Kindle Books Outsell Hardcovers

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Ravensknight

Take THAT, publishers. Die already.
Yeah, I'm excited for this news :-D

Remember the story about the goose and the golden eggs?
______
Dennis

[Shaggy]

This is saying that kindle books are outselling hardback books... at Amazon. Not eBooks are outselling hardbacks in general.

Do we know how many hardback books Amazon actually offers vs how many kindle books? Does Amazon have a competitive price for their hardbacks, or do people just buy them elsewhere?

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

This is saying that kindle books are outselling hardback books... at Amazon. Not eBooks are outselling hardbacks in general.

Do we know how many hardback books Amazon actually offers vs how many kindle books? Does Amazon have a competitive price for their hardbacks, or do people just buy them elsewhere?

Or, to put it another way... what percentage of the eBook market does Amazon represent compared to what percentage of the hardback market does Amazon represent.

If the answer is "a lot" and "not much", then it's probably just stating the obvious that they will sell more eBooks than hardbacks. It doesn't really say much about the trend in general. I'm sure my local used bookstore sells a lot more hardbacks than they do eBooks.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

This is saying that kindle books are outselling hardback books... at Amazon. Not eBooks are outselling hardbacks in general.

Do we know how many hardback books Amazon actually offers vs how many kindle books? Does Amazon have a competitive price for their hardbacks, or do people just buy them elsewhere?

Actually the whole press release was pretty fascinating in how it was worded. I'm also curious about the timing-why 3 days *before* their earnings report, instead of as part of their earnings report?

[whitearrow]

But, except for the free uncopyrighted books, Kindle owners must buy or download content via Amazon. “Every time they sell a Kindle, they lock up a customer,” Mr. Shatzkin said.

Oh wow, really? So I can't actually read all those multiformat books I've bought from Fictionwise, or the unprotected .mobi that independent presses and small publishers sell?

::headdesk::

[Skydog]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

I'm unsurprised at the move to the agency pricing model - why should ebooks be different from paperbacks? And my scarce resource is time to read the books. Price is not the determining factor.
______
Dennis

Why? How about DRM and tied to a device? Until I have the freedom to share my ebooks as I did paperbacks, there is no way the same pricing can be justified.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

This is saying that kindle books are outselling hardback books... at Amazon. Not eBooks are outselling hardbacks in general.

Do we know how many hardback books Amazon actually offers vs how many kindle books? Does Amazon have a competitive price for their hardbacks, or do people just buy them elsewhere?

Amazon is the world's largest catalog retailer. If it exists in hardcover and can be sold in the market areas in which Amazon is active, it's a good bet they have the hardcover on any mass market title. (Specialty publications aimed at niche markets may be another matter.)

And since retailing competes in part on price, you can assume Amazon's price will be competitive. You may be able to find a better price elsewhere, such as a "loss leader" promotion by a book store, but in general, Amazon will be comparable to the rest of the market.

What Amazon really offers is convenience. It's a good bet they have the book, and you can place an order and have it shipped to you at any time. You are not constrained by business hours of brick and mortar retailers. (And if you have a Kindle or Kindle app on a supported connected platform, you can get the actual ebook at any time. Instant gratification...)

We don't know what part of the total ebook market Amazon comprises and we can't know, though it's a fair bet they are a major player.

But "We've sold half again as many ebooks as hardcovers" is too fuzzy to be meaningful, since they haven't offered actual numbers, just percentages. Should Amazon ever say "We've sold half again as many ebooks as we have all paper books, hardcover, trade paperback, and mass market paperbacks" it will be a different matter.
______
Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Skydog

Why? How about DRM and tied to a device? Until I have the freedom to share my ebooks as I did paperbacks, there is no way the same pricing can be justified.

Sure it can. If you have a paperback, you can share it to one person at a time. If they have it, you don't.

DRM is intended to prevent to prevent the ability inherent in electronic documents to share them with many people and still have a copy yourself. It's misguided and ultimately self-defeating, but it's attempting to address a real problem.

But the point I was making has little to do with DRM. Would you complain about pricing if DRM wasn't there?

Publishers make the most money on hardcover editions. They delay the paperback release to provide a sales window for hardcovers. They are requiring either a higher ebook price or a delay in offering the ebook edition for the same reason. They are trying to protect a revenue stream, because they want to stay in business.
______
Dennis

[Bremen Cole]

And don't forget that for the past 3 months Amazon has been pushing the Kindle app on the iPad. I know that I have bought more from Amazon since I have had my iPad then ever before. From the time of the Kindle launch, the Kindle was always featured on the front of the Amazon site. The first two months of the iPad launch, the Kindle was taken down, and instead was a push for their Kindle app for the iPad. They are marketing smart! With 3 million iPads in consumers hands the past 3 months, there was bound to be a surge. If iPad meets projections of 10 million by end of the year, Amazon should be in retail heaven

[kjk]

On a related note:
http://www.businessinsider.com/sorry...ressive-2010-7

According to Nielsen Bookscan, only 23% of total dead-tree book sales this year come from hardcover books. The rest are from paperback books. In other words, assuming Amazon's book business reflects the overall industry, Amazon is still probably selling twice as many paperback books as Kindle books.

[nyrath]

Well, this article says that the Kindle figures are deceptive.

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-18438_7-20011038-82.html

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Bremen Cole

And don't forget that for the past 3 months Amazon has been pushing the Kindle app on the iPad. I know that I have bought more from Amazon since I have had my iPad then ever before. From the time of the Kindle launch, the Kindle was always featured on the front of the Amazon site. The first two months of the iPad launch, the Kindle was taken down, and instead was a push for their Kindle app for the iPad. They are marketing smart! With 3 million iPads in consumers hands the past 3 months, there was bound to be a surge. If iPad meets projections of 10 million by end of the year, Amazon should be in retail heaven

Exactly. For Amazon, it's about selling you the ebooks.

There's a thread elsewhere on MR started by a poster who wants a $99 Kindle. That's nice for him, but what's in it for Amazon? It simply isn't possible for Amazon to make a Kindle at that price in current form. Dedicated reader devices like the Kindle, Sony Reader, and B&N Nook all use an eInk screen, and the eInk screen and controller account for about $80 of Amazon's manufacturing cost for each unit. Those prices will gradually come down, but not any time soon. There's no reason for Amazon to take a loss on a Kindle, or even reduce their margins to sell more devices. The Kindle served to prime the ebook pump, but the ebooks are the point.

eBooks are a natural for Amazon. They're the worlds largest catalog retailer, and the world's largest book retailer. They already had the infrastructure to display the catalog and take orders. It was relatively trivial to add the capacity to fulfill orders by letting you download the title after you had paid for it, and ebooks don't have warehousing and distribution costs.

Amazon has the reader app for the iPhone, the PC, and devices running Google's Android OS (like Motorola's popular Droid phone.) You can assume Amazon will make the Kindle app available for any connected device with a large enough number of sales that can do an effective job of actually displaying the books. Offhand, I'd bet a version of the app for Symbian (used by half the smartphones in the world) is a likely next addition. Amazon uses the Mobipocket format for ebooks, and Mobi has viewers available for PCs, Symbian, Palm OS, Windows Mobile, and Blackberry. Turning one into a Kindle app is probably a matter of changing the DRM scheme used.)
______
Dennis

[boswd]

Originally Posted by nyrath

Well, this article says that the Kindle figures are deceptive.

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-18438_7-20011038-82.html

Interesting take on it. It's the oldest trick in the book, you want publicity, create your own.

It does seem like a stunt to make sure people realize that Kindle is still here and the world doesn't revolve around Apple and Steve Jobs and with the new Nook wi fi and BN full court press of increasing their e-books and store, this is usually a good time to pull a publicity stunt.

[Bremen Cole]

@DMcCunney

I forgot about the new Android Kindle app.... when the waves of Android tablets hit over the next several months, Amazon is already there and ready to sell. Sony could have done it like Amazon has, but instead Sony is drying up and will soon blow away..... Amazon deserves their success, that are working to get the business!

[Maggie Leung]

Originally Posted by Bremen Cole

@DMcCunney

I forgot about the new Android Kindle app.... when the waves of Android tablets hit over the next several months, Amazon is already there and ready to sell. Sony could have done it like Amazon has, but instead Sony is drying up and will soon blow away..... Amazon deserves their success, that are working to get the business!

I don't get warm and fuzzy about any companies, but I respect the brains at Amazon. Of all e-book companies, they serve me best right now, so they get my money.