Will Nook be sold to Rakuten Kobo?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

The USA is less than 13% of the world's population.

!

The US is also by far the largest ebook market.
Especially in revenue terms.
(China may or not sell more units but the prices are way lower.)

It's not how many people trample the ground but the size of the active market and that hinges on culture to a great extent. There's entire countries where hardly anybody reads for entertainment.

Try this:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/...nue-by-region/

Notice you can barely see SouthAm or Africa.
That billions of bodies, barely any sales.

If it seems like the history of commercial ebooks is obsessed with tbe US it is because that is where the history is happening.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

This has also veered WAY off topic of this thread.

I agree. I'll leave it be.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

You can't have it both ways, either "10% is still a lot of people" or "only 13% of the world live in the US".

This has also veered WAY off topic of this thread.

Those are relating to different things. One is % of USA people. Americans do tend to assume what they experience is the norm. The other is % of people that might not have Internet, in or out of USA. That figure varies dramatically with country, rural or urban, demographic etc and even how you define "internet access" It might be 10% here. Does erratic 2G/3G/4G (4G coverage is tiny) Mobile (Cell) count as "Internet access"? Only sort of. Most people have no idea how to use a phone as a WiFi gateway to mobile for other gadgets. Not all phones do it. Many people I know have a tiny data allowance on their phone. A decent mobile data limit subscription costs more than Satellite Pay TV. Lots of people just buy call credit. Perhaps 70% use their smart phone via home and office broadband. That 30% not using the phone via broadband wifi is still a lot.

The UK Labour party estimates £20 Billion to give everyone fibre in the UK. There was a plan to do that, but it was killed off by the privatisation of BT.

Ireland had a National Broadband Scheme over 10 years ago. It was either €75 million or €150 million and didn't deliver a single broadband connection. They are about to sign off the new National Broadband Plan, it may cost €2 Billion for a place 1/20th of UK population and no-one knows what it's actually going to deliver.

So while MOST people can get ebooks online, shouldn't it be universal? So why not enable the LOTS of people still buying paper books to buy ebooks (somehow) instore. For any ereader app or ereader assuming it's not totally one provider only? Even Apple there are ways to load 3rd party content and all Android and Windows things can install free apps that read 3rd party content. Kindles can take non-Amazon content. No problem with the Kobo either.

It's not that far off topic, B&N is a bookshop now part of another company.
Can they and bookshops in general make money selling ebooks, online and/or instore (somehow), without a Nook?

Certainly the decision of Waterstones (now same owner) to sell Amazon Kindles really only benefited Amazon. B&N would be silly to sell the Nook customer base to someone else (like Kobo), they'd be better off offering those customers epub and Kindle format for ANY device, especially 3rd party apps on phones and tablets. Keep the ebook shop and ditch the Nook.

There is no bookshop AFAIK, in Ireland selling ebooks. Unless Dublin has something I don't know about. Certainly none in this area.

Does a bookshop need to have their own tied in ereader, or like Smashwords sell eBooks for ANY devices? Especially as most ebooks are not actually read on a dedicated eink ereader.

[Quoth]

Amazon is in the USA.
The rest of the world is potential.

The fact that the USA has biggest ebook market today, is irrelevant to the needs of readers and bookshops worldwide.

USA also dominates visual media exports. Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, HP, Dell, Xerox etc.

ICANN is unfortunately a USA org.


Anyway, I've unsubscribed to the thread.
I've thrown out some ideas for people to think about.

[ZodWallop]

You know, it's a little thing, but if Daunt wanted to restore the lustre to Nook remember, I'm saying *if*, one simple thing he could do is advertise the damn things. I remember those commercials for the Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight. That was what pushed me to go look at one in the store and then to buy it.

Drop the B&N branded tablets, unless they provide some real source of income. Partner with Kobo or license their hardware (or another eink device manufacturer) if that will save a few bucks and shore up the online bookstore. Start selling Nooks at Waterstones and other bookstores owned by the same company.

Long term, I think it is a good idea for B&N to keep in the ebook market.

Yeah, people here will complain about B&N taking away the ability to download books and that's still true and all. But I don't think that's what caused B&N's failure.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

Or they could just not sell eBooks, which is what they do now.
What benefit is there to them to selling eBooks anyway?
a) Who wants to go to a physical store to buy digital goods anyway, the idea just frankly seems silly.
b) They are just cannibalizing sales from someone who has chosen to come into the store, presumably hoping to buy a pBook from them.

If I go to a store to view and maybe sample/test a product, I only think the store deserves fist whack at my custom. THE STORE PROVIDED ADDITIONAL SERVICE that the WWW did not.

OTOH thestore could also LOSE my custom, by having uncaring, clerks, to busy playing on their phone, failing to answer basic product questions satisfactorily (Note: 'One moment, I will look that up' is a PASSING grade. I don't care HOW he got my requested info. I do tend to ask , for odd details.)
I don't always go for the rock-bottom, lowest price either. There is a difference in overhead for a no/self service warehouse only supplier and a store with samples and good lighting.
(Remember going into a book store and finding CHAIRS to sit on, while sampling a book? IMHO That was the difference between the mall 'discount' stores and a full service book shop. You were allowed...No EXPECTED to want a spend a few, examining inside the covers. )

As to delivery: Why not deliver the book and a DEVICE CHARGE while shopping.

FWIW I visit my local Lowes: Plug in my EV and head in to shop. When I come out, I have added a few miles of driving range. Same goes for many of the 'Factory Outlet' malls in the area. They offer a place to charge your car as a way to attract customers (and offer a difference from the shop across town. Some are even No Cost (I hesitate to use FREE: it has to be paid for in the end) to use while shopping. (good) SERVICE (quick delivery IS a service) is a factor in where I shop. If I don't need it...then the price premium must be really tame.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by theducks

...I visit my local Lowes: Plug in my EV and head in to shop. When I come out, I have added a few miles of driving range. Same goes for many of the 'Factory Outlet' malls in the area. They offer a place to charge your car as a way to attract customers (and offer a difference from the shop across town. Some are even No Cost...

Jeeze, I miss California

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by theducks

(Remember going into a book store and finding CHAIRS to sit on, while sampling a book? IMHO That was the difference between the mall 'discount' stores and a full service book shop. You were allowed...No EXPECTED to want a spend a few, examining inside the covers. )

Hmmm... that was at the local Chapter's over the weekend. Starbucks is no longer in store since they move to a location about 4 doors down but they still have the chairs. At times, I feel guilty since I know that I am more likely to buy the ebook than the pbook.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

Chicken and egg. You need Internet to register a Kobo or Kindle. You need the Internet to get content. Yet most ebooks are read on phones and tablets.

And who cares if those without internet have no access to ebooks? Since you need internet to get books is exactly the reason why they are read so much on phones and tablets. Please show me a phone or tablet which is capable of displaying ebooks, but doesn't have internet, maybe just occasionally, at home, at work, or out and about hunting down a wifi hotspot.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Jeeze, I miss California

Yea, but you can only recharge your EV if the power hasn't been turned off.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

I was hoping someone would have good ideas as to how physical bookshops, even single ones could sell books better and also sell ebooks instore.

I'm struggling with a good idea of why they would want to sell ebooks instore.
How does it make them money?
They can't charge more for them, as otherwise people would just by them online instead. And they can't compete on margin with a online-only store.
They have to deal with all the support hassles of getting the books loaded onto people's devices, either by WiFi or USB, complaints if it didn't work, or the formatting was bad, or they didn't like the book, for what? They would just be acting as a very poorly paid storefront for Smashwords and the like.
They couldn't sell any mainstream books, as they have to be sold with the publisher-required DRM, so they are left selling indies. What is the market for that?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

I'm struggling with a good idea of why they would want to sell ebooks instore.
How does it make them money?
They can't charge more for them, as otherwise people would just by them online instead. Any they can't compete on margin with a online-only store.
They have to deal with all the support hassles of getting the books loaded onto people's devices, either by WiFi or USB, complaints if it didn't work, or the formatting was bad, or they didn't like the book, for what? They would just be acting as a very poorly paid storefront for Smashwords and the like.
They couldn't sell any mainstream books, as they have to be sold with the publisher-required DRM, so they are left selling indies. What is the market for that?

In today's ebook environment there isn't one.

Which is why the ones that used to do it got out.
For it to make sense, you need an interoperable market for readers and ebooks and a way to compete with the walled gardens. (Sales, micropay rebates, bundles, etc)
Both went away.

Today, people's first decision when getting into ebooks is choosing a walled garden. And most choose Kindle (because the books can be read on most anything) instead of Nook (spiraling towards doom?) or Apple (need an iThing) or Kobo ("Who? Oh, the guys at WalMart?").

It doesn't help that the big publishers are intentionally reducing ebook sales, unintentionally making Indie publishers more acceptable and a lot of those choose Kindle exclusivity because there is more money for them in KU rentals than in sales elsewhere. So non-chain stores can't even go Indie-only.

All that might change in the future but it won't be soon.

The fallout of the two hour price war lingers. In many ways B&N did almost as much for Amazon as they did for themselves. B&N's feet are full of bullet holes.

[John F]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

...

Today, people's first decision when getting into ebooks is choosing a walled garden. And most choose Kindle (because the books can be read on most anything) instead of Nook (spiraling towards doom?) or Apple (need an iThing) or Kobo ("Who? Oh, the guys at WalMart?").

...

As far as Amazon vs Nook, can't the Nook books be read on "most anything" also. Sure Kindles are more popular, but Nook has its own eink devices, Nook has an app for IOS, I assume there is one for Android and the PC.

[Deskisamess]

QUOTE]Remember going into a book store and finding CHAIRS to sit on, while sampling a book?[/QUOTE]

We never had B&N in my area, way back we had Walden Books, a smallish store inside the mall, with no comfort like chairs. We did have Border's at the, at the time, newish strip mall.

The last time we shopped there, not long before the store went under, it had couches and chairs, and a coffee bar. The place was full of people drinking coffee and reading, and sitting on the floor in the aisles, reading. So many on the floors, you couldn't get near the books.

The strange thing was...nobody was in line buying anything. The store was also dirty and not being kept up. What we did look at was expensive. The prices they had for toys and games were ridiculous.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by John F

As far as Amazon vs Nook, can't the Nook books be read on "most anything" also. Sure Kindles are more popular, but Nook has its own eink devices, Nook has an app for IOS, I assume there is one for Android and the PC.

That is the same for all the major ebooks save Apple. The problem is that none of the ebook _stores_ have given customers a reason to buy from them rather than Amazon. Content is king.