Who will fill the gap if B&N collapses

[darryl]

@pwalker8. Unfortunately you are correct about the tribal aspect. I myself freely admit my leanings on these issues. Whilst I recognise my bias and mostly try to be reasonable I'm aware that I don't always succeed. As previously indicated I do think that there will always be a place for publishers, though the old model is all but dead, and those who prosper will be those who adapt and innovate. But of course in a very competitive environment there is little room for quasi-philanthropy of the type you argue occurred frequently under the old model. I like Amazon, but I would still like to see significant competition in the ebook market. However, at the moment I simply see no sign of it happening.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by darryl

@pwalker8. Unfortunately you are correct about the tribal aspect. I myself freely admit my leanings on these issues. Whilst I recognise my bias and mostly try to be reasonable I'm aware that I don't always succeed. As previously indicated I do think that there will always be a place for publishers, though the old model is all but dead, and those who prosper will be those who adapt and innovate. But of course in a very competitive environment there is little room for quasi-philanthropy of the type you argue occurred frequently under the old model. I like Amazon, but I would still like to see significant competition in the ebook market. However, at the moment I simply see no sign of it happening.

I think that people have a tenancy to equate competition with cost and the race to the bottom, but that isn't necessarily so. Sure, there is a percentage of the population that is focused purely on price. However, quite a few companies have been very successful on focusing on quality and customer experience rather than being the cheapest. Companies like Apple and BMW to name two well known examples.

I suspect that over time, we will certainly have publishers who specialize in finding the best from the indie slush pile and publishing cheap books with a reasonable quality. But I think we will still be seeing publishers who successfully follow the older model of developing quality authors. There really is room for a lot of very different business models.

Where the quality model starts to fail is when the back office starts to pinch pennies. It's called penny wise and pound foolish. The other issue that the quality model has is when the decision makers don't correctly understand what their customers value. I think that someone like Jim Baen would still be a successful publisher now under the business model that he followed. He knew his audience, he knew what they wanted and he was willing to innovate.

I really don't see a race to the bottom with regards to ebook prices (or music prices for that matter). It seems to me that the market is dividing into those who want their media for free, or for a small set fee per month (think youtube and subscription mode streaming music like Pandora, Apple Music and Spotify) and those who are willing to pay to buy their favorite song or album. I don't think that ebooks will be any different.

As far as competition goes, I think there are a lot of possibilities. Apple has the platform and money that would let it expand if it wants to. Right now, I don't think that they want to. The two biggest hurdles for a major competitor in the ebook store arena are catalog and platform. They need to match Amazon's catalogue with regards to authors that readers care about. But that won't really move the needle. They will also need a platform that would give readers a reason to switch.

My thought is that better discoverablity would do the trick. Amazon has a number of issues that have been there for years and thus they are vulnerable. If I could do a search for Roger Zelazny and get a complete list of Roger Zelazny's books without a bunch of other authors that Amazon wants me to buy, that would be a huge improvement. Heck, they could even give a complete list of all Roger Zelazny's books, including those not currently available. They could do some of the things that Amazon promised but never really got around to implementing, such as notifying when a favored author has a new book, or a backlist book that is now available. Curated best new book lists. Really, there are so many things that could be done. You just have to think, what would I want as a customer.

It wouldn't work in a race to the bottom WalMart model where you push as much expense as you can to someone else, of course. I suspect that's a large reason that Amazon never really implemented much of it. The initial cost might be pretty high, but over time I think the costs would come down.

[darryl]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I think that people have a tenancy to equate competition with cost and the race to the bottom, but that isn't necessarily so. Sure, there is a percentage of the population that is focused purely on price. However, quite a few companies have been very successful on focusing on quality and customer experience rather than being the cheapest. Companies like Apple and BMW to name two well known examples.

I have little quarrel with this. Price is but one factor, albeit an important one, in competition. I do, however, take issue with the frequently used "race to the bottom" which Amazon's detractor's seem to use repeatedly. There is a tendency amongst some to equate this term with price competition. Price competition is not synonymous with a race to the bottom. The term "race to the bottom" is used disparagingly to convey a number of imputations which, at least with Amazon, don't stand up well to the light of day.

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I suspect that over time, we will certainly have publishers who specialize in finding the best from the indie slush pile and publishing cheap books with a reasonable quality. But I think we will still be seeing publishers who successfully follow the older model of developing quality authors. There really is room for a lot of very different business models.

Indie slush pile is again a term to be used with some care. The implication seems to be that all self-published authors are just waiting for a publisher to arrive like a knight in shining armour and take them away on the back of a white stallion. This is simply not the case. There are many self-published authors who make a far better living from self-publishing than they ever would have with traditional publishing, even had they been lucky enough to be published. Indie books are not some vast pile of unsolicited manuscripts. They are published works usually making their authors at least some money. I discussed some of this in my previous posts. Innovative publishers will likely compete for Indie authors. But they will need to offer real value. To stretch my previous analogy further than I intended, having rescued the fair maiden it will not be sufficient to simply carry her back to the bedchamber. We know what happens to her there. Such partnerships are far more equal in modern times. The greatest incentive a publisher can offer such an author is the freedom to concentrate on their work with the confidence that the other business requirements are being carried out well, particularly marketing and other functions relating to discoverability. It will have to be a good deal for both parties. Such publishers will of course contribute to the development of these authors. Some of them may well pick and nurture authors who submit directly to them, but the terms they offer will be far fairer than in the past.

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Where the quality model starts to fail is when the back office starts to pinch pennies. It's called penny wise and pound foolish. The other issue that the quality model has is when the decision makers don't correctly understand what their customers value. I think that someone like Jim Baen would still be a successful publisher now under the business model that he followed. He knew his audience, he knew what they wanted and he was willing to innovate.

True and a very good description of the current incarnation of large traditional publishers.

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I really don't see a race to the bottom with regards to ebook prices (or music prices for that matter). It seems to me that the market is dividing into those who want their media for free, or for a small set fee per month (think youtube and subscription mode streaming music like Pandora, Apple Music and Spotify) and those who are willing to pay to buy their favorite song or album. I don't think that ebooks will be any different.

There is no real race to the bottom now, and I also don't see one developing. Somewhat surprisingly, it seems that there are very few pirates who won't pay for their books at all, though there are many who will not pay a price they see as unfair. Of course, people's perception of fairness differs. For example, a poll here showed that whilst most were not prepared to pay the same or more for an ebook than the corresponding pbook, a significant minority were prepared to do so. Personally I subscribe to KU and find it good value. But I also buy and borrow many ebooks in most months. I suspect the distinction is not quite so clear cut.

Originally Posted by pwalker8

As far as competition goes, I think there are a lot of possibilities. Apple has the platform and money that would let it expand if it wants to. Right now, I don't think that they want to. The two biggest hurdles for a major competitor in the ebook store arena are catalog and platform. They need to match Amazon's catalogue with regards to authors that readers care about. But that won't really move the needle. They will also need a platform that would give readers a reason to switch.

A year or so ago I read the publicity for one of the numerous new product launches for a proprietary reading app which went to great pains to trumpet that readers would no longer be locked-in to Amazon. Their copy conjured up images of hordes of dissatisfied Amazon customers just itching to escape fleeing at the first opportunity. Of course, their model offered nothing. I can't even recall the name. At the moment it is Amazon first and daylight second. Apple is simply not interested and not likely to become interested unless Amazon makes some disastrous mistake(s) which present it with an opportunity. Amazon's main danger is from some new technology or approach which it fails to deal with effectively. So far there is none in sight and it seems to be Amazon itself doing the innovating. And of course it is so cashed-up it would be in a good position to acquire any real threat.

Originally Posted by pwalker8

My thought is that better discoverablity would do the trick. Amazon has a number of issues that have been there for years and thus they are vulnerable. If I could do a search for Roger Zelazny and get a complete list of Roger Zelazny's books without a bunch of other authors that Amazon wants me to buy, that would be a huge improvement. Heck, they could even give a complete list of all Roger Zelazny's books, including those not currently available. They could do some of the things that Amazon promised but never really got around to implementing, such as notifying when a favored author has a new book, or a backlist book that is now available. Curated best new book lists. Really, there are so many things that could be done. You just have to think, what would I want as a customer.

t wouldn't work in a race to the bottom WalMart model where you push as much expense as you can to someone else, of course. I suspect that's a large reason that Amazon never really implemented much of it. The initial cost might be pretty high, but over time I think the costs would come down.

Discoverability is indeed the key. But Amazon has the catalogue and the ability to tweak its algorithms. Amazon is probably the only company that would be in a position to profit from the issues you name being fixed. Even if Kobo was to offer a better search, I suspect it would mainly result in a form of online "showrooming". There is money to make in improving discoverability, but this to me seems to be more a service to authors and publishers than a competitive tool against Amazon. As such it has so far been offered in various forms by Amazon or by 3rd parties to authors and publishers (eg; Bookbub, or Amazon's own advertising).

[pwalker8]

A few points.

Slush pile just refers to a mass of manuscripts that haven't been filtered for quality. I use it from the stand point of someone going through the pile and coming up with a list of ebooks they think is worth taking a look at, rather than a traditional publishing venture. Kind of like some of the software bundles that come out every so often. For $20 you get the 20 best romance (or SF, or Mystery, or whatever genre) sort of thing.

Race for the bottom, refers to competitors dropping prices trying to be the cheapest. It basically refers to commodity pricing. Amazon actually has gone in the direction several times with ebooks, but nothing ever came of it. Some because the publishers stood their ground on agency pricing, but mostly because Amazon's competition basically dried up. When you are the only man standing, there is no race. If Amazon gets serious competition, then I suspect we will see more of the discount pricing again.

Last, with more and more people using tablets and phones to read on rather than Kindles, I think that if you provide good discover-ability and a reading app that works on both IOS and Android platforms, then people will just click on the buy link, rather than find the ebook they want, and go over to Amazon to buy it. People go with what is easiest.

[darryl]

@pwalker8. An interesting discussion. Some observations on your observations.

Firstly, though there are plenty of lower quality works, Indies do not constitute a slush pile. There are many works of excellent quality. There have been other threads, including one I started, about selecting Indie Books. I find that by following an elementary process the Indie books that I tend to read now are of a comparable quality to the tradpub books I used to read. At least in my view, tradpub's gatekeeping function too often had little to do with quality. Personally I feel I'm doing a much better job of it myself with minimal effort. It is only if you pick almost at random that tradpub seems to have a real advantage. Of course, I read much more fiction than non-fiction and your experience which as I seem to recall is reading mainly non-fiction may differ. If tradpub wants to charge higher prices they must truly offer better quality and what readers want, not just the illusion of it. Our common ground on this issue to the extent there is any is that publishers could do a much better job without the penny pinchers you referred to.

I think a race to the bottom as generally used is more than simply commodity pricing. Books are, after all, commodities, as Amazon's success seems to establish clearly. It connotes effectively a price war with little regard for quality. Amazon seems to have set an optimal price range within which sales and overall revenue are maximised, based on its own data. It leaves the actual pricing within this range to authors and publishers, and even allows them to set prices outside of that range but at some financial disadvantage. The existence of this range and a minimum well above zero indicated Amazon does not want a race to the bottom. And it gives new authors a chance to price realistically though the larger publishers do not seem to allow their authors to take advantage of this. Interestingly, some of the new, more innovative publishers do. Amazon's own imprints price their new releases below the $9.99 the Big 5 so hates, and I would hazard a guess they are making good money on them.

Occasionally I will read on a tablet or phone if caught without my reader. The Kindle app runs well on Android and IOS. Amazon offers the best "discoverability" available right now for readers, though this is an area which is continually improving. Nothing lasts forever, but I see no sign of Amazon losing its dominance in this area.

[pwalker8]

To repeat myself, slush pile refers to an unsifted group of manuscripts, it doesn't refer to the quality of the manuscripts. The reason that publishes have slush piles and have people who actually read through them is because there are sometimes quality manuscripts buried in there. I also have read some very good indie authors. I've also read some very bad indie authors.

I read a combination of fiction and non-fiction. Most of my fiction is SF/F mixed in with some mystery and adventure. I read a lot more fiction than non fiction.

The idea that books are commodities is something that I strongly disagree with. Commodity means that one is the same as the next. If I buy a bar of gold, there is no difference between one bar and the next. In general, there is little difference between a 8 gig memory chips.

People don't buy and read generic books. They buy and read the latest Harry Potter book by the millions and millions, but Joe Blow's Harry Potter knock off is only read by his mother and a few friends, even if he puts it up on Amazon's books store. This is the driving force behind the general publishers business model. Name authors make millions.

Certainly the kindle app works fine on iOS and Android, but so would any reading app. The point of the actual kindle device was to lock the reader into the Amazon ecosystem. In 2014, some 32% of adults in the US owned a dedicated e-reader device. In 2016, that number had fallen to 19%, a very big drop, yet ebook sales and revenue continues to grow. That means more and more people are reading on tablets and phones.

Several years ago, one of the issues that other ebook stores had was how can I get this ebook on my kindle. That isn't as big of an issue anymore. Certainly Amazon has the best ebook store out there right now in terms of selection and discoverability. My point is that I think that discoverability might be the wedge that could make a customer go to another ebooks store rather than Amazon, if that ebook store is a significantly better experience. Amazon's ebook store is remarkably similar to what it looked like when it was first rolled out. Lack of competition will do that.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

To repeat myself, slush pile refers to an unsifted group of manuscripts, it doesn't refer to the quality of the manuscripts. The reason that publishes have slush piles and have people who actually read through them is because there are sometimes quality manuscripts buried in there. I also have read some very good indie authors. I've also read some very bad indie authors.

I read a combination of fiction and non-fiction. Most of my fiction is SF/F mixed in with some mystery and adventure. I read a lot more fiction than non fiction.

The idea that books are commodities is something that I strongly disagree with. Commodity means that one is the same as the next. If I buy a bar of gold, there is no difference between one bar and the next. In general, there is little difference between a 8 gig memory chips.

People don't buy and read generic books. They buy and read the latest Harry Potter book by the millions and millions, but Joe Blow's Harry Potter knock off is only read by his mother and a few friends, even if he puts it up on Amazon's books store. This is the driving force behind the general publishers business model. Name authors make millions.

Certainly the kindle app works fine on iOS and Android, but so would any reading app. The point of the actual kindle device was to lock the reader into the Amazon ecosystem. In 2014, some 32% of adults in the US owned a dedicated e-reader device. In 2016, that number had fallen to 19%, a very big drop, yet ebook sales and revenue continues to grow. That means more and more people are reading on tablets and phones.

Several years ago, one of the issues that other ebook stores had was how can I get this ebook on my kindle. That isn't as big of an issue anymore. Certainly Amazon has the best ebook store out there right now in terms of selection and discoverability. My point is that I think that discoverability might be the wedge that could make a customer go to another ebooks store rather than Amazon, if that ebook store is a significantly better experience. Amazon's ebook store is remarkably similar to what it looked like when it was first rolled out. Lack of competition will do that.

I own a Kindle. I can put books from other places on the Kindle. How is that locked into the Amazon ecosystem?
I do not have to convert or strip DRM or anything else.

So please quit telling people if they own a kindle, they must go to either Amazon or great lengths to put other books on a kindle.
I am not locked in. Never have been.

I will repeat myself, if you don't like Amazon don't shop there. Don't spread lies just because you don't like a company. It only makes the liar look bad.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

I own a Kindle. I can put books from other places on the Kindle. How is that locked into the Amazon ecosystem?
I do not have to convert or strip DRM or anything else.

So please quit telling people if they own a kindle, they must go to either Amazon or great lengths to put other books on a kindle.
I am not locked in. Never have been.

I will repeat myself, if you don't like Amazon don't shop there. Don't spread lies just because you don't like a company. It only makes the liar look bad.

Cin, this has come up before.

Being locked into an ecosystem doesn't refer to a device, it refers to content. Kindle books have to be read on a Kindle or Kindle app, for the average consumer who doesn't know Alf. That's all it ever meant; this has been explained before but you continue to attack people on this issue because of your persistent misunderstanding.

Do not, ever, call another member a liar. This is your only warning.

[Cinisajoy]

Here is the part I was referring to:

. The point of the actual kindle device was to lock the reader into the Amazon ecosystem. In 2014, some 32% of adults in the US owned a dedicated e-reader device. In 2016, that number had fallen to 19%, a very big drop, yet ebook sales and revenue continues to grow. That means more and more people are reading on tablets and phones.

This does not say if you buy an ebook on Amazon I am locked into the ecosystem. That says the device is locked into the ecosystem.
So do not tell me I misunderstood.
He specifically said device.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Here is the part I was referring to:


This does not say if you buy an ebook on Amazon I am locked into the ecosystem. That says the device is locked into the ecosystem.
So do not tell me I misunderstood.
He specifically said device.

He specifically said that the point of the device was to lock the reader, i.e. the customer, into the system, not that the device is locked into the system.

Again, the customer is locked into the system because of purchased content which can only be read on a Kindle device or app. Amazon was never about the device; it was always about selling content. But I don't even care about the chicken and egg argument; the bottom line is that the ecosystem exists and works in Amazon's favor. The reality is that most people with a Kindle have all sorts of ties to Amazon's walled garden, technical and habitual. It would be more conducive to discussion to accept it and move on.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by issybird

He specifically said that the point of the device was to lock the reader, i.e. the customer, into the system, not that the device is locked into the system.

Again, the customer is locked into the system because of purchased content which can only be read on a Kindle device or app. Amazon was never about the device; it was always about selling content. But I don't even care about the chicken and egg argument; the bottom line is that the ecosystem exists and works in Amazon's favor. The reality is that most people with a Kindle have all sorts of ties to Amazon's walled garden, technical and habitual. It would be more conducive to discussion to accept it and move on.

My problem was the phrasing.
However, this seems like a good place to mention that Amazon has pretty much locked at least one gate.
If one buys a new Oasis, it may not can be jailbroken.
If one buys a different kindle, there is a possibility of no software jailbreak.

Check the firmware before turning on the wifi if one thinks they might want to jailbreak their kindle.

[darryl]

Originally Posted by issybird

Cin, this has come up before.

Being locked into an ecosystem doesn't refer to a device, it refers to content. Kindle books have to be read on a Kindle or Kindle app, for the average consumer who doesn't know Alf. That's all it ever meant; this has been explained before but you continue to attack people on this issue because of your persistent misunderstanding.

Do not, ever, call another member a liar. This is your only warning.

The ecosystem concept is hardly unique to Amazon. In fact, probably the most prominent example is Apple. But I don't think it is correct to refer to an average consumer and say that person is locked in. For the vast majority who know nothing of DRM nor care about it, that knowledge is only a google search away. It is trivially easy to implement and for those who have trouble help is readily available. For those who can't cope with Alf there are less salubrious commercial products to remove DRM and convert between formats. Amazon's lock-in is not a very secure one. It is like a luxurious presence with a picket fence one can easily step over. People don't leave because they don't want to or couldn't be bothered inconveniencing themselves to do so. It is effectively their choice. I would not use the word lie, but certainly I think misinformation or misleading is an appropriate description.

Originally Posted by pwalker8

To repeat myself, slush pile refers to an unsifted group of manuscripts, it doesn't refer to the quality of the manuscripts. The reason that publishes have slush piles and have people who actually read through them is because there are sometimes quality manuscripts buried in there. I also have read some very good indie authors. I've also read some very bad indie authors.

I read a combination of fiction and non-fiction. Most of my fiction is SF/F mixed in with some mystery and adventure. I read a lot more fiction than non fiction.

The idea that books are commodities is something that I strongly disagree with. Commodity means that one is the same as the next. If I buy a bar of gold, there is no difference between one bar and the next. In general, there is little difference between a 8 gig memory chips.

People don't buy and read generic books. They buy and read the latest Harry Potter book by the millions and millions, but Joe Blow's Harry Potter knock off is only read by his mother and a few friends, even if he puts it up on Amazon's books store. This is the driving force behind the general publishers business model. Name authors make millions.

Certainly the kindle app works fine on iOS and Android, but so would any reading app. The point of the actual kindle device was to lock the reader into the Amazon ecosystem. In 2014, some 32% of adults in the US owned a dedicated e-reader device. In 2016, that number had fallen to 19%, a very big drop, yet ebook sales and revenue continues to grow. That means more and more people are reading on tablets and phones.

Several years ago, one of the issues that other ebook stores had was how can I get this ebook on my kindle. That isn't as big of an issue anymore. Certainly Amazon has the best ebook store out there right now in terms of selection and discoverability. My point is that I think that discoverability might be the wedge that could make a customer go to another ebooks store rather than Amazon, if that ebook store is a significantly better experience. Amazon's ebook store is remarkably similar to what it looked like when it was first rolled out. Lack of competition will do that.

We are starting to go around in circles here. I've enjoyed the discussion but I think it is starting to reach its limits of usefullness.

I will repeat myself by saying that it is not the definition of sluxh pile where we disagree. It is that you seem to regard the whole of Indie Published books as a giant slush pile waiting to be combed over by "real" publishers for that rare crumb of quality which they can then publish properly.

Of course books are commodities. They are products like any other products. They compete not only with each other but with other media. People do have their favourite authors and favourite books. It is true that books, like many other products, are unique, but this is neither here nor there. I have a few hours of leisure. What do I feel like doing? I could watch some TV or movies, listen to music, read a book, play a game, go to the movies or do many other things. I decide I feel like reading a book. I have many books and authors to choose from who I like. Or perhaps a visit to Amazon reveals something I may like and give a try. Yes, the new Christopher Nuttall is out and I like his books, so I may go to Amazon just to buy it. Or a new Harry Potter. Let's say I like them both. Which one do I buy now to read? It is no different to a car. Some people love only a particular model and nothing else will do. That does not mean the car is not a product.

And Amazon is, of course, like all businesses, vulnerable to a competitor who does things better. At the moment no one else seems to be doing it even half as well. Even the startups at the moment seem to have business models which are sheer fantasy.

[Deskisamess]

The idea that books are commodities is something that I strongly disagree with. Commodity means that one is the same as the next.

The same as the next? All cars have 4 wheels and an engine. They are certainly not all the same. All televisions have a screen, speakers, and an on/off button. But they are not all the same.

There are base models, models with many extra features, and all types in between. Books are just much a commodity as a car. There are a different genres, differing writing styles, different POV’s from which to write. There are authors who write with a very specific readership in mind, and authors who write with a broader appeal.

There are also many reader types. Not all of us buy the latest NYT bestseller. Many of us rarely even consider the latest book recommended by Oprah.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

Books are just much a commodity as a car.

Commodities are usually defined as something where each unit is so similar that competition is only based on price. So, traditionally, field (as opposed to sweet) corn is a commodity. Now, some newer brands of field corn may have distinctive features important to some people, such as being grown from non-GMO seed, or certified as organic. In as much as such brands exist, field corn is no longer a commodity.

As the sentence of yours which I quoted implies, being a commodity can be a matter of degree. I'd say that books are much less of a commodity than cars because, in part due to government standards, the cheapest new cars (excluding two seaters, which anyway are not the absolute cheapest) can do most of what luxury models can. I know that most people consider a Mercedes far more desireable, but most is not all. I'd feel no annoyance driving the cheapest new car sold in the US (assuming air conditioning is standard, which I think it is). But reading the typical 99 cent book would be, for me, a real bummer.

[darryl]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

Commodities are usually defined as something where each unit is so similar that competition is only based on price. So, traditionally, field (as opposed to sweet) corn is a commodity. Now, some newer brands of field corn may have distinctive features important to some people, such as being grown from non-GMO seed, or certified as organic. In as much as such brands exist, field corn is no longer a commodity.

As the sentence of yours which I quoted implies, being a commodity can be a matter of degree. I'd say that books are much less of a commodity than cars because, in part due to government standards, the cheapest new cars (excluding two seaters, which anyway are not the absolute cheapest) can do most of what luxury models can. I know that most people consider a Mercedes far more desireable, but most is not all. I'd feel no annoyance driving the cheapest new car sold in the US (assuming air conditioning is standard, which I think it is). But reading the typical 99 cent book would be, for me, a real bummer.

This is one part of the definiation from Merriam Webster (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/commodity)

4 :a good or service whose wide availability typically leads to smaller profit margins and diminishes the importance of factors (such as brand name) other than price

I presume this is the part of the definition to which you refer. It seems to me that if books were not a commodity before the Kindle and self-publishing (and they were even then) they certainly are now. Isn't this what the large publishers feared and expressed through Authors United with all that rubbish about devaluing books. They thought by keeping supply limited and prices high books would avoid books becoming a commodity in this sense. Of course, as you suggest, the answer is not black and white. But in my view books were a commodity even then and are even more so now. In fact, with the advent of self-publishing, classically so. And the attempts of Big Publishing to differentiate their own products on the basis of quality have so far been a dismal failure.