News flash! Barnes & Noble buys Fictionwise for $15.7 million - Page 2

Barcey · 03-05-2009, 10:10 AM

With the publishers playing with the silly pricing right now I thought they were playing into Amazon's hands by driving the competition out of business. Amazon can afford to sell some titles below cost to try to maintain the $9.99 pricing they've been marketing but Fictionwise couldn't. From that perspective it's good they were bought by a company with deep pockets.

I think it was a good buy for B&N as well because Fictionwise was setup well to compete with Amazon but I didn't think they weren't big enough.

Competition is a good thing for we the consumer. Time will tell though.

zelda_pinwheel · 03-05-2009, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate the great

Control.

well, right, of course that.

but it seems to me they could have achieved that via other means (maybe amazon-specific drm on epub ; after all, they are already doing that on mobipocket). not supporting epub and choosing mobipocket instead just seems like a pointless dispersion of energy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barcey

With the publishers playing with the silly pricing right now I thought they were playing into Amazon's hands by driving the competition out of business. Amazon can afford to sell some titles below cost to try to maintain the $9.99 pricing they've been marketing but Fictionwise couldn't. From that perspective it's good they were bought by a company with deep pockets.

I think it was a good buy for B&N as well because Fictionwise was setup well to compete with Amazon but I didn't think they weren't big enough.

Competition is a good thing for we the consumer. Time will tell though.

yes good point. i hope fictionwise / B&N will really gain some momentum now.

Nate the great · 03-05-2009, 10:44 AM

Do you know what surprises me? Fictionwise wasn't bought by aPple. I guess aPple really isn't going to enter the ebook market.

Liviu_5 · 03-05-2009, 10:48 AM

So things are moving fast in the ebook world

Kindle and iPhone, now this...

We will see how it goes, but I think this is a big opportunity - it's not that big a deal to setup an ebook store and if you cater to independents/multiformat there are no real bariers, so from that point of view I am not that worried; if BN shuts out independents they will go somewhere else.

The downside to me is that BN can decide to pull the plug anytime; they lose some money, but for them it's pocket money and considering how they pulled the plug on their first ebook foray in the dot-com times - seems like a lifetime ago

, but it's been not even a decade which is nothing on historical time scales...

GeoffC · 03-05-2009, 10:48 AM

...I would have put Amazon first in the queue.

Liviu_5 · 03-05-2009, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate the great

Do you know what surprises me? Fictionwise wasn't bought by aPple. I guess aPple really isn't going to enter the ebook market.

After doing Kindle Iphone app I would have very, very strong doubts about any chances of that; you could dismiss Stanza and the like as little fish, but no way Apple and Amazon do that together if Apple wants to do ebooks on their own.

Nate the great · 03-05-2009, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeoffC

...I would have put Amazon first in the queue.

Why? What would Amazon gain from owning Fictionwise? Amazon already has software companies, a hardware development company, and its own ebook store (two actually, Mobipocket and Kindle). Fictionwise doesn't add anything that Amazon doesn't already have.

GeoffC · 03-05-2009, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate the great

Why? What would Amazon gain from owning Fictionwise? Amazon already has software companies, a hardware development company, and its own ebook store (two actually, Mobipocket and Kindle). Fictionwise doesn't add anything that Amazon doesn't already have.

....eliminating competition, driving all readers of ebooks into their hands ....

Liviu_5 · 03-05-2009, 10:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeoffC

...I would have put Amazon first in the queue.

Why? What would Amazon have to gain other than cries of stifling the competition. Look how they quickly backed down on TTS since it became an embarrassment for no real gain since let us be honest, TTS is still mostly useless, unless you truly need it for disabilities

Amazon bought Abe because Abe had a very extensive network of used book sellers especially *outside* the US. Inside the US, Amazon already dominated the used book market, so no comparison here since for now Amazon does not sell ebooks outside the US and when they will do, Kindle store will do very well, no network of sellers needed.

I would speculate that the most likely next big announcements will be Mobipocket closing (whenever Amazon is ready to sell ebooks overseas, Mobipocket lost its usefulness) or Sony and Borders doing a deal of a kind or another and involving ebooks too

mdibella · 03-05-2009, 11:02 AM

I love Fictionwise and have a large library there.

But I'm also someone who loves to walk into a bookstore and just browse, surrounded by shelves full of adventures!

Wouldn't it be nice if you could go into a B&N store, pick out some books, and hand the cashier your Kindle so they can be downloaded?

Never gonna happen, I know, but I can dream...

zelda_pinwheel · 03-05-2009, 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdibella

I love Fictionwise and have a large library there.

But I'm also someone who loves to walk into a bookstore and just browse, surrounded by shelves full of adventures!

Wouldn't it be nice if you could go into a B&N store, pick out some books, and hand the cashier your Kindle so they can be downloaded?

Never gonna happen, I know, but I can dream...

actually i think a lot of people feel the same way, and it would be a brilliant move for B&N to implement something like that, via ebook kiosks in their stores or simply terminals where after browsing the paper books you could purchase digital editions (if available). this is exactly what i would be hoping for and i think it would be an excellent thing both for ebooks and for brick and mortar bookshops. somebody should write to B&N to ask if they are considering something like this.

Nate the great · 03-05-2009, 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeoffC

....eliminating competition, driving all readers of ebooks into their hands ....

...pissing off everyone, causing bad publicity...

pilotbob · 03-05-2009, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

somebody should write to B&N to ask if they are considering something like this.

Isn't your middle name "somebody"?

BOb

PS: I'm pretty sure they have no firm plans, they just saw the writing on the wall and knew then needed to make a move into eBook distribution in some way.

zelda_pinwheel · 03-05-2009, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Isn't your middle name "somebody"?

BOb

PS: I'm pretty sure they have no firm plans, they just saw the writing on the wall and knew then needed to make a move into eBook distribution in some way.

yes, of course i could do it, but since i'm not a B&N customer (since they don't have any stores in France) it seems to me the letter might carry more weight if it came from someone a bit more immediately concerned by their decisions, ie someone who *is* a B&N customer.

daffy4u · 03-05-2009, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdibella

Wouldn't it be nice if you could go into a B&N store, pick out some books, and hand the cashier your Kindle so they can be downloaded?

Never gonna happen, I know, but I can dream...

Many of us have walked around book stores, Kindles in hand, downloading the books we discover there via Whispernet (if they've been converted). No need to hand the Kindle over for someone else to do it (keep your grimy unwashed fingers off my Kindle, book store employee!).

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03-05-2009, 10:10 AM	#16
Barcey Wizard Posts: 1,531 Karma: 8059866 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Canada Device: Kobo H2O / Aura HD / Glo / iPad3	With the publishers playing with the silly pricing right now I thought they were playing into Amazon's hands by driving the competition out of business. Amazon can afford to sell some titles below cost to try to maintain the $9.99 pricing they've been marketing but Fictionwise couldn't. From that perspective it's good they were bought by a company with deep pockets. I think it was a good buy for B&N as well because Fictionwise was setup well to compete with Amazon but I didn't think they weren't big enough. Competition is a good thing for we the consumer. Time will tell though.

03-05-2009, 10:44 AM	#18
Nate the great Sir Penguin of Edinburgh Posts: 12,375 Karma: 23555235 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: DC Metro area Device: Shake a stick plus 1	Do you know what surprises me? Fictionwise wasn't bought by aPple. I guess aPple really isn't going to enter the ebook market.

03-05-2009, 10:48 AM	#19
Liviu_5 Books and more books Posts: 917 Karma: 69499 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: White Plains, NY, USA Device: Nook Color, Itouch, Nokia770, Sony 650, Sony 700(dead), Ebk(given)	So things are moving fast in the ebook world Kindle and iPhone, now this... We will see how it goes, but I think this is a big opportunity - it's not that big a deal to setup an ebook store and if you cater to independents/multiformat there are no real bariers, so from that point of view I am not that worried; if BN shuts out independents they will go somewhere else. The downside to me is that BN can decide to pull the plug anytime; they lose some money, but for them it's pocket money and considering how they pulled the plug on their first ebook foray in the dot-com times - seems like a lifetime ago , but it's been not even a decade which is nothing on historical time scales...

03-05-2009, 10:48 AM	#20
GeoffC Chocolate Grasshopper ... Posts: 27,600 Karma: 20821184 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Scotland Device: Muse HD , Cybook Gen3 , Pocketbook 302 (Black) , Nexus 10: wife has PW	...I would have put Amazon first in the queue.

03-05-2009, 11:02 AM	#25
mdibella Groupie Posts: 193 Karma: 1107 Join Date: Oct 2007 Device: Infinite Kindles, Occasional Sony's	I love Fictionwise and have a large library there. But I'm also someone who loves to walk into a bookstore and just browse, surrounded by shelves full of adventures! Wouldn't it be nice if you could go into a B&N store, pick out some books, and hand the cashier your Kindle so they can be downloaded? Never gonna happen, I know, but I can dream...

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