.

I agree that the costs are insignificant to reproduce a backlist book as the publisher may already own copyright but the proofreading etc. is often more difficult.

I love backlist titles of authors I have read in the past and missed a few, but my mother wants the latest author/title more often than not.

Helen

[wizwor]

Two threads about Big Bad Amazon. In the first, Prime is villified as a scheme to create customer loyalty and here we have publishers crying foul about having a little competition. In real life, Amazon is adding thousands of titles to Prime without raising prices while Netflix is doubling prices for its best customers. In real life, Amazon offers free books and games that run on an inexpensive tablet while the 'real' publishers are wining and dining the keepers of the NYT best sellers list. If you listen to Jeff Bezos, it's easy to see that he values something the others do not -- his customers...

• "If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful."

When I was in Walmart Sunday to pick up my fourth Fire, I was talking to a guy in line to get his first. A woman standing nearby decided to get one too. Monday, a guy who bought a Fire after using mine told me his mother got one Sunday.

• "We have so many customers who treat us so well, and we have the right kind of culture that obsesses over the customer."

Amazon has personally responded to each support email I've submitted. They refunded purchases while I was trying to secure my Fire against accidental purchases. They have updated the Fire three times since launch. I've heard they have replaced Fires for people who have physically damaged the hardware (aka sat on) and bricked the device after sideloading unapproved apps.

• "We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better."

Every morning I get a free app for my Fire. Some are good. Lots of free books. I like that I can read some of a book before choosing to buy then get a refund if I decide the purchase was a mistake. Prime keeps adding titles even though the videos are a bonus for people who subscribe to a free shipping program.

• "We watch our competitors, learn from them, see the things that they were doing for customers and copy those things as much as we can."

Price matching, user reviews, recommended for you, free shipping, Prime...

BTW, Amazon pays app developers when their app is the free app of the day.